There’s an element of my site I’ve been thinking about for a while but I’m undecided and thought it’d be best to ask you. After all, you’re the ones who use the site as visitors.

I’ve been wondering whether I should change the related posts section I add to the bottom of reviews. Currently I use it to link to reviews of books by the same author as well as books that share a theme. I like the concept because it allows me to categorise without having a lot of tags; I do like to use tags for genres; but I wonder how many people find the related posts section helpful. Ultimately I’m considering simply linking to other books by the same author. (Another option would be to have both a ‘by the same author’ section and ‘related by theme’ section but that would mean quite a lot of space.)

I like linking by theme, not just due to the issue of tags but because I know it’s nice, when there’s a theme you like, to be able to easily find other books that include it. However, it has become a bit crazy to maintain. Where do I draw the line on which themes to link? Should I link minor themes? What about books that I know aren’t truly related but for this small theme they share?

As you can see, I’ve given this a lot of (too much) thought.

I’ve also been thinking about my ‘random review’. I’m quite partial to it but does anyone use it? I’m very aware it pulls up posts from years ago but then if I were to filter it I’d end up being worried about all posts soon enough.

Do you like related posts sections on sites in general?

Tomorrow I will have been running The Worm Hole for five years. Can’t quite believe it; it’s a bit of a crazy thought. There are 285 reviews on this site and 691 posts overall. (Do any other bloggers sometimes feel they’ve written too much?) Becoming a book blogger has fundamentally changed the way I read and appreciate literature. When I started I had no real idea about anything beyond a good story; it’s been quite the educational process.

To my fellow bloggers and to my readers, thank you.

The screenshot above necessitated an eviction, dismantling interior walls, a haunting, and a late start to the meal. Someday I’ll let those Sims age gracefully.

Just a quick post today to request the above. If you’re interested, email me with your idea by next Tuesday. Usual ‘rules’ apply: anything to do with books (other than a review), history or film. I’ll accept life-themed posts, too.

Friday was The Worm Hole’s fourth birthday. That day I had to post a review I’d already drafted, so I’d like to celebrate today instead. In terms of blogging, this past year has gone by very quickly, which is interesting when you discover just how many posts you’ve published in that time. I’ve had ups and downs this past year, as everybody has, but I’m still enjoying myself and hope to be blogging for the foreseeable future.

Of the course the biggest things that have happened in regards to the blog are my editing business, which I launched last summer, and my taking over of the What’s In A Name challenge. I am loving my role as an editor and I would say it’s made me a better reviewer, too.

A blog anniversary needs statistics:

• There are now 546 posts on this site.
• 178 posts have been published since the last birthday post(!)
• There are 234 reviews on this site.
• The most read post is Identity in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, which received an update a couple of days ago.

Thank you all for reading, for your friendship, for the discussions and recommendations.

Do you like to celebrate milestones, be they blog-related or otherwise?

This post is my 500th on The Worm Hole so I’m celebrating it in style by getting seven digital people dancing to hip hop in a game (I believe the phrase is “because I am that awesome”). If you’d quoted 500 to me when I first started blogging I would’ve laughed. As clichéd as it sounds, it’s true – it’s incredibly difficult to see yourself having composed that many posts, and I reckon that’s still true even if from the start you fully expect to be around for a while.

The number has a lot to do with my decision to post to a schedule. If I was still posting to the strange and not-always-kept schedule I used to have, it would have probably taken me another year or two to get this far. And on a more sober note, if I hadn’t had drafts already waiting it would have been a while due to, well, life.

I’m not going to saying I’m looking forward to 1000 because that’s too daunting. But I will say I am grateful for all of you, for reading my blog, adding to it, and for the friendship. I’m grateful for the way a whole world has opened up to me thanks to blogging (including inspiring me to go to university), and all the knowledge I’ve gained that I likely wouldn’t have if I didn’t have a ‘strict’ reason to read so much.

Have you celebrated a blogging milestone before?