Blogging

Ten Years Blogging

Mei-MeiLeave a comment

Ten years ago today, I wrote and published a post that said “Hello, World!” My life and my blog have changed so much in that time. I’m taking a bit of a hiatus right now but I didn’t want to let this milestone pass unremarked. I’m still here and I still feel like I have things to share.

So right now, I’m going to share ten of my favorite posts I’ve written for this blog over the past decade! I should probably do one per year or something but let’s not get too caught up in rules haha. Here they are in chronological order. Happy reading!

  1. How NOT to Photoshop
  2. Bad Biology in Marie Lu’s Champion
  3. Revisiting KOTOR II: (#1) A Fresh Start (this whole series was so fun to write)
  4. My Star Wars pilgrimage: Skellig Michael
  5. Bookshelf Battle
  6. How our new Star Wars trio is a reimagining of the old one
  7. Black History Month: Henrietta Lacks, HeLa cells, and informed consent
  8. My Top 5 Versions of Beauty and the Beast
  9. In which I re-write the Justice League movie
  10. Engineering a squirrel obstacle course: Practical deterrent, entertainment, or science?

Looking back, and going forward

Mei-Mei4 Comments

Hello all! I’m back from my hiatus to wish you all a Happy New Year! You can check out my retrospectives on books and Kpop MVs from 2021, and now it’s time to talk about blogging.

In 2021, my blog got over 10,000 views from more than 7,500 visitors representing 110 countries around the world. I only posted 43 times, which is the least I’ve every posted on this blog in the course of a year. And that’s okay!

My most-viewed post last year was, as always, There is no hot air balloon in Around the World in Eighty Days, which got a lovely bump in December from the Masterpiece TV adaptation starring David Tennant. Spoiler alert: it has a balloon. There are a lot of changes to the source material, frankly, but having seen the first episode I think it will be an interesting story all the same.

My most popular post I wrote last year was Feeding Reading 2021, because who doesn’t love free books, followed by a bunch of Lens-Artists photography challenge posts.

Someone also found my blog by searching for Phat Gus, so I consider that a win.

Phat Gus is still my spirit animal

With regards to blogging this upcoming year, my only goal is that I would like to do some.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels.com

Here are some things you may see here at Jedi by Knight in 2022:

  • More Fan Art Friday, though probably sporadically, where Kiri and I both color the same picture from the Star Wars coloring book, often with very different results
  • Maybe a few more book reviews; look for a post about recent novellas at some point
  • Maybe some Lens-Artist photo challenges?
  • Wordless Wednesday photo posts
  • Probably lots of random short thoughts

My biggest stumbling block to blogging is not just lack of time, but rather lack of focus because my brain is so tired. Any suggestions from other busy people on how to find focus for writing?

Happy 2022 everybody! We can only go up from here, right? …Right?

Semi-Hiatus

Mei-Mei5 Comments

Hi guys! You may have noticed a lack of me around here and I just wanted to officially say that I will not be posting regularly in the near future. I’ve just got too much going on right now to have any spare brain space for writing or any kind of creative activity. I am still reading as much as I can, and I finally got Disney+, so hopefully I will still be posting on those topics occasionally, as well as coloring book stuff and photos. I also hope to keep reading all my fellow bloggers’ stuff, so you will still see me around the blogosphere.

Until then!

I stole this from Jennifer at My Book Joy

Review: Other People’s Butterflies by Cora Ruskin

Mei-Mei2 Comments

One of my favorite things about blogging has been meeting other writers and discovering some really great indie authors. I’ve been a reader of Cora Ruskin’s blog Cora Still Writes for a while, so I was happy to receive an ARC of her debut novel, Other People’s Butterflies. It’s contemporary YA with a fabulous protagonist and healthy dose of drama. Plus look at this gorgeous cover!!

Gwen Foster is a typical high school girl, dealing with school and friend drama…except for the part where she’s secretly collecting personal information on all her classmates, not to mention trying to figure out why, unlike her classmates, she has no real interest in kissing anyone. As Gwen is coming to terms with her asexual/aromantic nature, an unknown person starts dishing out all the dirt Gwen’s collected on social media. Can Gwen’s favorite character, a 1940s femme fatale super spy, show her the way to fix everything?

Although I read a lot of YA, contemporary YA is not my usual genre. However, from the first pages I was hooked on Gwen as a character. I loved her narrative voice (and her very British sense of humor), and her growth over the story felt very real. The suspense and mystery parts of the story were really intriguing, and I liked how the scenes with Gwen’s fictional idol are interspersed to create tension and further the themes of the story. Parts of the ending felt a little abrupt, but I think that was because I wanted to read more of Gwen!

I especially appreciated reading the perspective of an asexual character, which is not something very common in any genre of fiction. I liked the organic way in which Gwen came to identify herself by that label, and the difference it made to her to know that she wasn’t the only person who felt that way. I hope anyone reading this story and seeing themselves in Gwen will feel the same!

So if you like high school drama, spy stuff, childhood friends, Briticisms, and diverse characters, I highly recommend checking this one out! It’s especially great that it is releasing during Pride month. I look forward to reading more by Cora in the future!

Get Other People’s Butterflies on Amazon

Check it out on Goodreads

9th Blogiversary!

Mei-Mei10 Comments

It’s been nine years since I said “Hello, world!” to start off my blog. At the time, I had two main motives: I felt I was consuming a lot of content but not creating anything, and I wanted to get back into writing with the eventual goal of writing fiction. I think it’s both a success and a work in progress!

And now for something completely different. Let’s take a break from our regular nerdiness and do something fun. I found a “Get to Know Me” tag from Lindsay Lovin’ Life with 100 questions, and since it’s my 9th blogiversary, I’ll answer the questions ending in 9.

9. Can you curl your tongue?

Yes. Most people can, and it is possible to teach yourself how. Studies of twins show that the ability is not a case of simple genetic inheritance of a single trait.

19. Do you consider yourself a good cook?

Definitely not. I don’t particularly enjoy cooking, and I have a set of about 5 simple recipes that I can cook fluently. (I do like baking, however.) One good thing about this pandemic is that I’ve stopped judging myself for using food delivery services like DoorDash.

29. Do you have siblings?

Yes, I have one older sibling. My penname Meimei appropriately means “little sister.” ~_^

39. Do you/have you played any sports?

Yes, I play tennis. I played varsity doubles for several years in high school. I haven’t played at all since my dad passed away, since he was my rallying partner; I hope to teach my kids when they are older.

49. How are you feeling right now?

Tired but happy to be writing.

59. What is one item on your bucket list?

To actually publish, in some form, a novel! I have several started, and one almost completely drafted thanks to NaNoWriMo, but nothing near publishable.

69. What’s the thing you can’t leave the house without?

Well, really, it’s my purse, but that’s kind of a cheating answer because in my purse are my phone, sunglasses, chapstick, wallet, pens, snacks, etc. Also, did I mention I have a Star Wars purse?

Star Wars The Last Jedi Rey Canvas Faux Leather Dotty Satchel Handbag - Cyberteez

79. What’s your favourite food?

Pasta with butter and parmesan. Also anything sweet.

89. What’s your favourite sport to watch?

Well, obviously tennis. Serena Williams has been my favorite player since high school. During the Olympics I watch gymnastics and figure skating. I also enjoy watching Cleveland Indians (soon to be the Cleveland…something else) baseball with my family; Carlos Santana is my favorite player, but he has once again been traded away. Definitely a rebuilding year.

99. Who is your celebrity crush?

Oh, I have such a Star Wars answer for this: Ewan McGregor, whom I first saw in Episode I: The Phantom Menace. He’s just so charming and has a wonderful accent and a lovely singing voice. I had a life-size cardboard cutout of him as Obi-Wan in my room in high school. Don’t worry, I didn’t keep it when I got married and moved out.

So now you know ten more things about me than you did before. Thank you all most sincerely for reading; the best surprise to me about blogging has been how many awesome people I’ve met through my blog over the last nine years.

And here’s to many more!