The Intrepid Reader and Baker: Top Ten Tuesday: Change is good....and somewhat inevitable

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Ways in Which My Blogging/Review Style Has Changed Over Time (submitted by Susan @ Bloggin’ ’bout Books)

It's hard to believe but my blog is 20 years old later this year. It is fair to say that things have changed a lot over the years. Here are some things that have changed, and some that haven't changed.

Ten things that have changed!

I started my blog back when online forums were still a thing. They are still around now, but nowhere near as popular. In fact, my first ever book review on my blog points to a historical fiction forum. I also met quite a few people in the Oprah's book club forum, some of whom went on to start blogs. A couple of those are still around, but not many. There are so many great bloggers who are no longer around :-(

I used to read only paper books. I got my first e-reader in 2010 (it was a red Sony Touch). Even though I loved it, I didn't read that much on it. I got a Kindle maybe 5 years ago and now I read probably 80-90% of my books on it.

For a while there I tried to review every book I read, but that contributed to a bit of blogger burnout for a while because I always felt behind and pressure to catch up. My goals for this year are to review anything I commit to as part of a blog tour, anything by Aussie authors and any historical fiction I review. Anything more than that is a bonus!

I have flirted with different formats for reviews over the years. Some with the synopsis included. Some without, some times with links to other reviews of the same book.

I used to use Google Reader and I still miss it even though it was discontinued back in 2013. I used to try and visit every blog in there and leave comments in order to build relationships. I have a different one now but I don't often look at it. Now I try to visit people who are participating in the things I am participating in, like Top Ten Tuesday for example. I do find that the blogging community is different than it used to be, and I feel on the edge of things a bit now.

I am so old that there was no such thing no such thing as Bookstagram or Tik Tok when I started. Oh, and the internet was dial up!

I used to use the library a lot more than I do now. The library system I was part of allowed you to have 60 books checked out at a time, and up to 20 books on request, and I was constantly juggling return dates and renewals. I have gone back to the library a little bit over the last few months but I can't see myself ever getting back to that level of borrowing. Way too stressful, especially when you add in other commitments. I even hosted a weekly event called Library Loot for a number of years! That event is still going, hosted at The Captive Reader and Real Life Reading.

My blog template has changed several time over the years. I mostly love this one, although it does have a couple of issues I would love to be able to fix. One day.

These days I host Weekend Cooking where you can share any kind of foodie post with other food and book lovers. Book reviews, movie reviews, recipes, you name it! There's not as many people participating in it anymore, but I always have more ideas for Weekend Cooking than I have Saturdays to post them on, so I will continue with it for a while. I also host the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge here.

Sometimes I look back on my blog and find posts that make me so proud of what I have posted in the past. Other times, there were so many rubbish posts that make me think what I was I thinking. These days I pretty much have a set routine of posts. Monday is my This Week post, Tuesday is Top Ten Tuesday, Saturday is Weekend Cooking, Sunday is one of several posts, and then if I fill in the gaps with reviews I do, and if I don't, I don't!

Two things that haven't changed