Happy Birthday, A Well-Read Tart

Hello, Tartlets! Welcome to the birthday celebration for A Well-Read Tart.

Four years ago today, I launched my food and book lover’s blog. Four years ago today, I wondered what the eff I was doing and a bajillion questions ran through my head:

Will people read my blog? Will people like my book-inspired recipes? Will internet trolls yell at me in the comments section? Will I still be doing this in six months’ time…or a year…or two years….? 

Okay, if I’m being honest, these are STILL questions that regularly run through my head.

But, it’s four years later, and I’m still here.

And YOU’RE still here. (Thanks for that, by the way. Especially after that snafu last night.)

To celebrate my blogiversary, the ol’ Tart’s gotten a lil’ facelift. (Yeah, that sentence sounds a bit off to me, too.) I loved the original blog theme that Mr Tart painstakingly created for me back in 2018, but I wanted to shake things up a bit.

Also, now that I know what I’m doing (kinda???) when it comes to blogging, I wanted a site with better functionality, better photo layouts, and a few more fancy features that weren’t really a “thing” back in 2018.

Behold — the new face of A Well-Read Tart!

I am IN LOVE with this new blog theme (aka — how the blog looks). The site looks sleek and fresh and modern, but it still retains a lot of the charm of my original site. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to poke around and check out how everything looks — and maybe stumble upon some new/old recipes and book reviews that grab your attention!

Some other things that are new about the Tart:

I’m now on TikTok. OMG, I vowed this day would never come. But, I’ve been making videos for a few weeks now, and, well… I kinda love it. WHO AM I?!?!

Anyway, if you haven’t seen my videos on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter,you can check them out directly on TikTok.

I’m a Replica Surfaces Brand Ambassador. This is semi-old news, but I wanted to bring it up again because I’ve added a page on my blog dedicated to my work with Replica Surfaces. There’s a super cute photo of and message from #awellreadcat there, so be sure to check that out.

You can see what I look like. After four years of anonymity, I’ve decided to step out from behind the virtual veil. I’m sure you’ve all stumbled across the photo by now. That’s me, sitting in my writing room at Tartlet Cottage. Why, yes, of course my desk always looks that nice and neat. (Lies.)

I have business cards. Look, look!

This is a Big Step that I was aiming to take a few years ago and never actually did. I’m so excited to start passing these babies out and “accidentally” dropping a few in bookstores or libaries or my nearest Williams-Sonoma. I feel much more like a legit blogger now that I can press a shiny business card into someone’s palm instead of scribbling my website address on a post-it and wondering if they’ll be able to read my handwriting when they find it at the bottom of their bag three days later. #progress

I think those are all my updates for now! As usual, to all my long-time subscribers: YOU ARE THE BESTEST EVER. Thank you for supporting me and following me these past four years.

To all of the newly subscribed Tartlets — there’s quite a few of you! — WELCOME to the best blog in the entire world.

JK! Sorta-kinda. No, for reals, thank you for stopping by and signing up and becoming a part of this wonderful community based around books and food. We hope you have as much fun here as we do.

Lastly, a shout-out to my ever-patient, ever-loving, ever-wonderful husband: thank you for my beautiful new blog.

Love, books, and carbs,

CJ xoxo

P.S. Yes, the new business cards are A Well-Read Cat approved. Because, you were totally wondering that.