1 Year On...Happy Birthday Loyalty Binds Me

One year ago today, I sat down and wrote the very first post on this blog. Now, exactly 12 months later the blog has had over 34000 pageviews and seems to be becoming more and more read worldwide. This is amazing, and I thought in celebration of Loyalty Binds Me's first birthday I would do a little vlog for you guys.

I'll reiterate: I couldn't have done this without each and every one of you. You lot, my readers, are amazing. When I started this blog, 12 months ago to the day, I didn't think anyone would read it. After all, who would want to read my massive flaily posts about Charles II and the Borgia family? Yet it seems that many of you share my crazy interest in Charles II and anything to do with the seventeenth century. It also seems as if many of my readers found me through my post on Lucrezia Borgia. And you have no idea how much that makes me smile. I mean, my aim when I started writing about the Borgia family was to try and dispel the myths surrounding them and when I get search terms along the lines of "borgia family incest" that link to my posts on Lucrezia, or my posts on incest in the Borgia family, I can't help but smile. Because these searches are leading readers to my posts which try their damnedest to dispel these myths...I really hope that they get the answers they seek.

I am honestly humbled by you guys. Seriously. I was loathe to even start a history blog after seeing the excellent blogs that are out there. But I am so glad I did. I have made so many good friends after starting this blog, many of you are readers who have become close friends. And you have all convinced me to push and make myself better. I couldn't have done any of this without any of you.

Here's to many more years of history blogging! And once again, thank you all for joining me on this incredible journey. As I mention in the video, in the next 12 months I am hoping that this blog climbs higher and higher, and there should also be some news on my forthcoming book. So please do watch this space. What I didn't mention was that I have started a new blog...now I will warn you before you click on the link that this blog isn't about history. It's more a place where I can freely drop the f-bomb and talk about rabid chinchillas. But hey, a girl needs to let loose somewhere right? Please do swing by and check it out.

And now, back to your regular historical flaily posts...