I’ve had a bit of a hedonistic week this week - oh Christmas, how you surf towards us on a sea of socialising - so have decided to let my body and soul recover by spending the weekend quietly catching up with some work. It’s all about balance, you see.

And so it is that I’m sitting in the office at 7 o’clock on a Saturday evening, poring over manuscripts, replying to emails and listening to a Counting Crows album that I really should return to its owner.

Just spotted the first reaction to 2005: Blogged from one of its contributors. Mr Random Acts of Reality dropped by the office earlier in the week to pick up his complimentary copy and, as such, was the first blogger to see it. His verdict?

‘So I got my copy of Blogged: 2005 last night, indeed I am in it, but had I not been, I still would have bought it for myself.
The blogosphere is a wide and varied place, and Tim Worstall does an excellent job of collected some varied posts from mainly UK based blogs to highlight some of the news events of the year.

It covers most big events of the year from the Iraq war (pro, and anti), ID cards (all anti, but then is anyone besides the government in favour of them?), the July 7th bombings, the election (both here and in America), all the way to shaving your man-spuds in preparation for a vasectomy.

One of the main strengths of the book is that if you don’t like the writing of the article, then the next one is only a few words away, and while the majority of the book is based on the political side of things (obviously, as most of the big news events of the year are political) there is still room for bits from non-political bloggers.

I sat up all last night and read it through, cover to cover and I suspect that there are going to be a few new blogs added to my daily reading list.

In a slightly Doh! moment (at 4 am mind you), I wondered why the book stopped at October…

And yes, I’m one of the contributors, and so is Nee Naw (who kept very quiet about it).

Having talked to the publishers (The Friday Project), I can report that they are very nice people who ‘get’ the whole idea of Blogging, so I hope this book does well, both for them and for Tim.’

How very kind. All of the complimentary copies have now been sent out (except for a few where we’re still waiting for addresses) so I’m looking forward to seeing what all of the other contributors think.

Truth be told, it’s been a heckofa book to publish - how on earth do you transfer the link-heavy interactivity of blog writing to the printed page without losing either context or vibrancy? I hope we’ve managed it. I certainly think we have.

And then there’s the even greater challenge of transferring the work of over 100 authors into a book that they’re all happy with. It helps that Tim is an excellent editor with a genuine respect for the people whose work he has been permitted to reproduce. He wouldn’t have allowed us to put out something that didn’t so sufficient justice to the good people of Blogistan.

But still, as someone who has frequently despaired at what happens when ‘traditional’ media tries to get to grips with blogging, I really want all of the contributors to be delighted with the finished product. And not just because this is our first chance to demonstrate what The Project is all about: bringing together the worlds of web and print in a way that multiplies the benefits of both.

Sorry, no more mission statements, it’s Saturday night. I’m awaiting the next round of feedback with nervous anticipation.

The book is now officially in the shops and we’re delighted to (re-)announce that Waterstones have chosen it as one of their ‘50 paperbacks of the year’, which means you should find it beaming out at you from the tables at the front of your local store.

What else? Ah yes, we tried to convince Richard and Judy to have Mr Holy Moly! on as a guest to plug his book. The lovely Charlie from Midas used every weapon in her PR arsenal to try and win them over. But they eventually declined. Can’t imagine why.

(Let’s hope Elms doesn’t click on that link before Pond’s appearance on his show next week to big-up LBL. He’s doing Vaughn on Capital next week too. How much cockney can one man take? Just kidding - we laaarv them both really.)

And finally, highlight of my week: being told off by Boris Johnson’s (thoroughly charming) parliamentary secretary for swearing too much on Vox.

Oops. Sorry, Melissa.

[Update: Almost forgot to mention - Tim kicked off the promotional effort for the book with this opinion piece in today's Times]