Blog Birthday and Giveaway!
As well as being Father’s Day, today is my blog’s first birthday! Woohoo! It was a year ago today that I installed WordPress on my website and wrote my very first blog post. Here it is. Not particularly earth-shattering. But it was a start. And now here we are, 337 posts later (this is the 337th), and I’m still blogging.
Over the next week I will be posting articles reflecting on the past year, asking questions like: What were my favorite blog articles? What have I learned about blogging? Where have I found help and encouragement? I will also be announcing a change to the blog schedule. So watch out for these between now and Saturday.
But let’s get to the fun part of today’s post: The Giveaway! To celebrate my blog’s birthday, I am offering a choice of prizes. Either:
A $20 Gift Card to Amazon.com
or
$20-worth of Books from The Book Depository
Should the winner choose the gift card, I will contact them for an e-mail address, and send the gift card to that address. If the winner wants the books, I will ask for a selection of books worth up to $20 from The Book Depository, and a mailing address to which they can be sent (make sure you live somewhere in the world to which The Book Depository ships).
How do you enter?
Simple–complete the Rafflecopter widget thing below. Since we’re celebrating my blog, the entry points are all blog-related. You can earn points for tweeting this giveaway, mentioning this giveaway in your blog, following my blog (yes, you can count this if you are already a follower), and for commenting on this article. When you comment, it would be really helpful and “in theme” if you would mention your favorite of my blog posts, or some aspect of my blog that you like (e.g., Doctor Who reviews, book reviews, Top Ten Tuesday posts, Friday Five posts, theology posts, stuff about my childhood–whatever). Thank you!
The giveaway starts today, and ends on Saturday, June 30th.
So, here’s the widget. And thank you for reading! 🙂
Congratulations! And happy Father’s Day! I hope you and your kiddos are doing something fun today.
Thanks, Mrs. S.! I’ve been hanging out with the kiddos today–it’s what makes for a happy father’s day for me, anyway. 🙂
Happy Father’s Day and Happy Blog Birthday!
Thanks, Juliana! 😀
Happy Blogoversary! Mine’s coming up in a couple of months, and I can hardly believe it’s been that long. Hasn’t that gone fast? This is a very generous giveaway, Colin! 🙂
Whoops! I guess I should have read the blog comment topic. Favourite blog features: When you do Top Ten Tuesday, because I’m always curious to see what books or what-have-you you’ll list. I really enjoyed the bits of flash fiction(?) based on a particular letter that you did during Blogging From A to Z. Very fun, and I’m still impressed that you were able to write such well-developed stories in such a brief amount of time! 🙂
It is amazing how quickly the year has flown by. And yet I look back at all the posts over the last year, and such a lot has happened.
I really enjoyed doing the flash fiction. It was a bit of a risk (at least to me), because it’s like I’m saying “I’m a writer, and here–I’ll prove it!” What if it sucked? Poof! There goes my writing career! Thankfully, it seems as if people liked it, and kind comments like yours give me confidence to forge ahead. 🙂
This is my favourite as well!
Thank you, Jamie! Since I’m hoping to build a career as a writer, this is *very* encouraging! 🙂
I had to go for your Doctor Who posts. I really loved the 3 posts you did on RTD and dialogue. That was actually quite interesting and helpful. Really made me think about the dialogue I use. And the reviews you wrote of the last series. Will you be doing any for the next series?
I’m glad you liked those RTD posts. And you liked the Who Reviews! Awesome!! Yes, I plan to post at least brief reviews of the next series. 🙂
Again Happy Bloganniversary Colin! 😀 As I mentioned to your blog today (I know sounds weird but hey :D), I can´t believe you´ve only been blogging only for a year!
I really like your Top Ten Tuesday, I love when you explain about your writing process (like some things of what you learned from King :D) and would definitely enjoy reading more about it (like your revisions posts and so on) and the bits and pieces you tell us about your childhood and growing up and your family, always great!
Thanks again, Elodie! My blog was surprised and pleased to have a comment addressed to him. You made his day! 🙂
Hopefully, as I spend less time on the blog and more time with my writing, I will be sharing more of the process–how I’m getting on, the hurdles I’m encountering, and how I’m able (or not) to apply all the great advice I’ve read.
Thanks for reading, Elodie! 😀
I love the devotionals!
family74014 at gmail dot com
Cool! Thanks, Aubrey. I enjoy writing them, so I’m glad I’m not the only one benefiting from them. 🙂
I liked the Doctor Who reviews. I’ve never watched an episode but now I’m going to check the series out.
Excellent! Thanks, Spav. I’m a little envious; that “first time” seeing a show only happens once, and you can’t bottle that feeling and experience. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
Happy “Birthday,” Colin! I’ve only been a follower for a couple of months, but I really enjoy reading your blog to see what you have to say. I think my favorite posts are your TTT posts because I always enjoy finding out what you’re reading or doing. And lists are fun!
Oh, and I LOVED the flash fiction piece you wrote during the A-Z challenge in April (the one about the haunted house). I still think about that from time to time, wondering what else happens in that world.
Thank you so much Daisy–for your comments, and for reading my blog! I was a little nervous setting myself that flash fiction sub-challenge during the A-Z challenge month, but I’m so glad I did it. I don’t know about anyone else, but I was very pleased with each one of those stories. Sure, they all had room for improvement, but I would be happy to develop any of those ideas. I’m glad you enjoyed “Hourglass.” Who knows, I might end up writing that dystopian novel one day. 🙂
Happy Blog Birthday! As for post preferences, I always prefer the life/anecdote-type articles.
Thanks, Dawn! I’m glad you enjoy the life stories. 🙂
Huh, I thought I entered this already, but I haven’t! Glad you posted a reminder in “A Second Signature?”.
HAPPY BLOG BIRTHDAY!!!
And as for favorite posts, I have to admit the one I thought of right away was “The Graham Cracker Question” because it was so quirky. 😛 But I always like to hear you talk about the writing process, handling rejection, why you write, soldiering on, etc… You have a great attitude when it comes to things like that. 🙂 I also think it’s cool that you openly discuss theology on your blog.
Thanks, Susan! Part of the point of this blog is for you (the reader) to get to know me. This almost requires I include theological discussions on my blog, because that’s an important part of who I am. I figure those that aren’t interested will just skip those posts. And that’s okay with me.
I appreciate you taking the time to stop by my blog and leave encouraging comments like this. 🙂
the stories section is my favorite! right on! Thanks for a super giveaway!
Thanks, Anash! I’m pleased you like the stories. I hope to add to them in the not-too-distant future. 🙂
I think we happened upon each other during Rachael Harrie’s Campaigner Challenge, last September – and I’m so glad we did!
It’s been great reading all of your posts, seeing what you’re reading, and checking out your reviews (not to mention, declaring to the world that one should always eat their meal with their fork in their LEFT hand and their knife in their RIGHT :)).
To many more years, Collin – keep it up!
Oy vey…I think I put an extra “l” in your name, when I know full well that’s NOT how you spell your name. My apologies, Mr. Smith. That’s what I get for being extra excited about that “l” key!
Don’t worry about it–at least you probably pronounced my name correctly in your head; it bothers me more when people make me sound like a part of the digestive system (it’s Coh-lin, not Coe-lin). 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words, Erin. I remember being really impressed with your blog design (and I’m still impressed–it’s very elegant). And I enjoy the content, too! Thank you for sticking with my blog for most of its life so far! 🙂
Okay, so now I’m actually saying “Cooooe-lin” out loud. Thanks for that. Who says that anyways? Probably some of those on the other side of the pond. 😉
And why thank you for the lovely comment on my blog, that’s in desperate need of some attention! Hopefully next month…since this month has been focused on finishing my revisions instead (which are almost done! At 2:30am this morning, I realized I have 12 pages left to go!). Maybe I should free lance you out to be a guest blogger? 😀
Congrats on your first year of blogging, Colin! And thanks for hosting a giveaway to celebrate. My favorite features on your blog are the RTW posts. They’re how I originally found you, and they’re always thoughtful and enlightening to read. Thanks again for the giveaway!
Thanks, Katy! Yeah, I have a soft spot for RTW. That’s where I met many of my blog friends, and the challenges are usually fun. 🙂