Happy Birthday to " … on Anything, Really": 1 Year Old Today—Plus Grand Birthday Giveaway Begins!
Well, we did it.
Exactly 1 year ago today I put up my very first post here " … on Anything, Really", titled (appropriately enough, but possibly not very originally) "And so it begins …"
What I said on May 31 2010 was:
" … in terms of content I'll be focusing on my writing, so expect to see plenty here about both novels and poetry, what's coming up and what's happening, as well as the interviews I do on radio—and I hope there'll be a few online interviews showing up here!
But it won't just be my creative work: I'm looking forward to having conversations around what I'm reading now, the books I've loved reading in the past as well as creative influences from other areas. I also love food and wine, trees, getting out into wild places . . . as well as having a little cat buddy who likes to have his share in the conversations. So hope to keep that promise of "anything really …"
Well, I think I've done all that and a little bit more, including reporting from the suburban front lines of Christchurch's February 22nd earthquake and its aftermath. In the past year I have also held not one but three blog parties to celebrate the US, Australia/New Zealand and UK launches of The Heir of Night and also run a F-SF Guest Author Series.
Blogging Every Day …
When I began blogging, I also decided to try and blog every day if I could. In total, I have clocked up 406 posts, but I did miss one day: Febuary 23, the day immediately following the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake when the sector of the city I live in was still without power—and a great many other services, but power was the one that prevented blogging. I do feel, though, that this circumstance counts as an extenuating circumstance in terms of my objective to 'blog every day.'
A Few Statistics:
In terms of site visitors, my first month was the lowest for distinct visitors: 1476
The highest month to date: 5000 distinct visits
And readership has grown by approximately 50% this year from the end of 2010.
So, very modest compared to the followings enjoyed by Messrs Gaiman and Scalzi and also sites such as Beatties Bookblog, but hey— "… on Anything, Really" is still new.
What Else Has Happened:
An important reason for commencing blogging here on "…Anything, Really" was as a means of communicating more directly with my readers, many of whom are international. So I blog because I'm a writer and the core of the blog is around my writing. So what's been happening with that while I've been blogging every day:
Thornspell came out in paperback;
The Heir of Night was published in the USA, Australia-New Zealand and the UK, with foreign rights sales into The Netherlands and France;
I completed the first draft of The Gathering of the Lost , The Wall of Night Series Book Two to my publishers and am currently completing the final version (a process that was somewhat delayed by earthquake and aftermath, but that, as they say, is life);
I have had poetry published in the following journals: Bravado; JAAM ; the NZ Poetry SocietyAnthology 2010, across the fingerboards; the International Literary Quarterly and broadsheet 7: new, new zealand poetry ;
And through the blog I have become part of the Tuesday Poem community;
I completed a number of blog and radio interviews with other writers; and
Contributed a short story, The Fountain , to the recently published Tales for Canterbury anthology, a fundraising project for the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal.
—
AND
B is for Blogs, Birthdays and Birthday Presents:
I decided that I wasn't going to stick to the virtual for "… on Anything, Really's" birthday. I am still thinking about a present for the blog—and yes, ideas would be welcome!—but I also thought the blog birthday could be time for another grand book giveaway draw.
Here's how it works:
The period of the competition will be from 31 May to 30 June 2010 inclusive;
Entries in the competition will be drawn from comments on distinct blog posts during that period: so each time you comment on a new post your name will be entered in the draw again—but only once for each distinct post. (For example: if you post one comment each on 10 distinct blog posts, your name will be entered in the draw 10 times; if you post 10 comments on 1 distinct blog post, your name will only be entered in the draw once.)
Three separate book sets are available to be won, each one to be drawn separately:
The Grand Epic Fantasy Giveaway Set, comprising:
a signed UK, trade format first edition of The Heir of Night;
a hardback, anniversary edition of Sara Douglas's Battle Axe
Trudi Canavan's The Ambassador's Mission
Ursula Le Guin's Lavinia
Neil Gaiman's American Gods
The Grand YA Fantasy Giveaway Set Comprising:
a signed hardback copy of Thornspell
Cassandra Clare's complete Mortal Instruments trilogy: City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass
Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief
Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan
The Grand NZ Poetry Giveaway Comprising:
AUP New Poets: Harry Jones, Erin Scudder & Chris Tse
Ingrid Horrocks' Mapping the Distance
Anna Livesey's the moonmen
Kerry Popplewell's Leaving the Tableland
If you only wish to be entered in one of the draws, please enter the category you are interested in (e.g. Poetry; or YA Fantasy, or Epic Fantasy) by your name the first time you leave a comment.
The draw will be made on Saturday 2 July 2011 using Random Number Integer.
