To celebrate this blog's tenth anniversary, allow me to take you back--way back to the beginning...
photo by ldyck
In August 2002, I asked web designer Monica Hogg to build a website for my handknitting patterns. I was delighted by the site. The only problem was very few knitters found it. For three years, I did everything I could to attract their attention. Frustrated, I asked Monica for solutions. She suggested a blog.
My response, "What's a blog?"
After Monica answered that question, I asked, "What do you put on a blog?"
Monica said something like, "Photos. Writing. Whatever you like."
In 2005, Monica built my first blog—Designer's Note.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Where were you on November 9, 2005? What were you doing?
Well, I was on Mayne Island. And one of the things I did was start blogging.
I wrote about becoming a blogger as a momentous event--like it would take me on an amazing journey.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Thanks to this blog I reached my goal of completing a book. Novelty Yarn is a collection of short stories with a central theme of knitting. Now I have once again set out to write a book--this time a novel. Short stories are manageable they do require some commitment of time but nothing compared to that required by a novel. It's much like the difference between knitting a hat and knitting a sweater.
I finished that book--Maynely a Mystery--and published it in June 2009.
Monday, March 29, 2010
I began this blog in 2005. I began with the plan of writing daily posts. I wanted to become an author. All the books I read, all the authors I spoke with gave me the same advice--'If you want to write write.' They encouraged me to make a daily commitment. I knew left to my own devices I would start out with the best intentions but would soon forget, reject, and neglect. I needed to be publicly accountable. So I started blogging and I found you. To my delight, you logged on to read my writing. Because of your support, I began to view myself as an author. I began to think that I had something worthy of being read.
I had many blog addresses over the years. On October 10, 2010, I created a blog to promote my upcoming thriller The Sweater Curse. Yes, I named my blog after my book--bad idea. With a name like that visitors were confused. Was it a knitting or writing blog?
In 2014, to uncomplicated things, I changed the blog's name to Author Leanne Dyck. Crickets. I made all of you disappear--all of my readers. What a magic trick. Would you ever find me again?
On September 13, 2020, at precisely 10:59 am, this blog received its 500,000-page view. Hooray! And I haven't stopped celebrating since.
'A page view...is an instance of a page being loaded in a browser...
For a blogger, it means that everytime someone request to load a page from your blog, you get a page view.' -Shafi Khan, Professional Blogger, SEO Executive
I'm looking forward to many more happy years with you.
Related article...
photo by ldyck
Virtual reading
Wednesday, October 14
short story: It Was Nothing
Petal wants to sleep in her mother's bed, but her mother doesn't let her and so...
Next Sunday...
Book Review:
People Like Frank
and other stories from the edge of normal
Jenn Ashton
photo by ldyck
Sharing my author journey...
he has three--The Barren Grounds is receiving rave reviews--such as on the book blog Pizza Stained Pages. During a recent interview on CBC radio, when asked how he learns to write in a new genre, David Robertson said, "Learn from the best."
I thought that was good advice. I'm currently writing a middle grade novel. So this week I bought The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane by Julia Nobel. It won the OLA Silver Birch Fiction Award 2020. I'm planning to take lots notes as I read. I will review The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane on Sunday, December 13. It will be the last book I review in 2020.