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.
