Well… what a year!

Blogging-wise, I have had a totally EPIC year!

As I write this post, the stats tell me I have;

• written over 2700 posts since I started my blog three years ago
• over 250,000 views on here
• nearly 80,000 visitors!
• over 5,100 WP followers
• almost 1500 extra followers on Social Media

Er, WOW!

Challenges;

• I completed Sacha’s 52-word #Writespiration challenge – a fiction piece every week for 52 weeks.
• I’ve not missed Sue’s #WritePhoto challenge each week either, and the last few weeks have developed into the continuing story of Barbie and Ken!
• I’ve haiku-ed every week with Rononvan Hester’s Weekly Haiku Challenge
• I have streamed my consciousness with Linda every Saturday, and one-linered each Wednesday
• I started to learn new poetry forms via Colleen and her weekly Poetry Challenge on a Tuesday
• I was introduced to Charli Mills and her Carrot Ranch, and was proud to have entered all her #FFRodeo challenges in November. I then went on to stretch my creative brain with her 99-word weekly prompts for flash fiction  .  And humbled that I was given an honourable mention in the last TUFF contest!

Then Spidey has played a part each and every Sunday – finding me amazingly inspirational quotes to share and discuss with you all.

I started my year deciding to take part in Linda G. Hill’s #JusJoJan, where she provided us with prompts (actually we provided her with prompts to them provide to the rest!) for each day in January.

I enjoyed the daily post so much that I set up my own month of posts for February, entitled #Lovuary.

This ended and March arrived with another idea…#MusicalMarch!

After three months of posting each day, I made a silent pact to myself… I would try to post something

EVERY DAY of 2017…

That was sometimes a bit of a struggle, but I managed it! And I was inspired by Lucy of Blonde Write More, who did this a couple of years ago. I was in awe of her!

Hearing everyone writing about #NaNoWriMo made me think. That age-old WIP was gathering dust and I wanted to do something about it. November is not a good month for me, work-wise so I devised my own month of creative writing – #RiNoWriMo – in August – a time when I could devote a few hours a day to writing – and I managed to write over 50,000 more words! It’s still not finished… but getting there!

I have been a member of a fantastic group on Facebook, started by the amazing Suzie of Suzie Speaks. It’s called Big Up Your Blog, and has helped me engage with [even] more bloggers and allowed my posts to be shared across so many more social media platforms…

I should also mention here bloggers who have been epic at sharing more or less all my posts since they followed me! Steven, of The Militant Negro, Michael, of Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung, and Robbie of  Robbie’s Inspiration.

I was even interviewed on radio by the most amazing blogger and creative poet, Annette Rochelle Aben. It’s the most wonderful experience to talk to someone you have been following for a long while – the connection was immediate!

A HUGE achievement for me has to be what happened in June… at the Annual Bloggers Bash.

There I was, quietly baking away, to bring some nibbles to the event, enjoying the anticipation of getting to meet some wonderful members of my Blogily, when the awards were announced, and I was voted Best Overall Blogger!!!!!!

Now I am looking forward to the 4th Annual Bash… tickets already paid for! May 19th – if you are interested!!!

And, for my own bragging rights, (and thanks to you that downloaded the book…) my poetry book, Poetic RITUALS, hit #1 in the Amazon Kindle chart! If you are interested, you can get it by clicking – myBook.to/PoeticRITUals

And I can only offer my heartfelt thanks to all of you out there who have tirelessly read my posts, taken the time to comment on them, and some of you have featured me on your blogs as a guest, and even popped over to have a cup of virtual tea with me too!

You truly are an extension of my family each and every one of you – my Blogily 💖

If I was to mention everyone, this would be a novel sized post, so I’ll leave it at this – you know who you are, and I appreciate you very much, my blog sisters and brothers!

And what has this blog got to offer you, my Peeps, my Blogily, next year?

Well, you’ll have to tune in tomorrow to find out!!!!

Wishing you a wonderful New Year celebration!

I hope you end your 2017 with many positive thoughts, and may your 2018 be filled with plenty more!