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Tag: blogoversary

Call for Questions!

Adventure Awaits turned three on March 31st, 2018! Yes, that was f o r e v e r ago. But it seems like something worth celebrating, and, well . . . better late than never.

Except I’m never late–I arrive precisely when I intend to. We shall just pretend I intended to arrive now. Shhh . . .

 

So to celebrate, why not follow in the footsteps of the great bloggers who have gone before me and–

 

Film a vlog!

. . .
. . .
Yes, yes, I can hear the crickets chirping! This is admittedly not the most original blogoversary idea in the history of the universe. But hear me out. Clichés are clichés for a reason. And I just finished reading Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon, so hey, let’s start our classy thievery of ideas right now. Here’s why a vlog is a good idea:

#1. I’ve only ever filmed one vlog.

It was years ago. I dare you to find it in the archives. Actually, don’t. I haven’t watched it in a long time, but I suspect it’s a leeeeettle cringey. Anyway! The point is, another one would be fun!

#2. Written communication is 2D, and video is 3D.

In writing, you can’t hear my tone of voice or see my dorky face or any of that real-life goodness. I’d love to gather all of you around for a massive bonfire (as long as someone else starts the fire, because I’m terrible at camping skills in general) and roast marshmallows and talk about adventure and books and silly stuff and deep stuff and strange stuff! But the reality is we can’t. A vlog is half of a real conversation, though, so that’s one step closer.

#3. You want a chance to see the dragon living in my basement, right?

What, you thought I was joking in my bio?

So this is your chance to ask me questionssss, precious!

Now when I’m the one being asked for questions, this is usually my brain’s cue to go blank, so here’s a warm-up list to get you started. Feel free to ask me about:

  • books
  • writing
  • The Brightest Thread (or any of my stories)
  • books
  • favorite movies
  • why the flipping pancakes a writer would go to business school
  • what it was like to be homeschooled
  • Canada
  • favorite beverage
  • what my dragon’s name is
  • favorite authors
  • life as an INFJ
  • books
  • more books
  • the time I almost died (okay, I’m exaggerating)
  • why I’m so much funnier in writing than in person (I’M SORRY, OKAY)
  • how to balance creativity and the billion things Life seems to think are important
  • um . . .
  • books?
  • seriously, just ask me anything. I’m up for the crazy, the deep and thoughtful, the surface-level, the ridiculous, whatever. (just probably not the super private stuff . . . like personal address or blood type. I can see you vampires lurking in the corner. Back, foul beasts.)

Go ahead and steal any of the above questions and/or make up a bunch of your own! The more the merrier, though I will try to keep things under control and not subject you to three million hours of my voice.

Leave all your questions in the comments! My plan is to get the vlog put together before Realm Makers in mid-July! (I’M SORRY, FRIEND, YOU’LL HAVE TO TALK LOUDER–THAT’S JUST THE SOUND OF LIFE LAUGHING AT MY AMBITIONS.) I’ll be away from the internet for a bit first, but rest assured I’ll be back to chortle at your amazing questions. So ask away!


Housekeeping Note: Next week’s Subplots & Storylines post will be a couple of days late. See ya soon!

Two Year Blogoversary + Blogger Recognition Tag + Musings

On March 31st, Adventure Awaits turned two! Being as all my energy was directed elsewhere last month, I had no time to prepare a blogoversary celebration quite like the first time. It was fun taking a survey and hosting a giveaway in 2016, and for a while I expected to do something similar this year, but alas and alack, dear questers–circumstances are different.

I do fully intend to come up with another giveaway sometime. I’m also getting the inklings of a plan for breathing fresh life into this blog come summer. But for now, we’ll have a quiet little party with as much chocolate cake and gingersnap cookies as you can imagine!*

*Because sadly, I have yet to figure out how to deliver sweets through the computer screen. So you’ll just have to pretend, okay?

[image via Pinterest, text my own]


The Itinerary of This Miniature Blogoversary:

  1. Blogger Recognition Tag
  2. Stats (because measuring growth is fun and motivating, yes?)
  3. Some musings about my blogging experience

1. Blogger Recognition Tag

See, I didn’t quite finish catching up on tags last month. Kate @ Story and Dark Chocolate gave me this Blogger Recognition Tag, which says:

  • Tell us a little about how you started blogging.
  • Give two pieces of advice for new bloggers.

How did I start this thing? Well, let’s see if my homework-muddled mind can think back to two years ago . . . Ah, yes, I remember. For some time already, I had wanted an online platform for my writing/a public place to put my thoughts out there. But I was taking my own sweet time fiddling with Blogger until Bryan Davis wanted to share my book review of To Kill a Mockingbird on his blog and asked if I had a website to link to. That provided the motivation to pull myself together and finally launch Adventure Awaits.

And that’s how it started.

It took me a while to find my groove, and to be honest, I’m still finding it. But now I can see more clearly how almost everything here centers around story somehow, whether it’s reading them, writing them, or living them. As time goes on, I hope to hone my focus even more.

If you want to read more trivia on the beginnings of the blog, check out my first blogoversary post.

Advice for new bloggers:

There’s the usual “be careful how much personal info you share,” and “be consistent,” but you can find those tips everywhere, so let’s talk about the fun stuff instead.

1. Be yourself! Yes, it’s cliché, but that’s because it’s true. Don’t bother copying another blogger’s voice or style, but don’t get too caught up in originality either. Just write the way YOU write (or the way you speak, if you want to be more casual). Figure out what feels natural to you, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Maybe you’re sarcastic or nonsensical or practical or poetic. Maybe you do lists. Maybe you tell stories. Maybe your posts are mainly photos with a handful of succinct thoughts thrown in. Maybe reading your blog feels like sitting down for a cup of coffee with a friend, or maybe it feels like a drive-through classroom where readers can learn something new during a five-minute break in their busy day. I don’t know! You get to figure it out!

2. Write about what’s on your heart. What do you ponder? What makes your pulse race and your chest tighten with anticipation? What makes you question? What makes you dream? What matters to you? You have something to offer. For me, I see life through the lens of story. It’s more than the books I read or the tales I type: it’s the adventure I’m living that’s headed toward a beautiful ending. So that’s what I blog about, because ultimately all those different kinds of stories, whether read or written or lived, all intersect. You get to blog about what matters to you. When you do that, you’ll write with passion, and you’ll attract people who care about that subject too.

This tag didn’t have any rules for how many new people to tag, which is fine because I’ve almost exhausted my list of available bloggers! If you feel like ruminating on the blogging life, feel free to steal it for yourself. 🙂

Stats & Things

78 followers across GFC and Bloglovin’–an increase of 40 since last year, hooray!
133 posts
2,938 comments (half of them are mine, LOL)
81,738 pageviews, over six times as many as last year (although I know I’ve been getting a lot of views from spammy URLS, so I’m not sure how much that actually counts)

Top ten countries from whence the pageviews came:
1. United States
2. Canada
3. Russia
4. France
5. United Kingdom
6. Germany
7. Ukraine
8. Australia
9. Brazil
10. Singapore

A collection of odd search results:
– wallpaper photos (I wonder which photos?)

– Tracey Dyck author (Yes! One day!)

– can I read eyes wide open without r . . . (Blogger cut off the sentence, but I’m assuming it would be “without reading [insert some other book in Ted Dekker’s Outlaw series])

– quest adventure awaits (I love the word quest. Also the word adventure.)

– tracy dyck hayd [insert swear word] (What?!)

– adventure awaits (That’s the expected search result, yes.)

– a girl walking alone in the road picture (I think I remember which post that was from . . .)

– pictures of people walking alone (See above.)

– tracy dyck accurate scale (Maybe learn how to spell my name accurately, hmm?)

– dekker “the creative way” writing course (Highly recommend!)

– Riley and Tracey Dyck [insert name of nearby town] (The fact that a local community name led to my blog is somewhat concerning. And who’s Riley?)

– bleck crying spm (Say what now?)

– the silmarillion 2016 (Ahh, that was a good ol’ time.)

– content (What do you mean? Being content? Offering good content? IS IT A NOUN OR AN ADJECTIVE? CONTEXT, PEOPLE.)

– tracy dyck Edmonton (I’ve never been there.)

bryan davis dragons in our midst (You have great reading taste, my friend.)


Ten most popular posts:
Again, I’m really not sure how accurate this is with the amount of spammy views I’ve been getting, because these posts are pretty random.

1. Book Review: Five Enchanted Roses
2. Subplots and Storylines – October 2016
3. Subplots and Storylines – November 2016
4. Beautiful Books – Writing Goals
5. The Cage // a spooky story
6. A Glimmer of Hope (Happy Birthday, LOTR!)
7. Why Fiction Matters
8. The Silmarillion Awards 2016: Riddling and Poetry Nominations
9. Problematic Opportunities and Opportunistic Problems
10. First Lines (Part 1)

I’d say the blog has definitely grown since March 2016, but like I mentioned earlier, I want to freshen things up around here in the coming months. Make this place even more inviting for you dear questers! (And if any of you have tips for minimizing the annoying spammy stuff, please let me know.)

Musings on Blogging

I’ve been thinking about the nature of social media lately. It’s so incomplete. We read each other’s updates and blogs, see each other’s photos, and think everyone else has it all together. Even the ones who openly confess they’re falling apart seem to be doing so gracefully and oh-so-photogenically.

Subplots and Storylines goes up near the end of every month, and while I thoroughly enjoy reflecting on the happenings of my life and the ways I’m growing, even those journal-like entries feel incomplete. Not only that, but I seem to give the impression that I’m super productive, accomplishing all sorts of things in the midst of a busy life. Is that true? Yes. And also no.

For being an INFJ, I’m terrible at analyzing myself. I never know if I’m too harsh or too lax, and thus in this case, I’m not sure if I actually am as “superhuman” as I seem to portray, or if what I do is actually pretty average and summing it up in one breath just sounds cool.

This is in NO WAY a critique on any of you wonderful commenters who encourage me! I love you guys! I’m just saying the whole concept makes me think. It makes me wonder about the inaccuracy of our online facades.

That being said, the internet is not the place to dump every single detail of one’s life, whether it’s in the name of being genuine or not! Even if I did do that, the picture would still not be complete. I think even with the people we see face-to-face every day, our pictures of each other are incomplete, because in a sense only you know your life. (You and God, of course.)

So maybe the point is not to try to offer the complete picture on your blog or Instagram or Twitter or whatever.

Maybe the point is to offer a sliver of the picture as honestly as you can, in a way that helps and uplifts as many people as you can. And if we all approached our online lives this way–as millions of slivers intersecting and touching and twining around each other–we would do a better job of it.

Well.

That got all introspective and challenging, and not very party-like, but that’s how I think sometimes, y’all.

Now, just so you don’t think that I’ve fallen out of love with blogging, you must know that I am so grateful for this little adventuresome community! I love interacting with y’all and sharing stories both on the page and in real life. THANK YOU ALL for your kind and encouraging comments, your feedback, your readership, your presence here. I’m not throwing words into a void; I get the chance to sit around the bonfire with real people and exchange real stories. Real embers of hope. It’s your names, your faces, that make blogging worth it. I’m truly honored to have you here.

Here’s to another year of well-spun tales and adventures waiting around every corner! Huzzah! Now pass around those leftover gingersnaps, why don’t you?

Giveaway Winner

The Adventure Awaits Blogoversary giveaway closed at midnight last night. Thanks again to every single one of you who participated in the party. I had lots of fun, and I hope you did too. So, same time next year? Yeah? Good. It’s a deal.

One lucky person was drawn at random to receive the prize of:

  • a handmade notebook
  • 3 handmade bookmarks
  • a printout of a poem I’ve never posted on my blog
  • and a personalized note

And that person is . . .

Anna Catherine!

Congrats, Anna! I sent you an email asking for your mailing address so I can ship the prize to you.
To everyone else: I wish I had enough prizes to give to all of you. (If it’s any consolation, this giveaway was so much fun, I know I’ll host another one day.)
Happy questing!

One Year Blogoversary + Survey + GIVEAWAY

Hey all! I’m four days late to my own blog’s birthday party. Woops. Life got in the way, so instead of stressing over a self-imposed deadline to get this post put together, I postponed it till yesterday. Which . . . obviously didn’t work out either, but I’m here today, right? Onwards!

***

One year ago, I set forth on a digital adventure. Long had I roamed the Kingdom of Blogosphere, but never had I staked a claim on my own corner of the land. So it was on March 31st, 2015 that Adventure Awaits was born.

It’s hard to believe a whole year has gone by since then! In some ways I feel like I’ve been blogging for ages, and in other ways I feel like a baby blogger, still wet around the ears and mostly clueless. It’s been a super fun start to a wonderful adventure, though! I’ve met many fellow voyagers, crossed paths with many dear souls forging their way through this quest of life. Without all you who follow and read and comment, there’d be little reason for Adventure Awaits to exist–so THANK YOU.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for following. Thank you for taking a moment to tell me what you think, to discuss books or talk writing or delve into the delightful complexities of life. You guys make this incredibly fun.

Since this little place is now one year old, I’ve decided to throw a celebration! Just like mothers measure their children against the wall and pencil in their growing heights, I enjoy watching my blog’s stats, so I’ll share a few of those with you. After that, there’s a fun little survey, and then a fun little giveaway to wrap things up. Because what’s a birthday party without presents, I ask you?

Stats and Fun Facts

A few bits of trivia:

  • Though I’d played around with Blogger casually for months, the thing that pushed me over the edge and forced me to actually make something of it was my first ever guest post going up on Bryan Davis’s blog: Courage to save the Mockingbirds.
  • I initially didn’t have a specific name for the blog, but someone saw the tagline in the header and referred to the blog by that name, and so I ran with it. (I think it was you, Tori. ^_^)
  • I’ve had two guest posts here so far: the first with my friend and artist, Kianna G., and the second with my brother Josiah.

And now for some stats. I currently have . . .

  • 38 freakishly awesome followers across Google Friend Connect and Bloglovin’. (Unless some of you follow on both, in which case I have less. BUT there are always people that bookmark blogs and follow unofficially, so I figure it balances out.)
  • 73 posts
  • 12,190 pageviews
  • 1,253 comments

The top ten countries from which my views come are:

  1. United States
  2. Canada
  3. Russia
  4. United Kingdom
  5. Ukraine
  6. Israel
  7. Germany
  8. France
  9. Mexico
  10. Australia

Some interesting (and some odd) search results that people have used to get to my blog:

  • ted dekker (I do talk about his books a fair bit.)
  • tracy dyck (Ah, you’re so close . . . Just add an E!)
  • once upon a time main cast (Yes, I suppose I do mention OUaT in most of my Subplots and Storylines posts, seeing as I’m going through all the seasons.)
  • tracy dyck edmonton (I don’t . . . live there. But okay.)
  • adventure awaits (Bravo!)
  • bryan davis dragons in our midst (Another author/series I can’t stop talking about.)
  • house frank peretti and ted dekker i . . . (Unfortunately, Blogger won’t let me see the rest of this line. It just stops partway through a word.)
  • ooh ahh winnie the pooh wallpaper (WHAT EVEN DO YOU MEAN?!)

My ten most popular posts, in order from most views to least:

  1. Welcome! (also has the highest number of comments)
  2. Lovely Books // covers & titles
  3. Beautiful People – 2016 Plans
  4. Lovely Books // couples
  5. Four Elements of a Successful Villain – guest post by Josiah Dyck
  6. Lovely Books // villains (I’m sensing a pattern here . . .)
  7. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year – a Christmasy tag
  8. Subplots and Storylines – February
  9. Books of 2015
  10. Philosophical Ramblings on the Subject of Time Travel

I wish Blogger did a cool stats report like WordPress supposedly does, but alas and alack, it does not. Otherwise it’d be fun to mention top commenters and whatnot, but there’s no way I have time to go through every post and manually tally everyone’s comments! Just know that I appreciate EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU.

Survey

So much of blogging is guesswork, people! And some things I write about take off, and others may fall flat, and basically–confession time here–I can’t read minds. So I would adore you forever if you would take a minute and answer some questions. I want to know what you think! And please be 100% honest, even if that means answering negatively. You’ll help me grow and be a better blogger.

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Online survey powered by Typeform

Thanks again, my friends!

Giveaway

Since this is my blog’s first birthday, and since birthdays mean parties, and parties mean presents, tada! I’m hosting a giveaway! I’m being a generous dragon today by shelling out a few coins from my pile of gold in order to make this giveaway open to residents of Canada AND the United States. Aren’t you thrilled?

Feast your eyes on the lovely little prize I put together.

a handmade notebook
3 handmade bookmarks

Not only will one lucky follower win the notebook and bookmarks, they’ll also receive a printout of one of my poems (never posted on the blog before), and a personalized note from me. Just because I love you guys.

What are you waiting for?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(I tried embedding the giveaway into this post, and all I got was a boring-looking link. Sorry ’bout that. Please click the link to enter.)

(Oh, and it runs until midnight on April 10, 2016, Central Time. Just FYI.)

That’s it, that’s all, folks.

Once again, I have to say a ginormous thank you! This first year of blogging has been a blast, and I’m looking forward to another year that’s even better than the first.