Third Time's a Charm -- 3 Years In the Blogosphere!

Well hello there!

Three years. Can you believe it? Today marks three wonderful years that Edge of Night and I have had the pleasure of calling the blogosphere home. That is simultaneously a very long time and no time at all. As I've said many times before, I can't thank you enough for all the support and encouragement you've given me over the years -- I most certainly would have burned myself out by now, had it not been for you!

I don't believe I have any super-duper or overly-exciting updates or announcements for you this time around, but I do have a few fun things to go over. Here's a quick breakdown of what you'll find in this post:

• General updates

• Nightfall Poetry Collection update

• Blogiversary gifts, stats

• Opportunity to suggest ideas on how to celebrate this occasion (other than this post)

First off,

General Updates

I'd start by saying I'm sorry for the painfully slow, random, and sparse posting that's been going on for a while, but I say that so often that I'm sure you get the message. There've been some things going on at home (another death in the family -- my aunt, who had been battling cancer for the last couple of years, as well some family work-related problems. A.K.A: Life), plus I've just not had the motivation to get new ideas up and going.

3 years is a decent chunk of time to have been writing near daily, and I can feel the drive to keep up with "regular" posting fading. Most of what I have written (recently), I'm not happy with -- that's really no biggie, always room for revision. But it does make writing poems and stories a bit more frustrating, especially when you're trying to get them out in good time (and here you see why I would fail at a career in writing LOL).

With all of that said, I wouldn't be surprised if this is Edge of Night's last active year. I have no plans to quit posting at the moment, but the thought has crossed my mind a few times. Thing is, once I stop, I know I'm going to get the urge to come back within weeks, or maybe a couple of months, after. So I'm going to try to ride it out as long as possible. I've had a blast with this blog, and I ain't ready for it to end quite yet. I suppose only time will tell where this goes!

However, there is some good news to be had when it does come time for me to depart, and this leads me to...


Nightfall Poetry Collection Update

Obviously this cover will have to be changed.

Despite the lack of news I've had to share about it, Nightfall isn't dead. Far from it, actually! I haven't done much with it physically (i.e., I haven't worked with the draft version) since the giveaway last year, but that's mainly because there's not much point in doing so yet. I'm just going to be accumulating more pieces, which, given enough of them, could result in a completely different layout in the book. Even the cover will be needing some changes, as we're obviously past the two-year mark now.

Hardly a day goes by, however, that it isn't on my mind in some shape or form, and I've been thinking about when, where, and how I should go about distributing it after it's all ready to go. My original plan, which I'm still considering as well, was to independently publish it through places like Smashwords, Amazon, but there are a few catches to that option that make me hesitant. To name one or two...

• Legal contracts. I'm very new to the legal world and everything that goes with it, I'm very inexperienced, and thus I'm very, very careful. Of course, the chances of anything going wrong are low, but if something did -- well, I'd just really like to avoid that if at all possible lol..

• Amazon has something about pen names, too. They won't list your real name on the book, but they want to have your real name as well, and I'd currently prefer to keep my two names separate from each other. So that's another thing to consider.

• Also, price. Distributing Nightfall through a service like Amazon, even Smashwords, but particularly a colossal of a company like Amazon, gives me less control over certain things about my book and the publishing process -- including price. Some places let the author pick their price, some set it automatically, some have a minimum or a limit, etc. I'm not looking to get anything out of Nightfall, and I know Amazon at least doesn't allow permanently free listings.

As there is a lot that goes into publishing through someone else's service, I've also been thinking about simply putting up a downloadable version on my blog.

You know, when I've collected all my poems, I'll finish the book up just like before, but leave you with a link to download (likely) a PDF version, completely free of cost, etc., rather than going through an "official" channel. What do you think about that? For those of you who received Early Editions in the giveaway, it would be quite like that. Just available to everyone, anytime, as long as my blog was still accessible.

Let me know your thoughts on that, will you? :)


Blogiversary

And now on with the rest of the blogiversary traditions! Once again, a big, big thank you for all of your fantastic support, comments, feedback, and time these last three years -- you've made writing a daily part of my life, and I've even gotten to see several of my fellow bloggers become published authors! How cool is that? I don't want to miss anybody, but you guys know who you are. Congratulations -- you so deserve it!!

Let's start with...


A Small Thank You

When my blog hit 10,000 pageviews way back in 2015, I offered to send anyone who wanted one a little personalized "card." Well, I'd like to offer that again. It isn't much -- just a tiny way to show my appreciation. But what you'll get is an image with a brief message written on it (basically saying "thank you"). You can do with it whatever you like, including nothing at all. It's simply a show of thanks. :)

If you'd like one of these, comment below or contact me through email or social media saying "I want a card!" and provide me with an attachment-friendly method of getting it to you (preferably email, but Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ would work, too!). I will send it to you as soon as I have it finished.

(I recommend using my Contact page -- it has an email form for you to use directly in there, and also all of my other links if you need them!)


Blogiversary Stats

It's a common anniversary tradition to share a blog's stats each year. It's like recordkeeping, and it makes for a fun way to reflect on progress made!

Note: It's easy to get preoccupied with numbers, but I want to make clear that this is just for fun. It's, again, a way to look back on past years and see how things have changed. The numbers aren't important, and they aren't the point. I hope my sharing of stats doesn't come across in a negative way, and I apologize if it seems like that to you. Truly not my intention! 😉

Onward!

                                                                                                                 

(There's something wacky going on with Blogger's stat counters, so these are all approximate.)

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Total pageviews: 85,186

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Top five countries visiting my blog: The US, Russia, India, France, Germany.

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My seven most-viewed posts: 

1. Blogger Recognition Award - Celebrate Bloggers!

2. Cover Reveal: Nightfall, My Upcoming Poetry Collection!

3. July 26th - August 26th: CFT Writing Contest & Post Break

4. In Two Years' Time -- Happy Birthday, Edge of Night!

5. To All Aspiring Writers Still In School

6. Poem: "The Infinity Chain"

7. The Rising Authors Tag

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My most-viewed category/page: About

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Most-viewed poem: Law of the Jungle
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Most-viewed story: In the City of Eternal Night
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Total number of posts published: 201
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Total number of comments published: 1,726
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Total number of poems published: ~95 (+7 Midget Monday micro-poems)

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Total number of short stories published: ~7 (+7 Midget Monday micro-stories)

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Contests held: 4 (one monthly for ~8 months, and three one-time contests)

- Featured Website Contest | Multiple posts containing results (monthly)
- Writing Contest | No results
- Raven's Omen Writing Contest | Results
- Campfire Tales Writing Contest | Results
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Collaborations:
- Blogger Buddies Tag With Erika Gold
- Reader Collab: A Collection of Outside Poetry & Prose
- Confessions of a Reader (My blog, Aneesa's guest post) / Confessions of a Writer (Aneesa's blog, my guest post)

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Blog followers (GFC): 117 followers

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Twitter: 671 followers

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Facebook: 19 likes

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Google+: 128 followers

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Bloglovin' subscribers: 35

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Email subscribers: 15

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How Else Shall We Celebrate?

Let me wrap this up by asking you this: A blog's anniversary makes for the perfect time to do something special. For my first, I wrote the short blogging tips series "Tips From a Newbie," sharing what I'd learned in my first year. For my second, I gave out early editions of my in-progress poetry collection, Nightfall. 

Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do for my third anniversary? What would you like to see?

I don't think I'm up for a contest at the moment, but perhaps another type of reader collaboration, where you all send me your poetry and stories and I gather them together; maybe a Q&A, although I'm also considering one of those for 100,000 pageviews. I don't know. Hit me with your ideas, if you have any!

Thank you to everyone again for a brilliant 3 years.

Cheers to another year!

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Also, I'm actively working on Part 2 of "October Orchards"! Will be out as soon as I manage to finish it. :)