A Decade On! 10 Years in the Blogosphere (kind of)!

 (Apologies, missed by a day, and posting from mobile.)

Oh, hi there!

Guess what? I'm not dead!

And neither are the ideas in my head. The last post I have on here (Changes Are On the Wind...) still very much rings true -- it's just going to be (significantly) longer than I originally planned for.

When I wrote that, I intended to finish Nightfall, my poetry book, and then get started on my new writing home. Honestly, that's still the plan, but even just finishing the book is taking... eons.

It'll happen in due time.

I'm going through and revising all of my old poems, which I was hesitant at first to do, since they are a part of my history at this point. But it has really made a positive difference -- and I still have all the originals saved! So I can always bring them back out if, for some oddball reason, I want to do that.

But I'm enjoying the slow (as balls) journey. Going at my pace, doing a little bit here and there, progressing slowly, but surely.

Nothing wrong with that.

I didn't post for EoN's blogiversary last year, which was a first. I intended to, but I never made it. I let it pass, as there really wouldn't be anything of importance to cover, anyway. Another year of inactivity lol.

But, I knew this year was a special year for Edge of Night... And I fully intended to make this one.

Changes Are On the Wind...

 Updated with a little more info and a few final Twitter comments!

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Well, hi there!

Very short and sweet today. But I thought I'd drop by and give a hint or two that there are some major changes coming...

It's been a beautiful, exploratory ride. It truly has been.

And it isn't over. My desire to write and publish, and to take the knowledge I've gained over the last 7+ years of working on Edge of Night, is returning with a vengeance. I want to get back into it, and maybe do even more with it. Things that I didn't have the resources to do before.

However, it won't be here. And it won't be under this name.

I want to start fresh. I've changed quite a bit since first starting EoN, and choosing the pen name Eve. (I always disliked my choice of last name -- Estelle -- anyway.). And my next steps are going to reflect some of those changes.

I'll be starting out with the same goals I had in mind for EoN. A simple place to grow and experiment. But I'm also keeping in mind a slightly bigger picture as well. 

I'm excited to see where it goes. And I truly hope to see some of you there with me.

You've been amazing. I truly appreciate your support.

Still working on details. Still getting things set up.

I'm going to finish Nightfall before I dive deep into anything else.

That is going to serve as my relic collection of older works. It has more of a purpose than it did before.

I must get my life in order before committing to anything for sure, and it may be a while from now. But the blog isn't going anywhere until then -- most new content will be saved for the future, but I'll still be working in the background. Stop in and say hey if you ever feel like it!

I sincerely hope this post finds you well, in life, family, health, and everything in between.

Thank you all for everything.

Eve

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I was suspended from Twitter a while ago (no idea why lol) and finally appealed to get my account back. Didn't care until I needed to change some settings and realized I couldn't -- but now that it's back, I will be making my account private, eventually deactivating it when I feel I have everything I need off of it. Thank you to everyone who followed along during my Twitter events, rambles, and rants! It was fun. Wonder where we'll go next?

Magnificent Seven -- Seven Years of EoN!

...And perhaps the last.

Hm. Too soon to say on that one, but I do feel a major change is approaching!

More on that later...

Hello, hello!! It's been quite a while, hasn't it? Especially considering that my last post here was this blog's 6-year anniversary... Bad Eve.

That one was late, too, but at least I did better this time around lol.

I've missed it here, dearly! I have. I still find myself writing every so often, bits and pieces... But I can't quite seem to finish any of them. Even ones that I've had going for years (honestly, especially not those!). I have no lack of material, and finding time to sit awhile and think, or even just a few minutes to jot down a few words here and there -- isn't really an issue. I've been doing plenty of the former, and I think that's where my problem lies; I've been thinking about a lot things, too much. Too much rattling around in there to feel anything concretely, and certainly it leaves me mentally exhausted after a while. I don't want to do anything. 

Except, I do... And I don't.

It's complicated. And it sucks. Come onnn, figure yourself out. *bonks self on the head* 😏

Life, huh? Now that thing can get complicated.

Past the Halfway Mark -- 6 Years in the Blogosphere!

Over a month late, but at least it's out. Happy birthday, Edge of Night!

Well howdy ho!

Long time no see, eh? How have you all been? Ignoring the massive, flaming dumpster fire that is the world at the moment, I hope life is treating you as well as it possibly can. It's been an absolutely...

Uh.

It's been a year. We'll just go with that. It's been something of a special year.

And in that year, I've missed being here dearly -- this blog was, for several years of my life, a big part of me. And, because of that, it will remain a part of me for the rest of my days... in whatever capacity that may be, from an active hobby and place to share and practice, to the pleasant memory of a place that allowed me to grow, hone my skills a little, and find a little bit of myself. It, and all of you along the way (because I wouldn't have made it this long without your lovely interactions), have surely earned a special place in my heart.

5 Years in the Blogosphere -- Half a Decade!

That should say "Oct. 8, 2014," not 2015, but y'know. My bad.

Did you know I had to check at least three times how many years ago it was that I made this little blog of mine?

Guys, I'm losing track already. WTF. That's how long it's been.

Much has changed over these wonderful five years. Heck, many of you that I first exchanged blog links with, during my early days, many are gone, now -- or on your way out. Which I get, 100%. It's a lot of time, energy, and effort to run a blog... No matter how casual you are about it. And, eventually, you may find yourself drifting away from your online world, to focus more on your personal life. Passions come and go.

(Who knows, maybe some of you will return to the blogosphere in the future. I'd certainly be happy to see ya!)

I'm feelin' it, too. It's pretty obvious from how inactive I am these days. But, despite posts that are few and far between, I still love writing here. Whenever I get a burst of inspiration, this is still where I head.

Sadly, I've not been around to pay visits to my fellow writers and blog buddies, but I'm still here...

I've taken a much more relaxed, whenever-I-get-to-it approach to this since my efforts had begun to be directed elsewhere. Unfortunately, that means that, at times, I don't have anything new out for months... But it has also kept me going. Kept me from getting burned out.

I will, hopefully, reenter into a more active phase again, sometime... Till then, thank you for sticking around. :)

Ready to hear what's been going on 'round these parts as of late?

Come join me on Wattpad, @Eve_Estelle!

Howdy ho, good morning/afternoon/evening/night to you!

If you follow my arse on Twitter, you'll already know about this... However, if you haven't heard it yet, I joined Wattpad, a very well-known and established writing community and platform.

I had been feeling like something new was needed for a while, something to change things up a bit. And I won't lie when I say that even the thought of leaving Blogger for WordPress (or another blog platform) crossed my mind. Briefly. But, after some research, I still favor good ol' Blogger for my needs.

I'm approaching Wattpad a bit differently than previous writing community sites (like AllPoetry or HelloPoetry, both of which I love, but I never kept up with). It'll serve as both a backup, in the case that something were to happen to this blog, its content, or Blogger as a whole (looking at you, Google+), and as an alternative/extra to EoN.

I had originally planned on posting only my "best of" poems and stories, but it felt like chopping off a limb and having to pick which leg I wanted to keep. So I took the easy way out.

At a goal rate of 1-2 (more or less) pieces per week, all of my poems and my stories will go up on Wattpad. That includes the crappy old ones. They'll be given fancy (er, as fancy as I can make 'em, anyhow) new covers, many will include (optional) embedded audio for atmospheric music, and all of them will include Author's Notes with extra info related to each piece, how it fits in, its themes, any dedications, etc.

Very similar to what I do here now, but with all the added skills and knowledge I've gained over these last 4+ years of blogging.

Once I'm caught up and posting current content, I may even do some Wattpad exclusives, considering the entirely new community there.

We'll see how it all pans out. I'm feeling very excited about this. I think it'll be interesting to revisit all these old pieces... And it'll give me a little more piece of mind, that not all of my time and effort has been concentrated into just one spot.

So, if you'd ever like to follow my journey over on Wattpad, you can find me @Eve_Estelle. I've already begun posting, starting with the very first poem I published to Edge of Night: Check it out here.

If you're already a member of the community yourself (whether reader or writer), or you just joined, make sure to share your username with me so I can check you out as well!

Hope to see you there. Thank you! <3

Google+ Is Going Away Soon -- Don't Lose Touch!

Hello, hello!

Brief PSA here. As I'm sure most of you are aware by now, Google is killing its Google+ social platform on April 2nd, 2019 -- less than a month from now. Pictures, videos, communities, comments made using G+, posts, profiles, followers, and anything else having to do with the social network will all be gone very shortly.

(If you'd like to learn more about this, and/or how you can download and preserve portions of your data, please see Google's own posts and announcements regarding these topics.)

Betas Wanted! This Three-Part Poem Needs Another Pair of Eyes!

UPDATE (1/15/19): All good now on betas! Poem to be published very soon. Thank you!

Gooood evening!

I'll keep this short and sweet, but I'm looking for some fabulous beta readers. I've finished writing a three-part poem piece, and I've stared at it for so long now that my opinion is garbage. I can't spot the many flaws I know are there.

So I need your help.

No beta-reading experience needed. You don't have to be good at poetic analysis. Seriously, the perspective of somebody who has never read a poem in their life is just as valuable to me as the perspective of a poetry connoisseur. If you're interested, you've got the gig.

Only requirement: Be honest! Be ruthless! I can take it, and I need that sort of feedback.

Thank you!! :) I really, truly appreciate it!

* * *

If you'd like to be my beta reader, just leave a comment saying so below (or contact me in some other way), and I'll provide you the link to a Google Doc that contains the entire poem.

From there, you can make suggestions right inside the form, or send them to me via email or social media messages, etc.

A Post to (Welcome) the New Year

Happy New Year!

2018 has finally come to a close, and personally I find it a bit sad to say goodbye. It was an interesting time -- lot of internal and a few major external changes in my own life, and plenty of happenings going on around it. Got some good writing in, although it's never as much as you hope it will be. :)

Still, I'm happy with the pieces I've churned out this year. I find it exciting that I'm able to write more and more meaningful poems and stories, along with the usual just-for-fun kind. Though my post quantity has decreased, much improvement has been made in terms of quality, and it's been nice to just let posts form as they will, without having to worry about getting enough out and in good time, etc., etc...

Again, it's never as much as you'd like it to be, but I feel pretty balanced at the moment, really.

And it's sweet -- this time last year, I was writing Tidings of Spring. One of my main points of internal conflict at that time was wanting, knowing I should get out into the world -- specifically, the working world -- and simultaneously being far too content with the one I already had. While it would eventually have become a necessary move, it wasn't yet immediate -- which made it difficult, and a mental weight I felt daily.

A year later, I'm in the midst of such a move and having a blast with it. It's not a perfect situation, but it's progress. For now, things are settled. I'm happy, lighter. Ideas are flowing! (Sort of.)

I'm even finally getting to classics I should have read eons ago -- started Harry Potter, paused, but currently I'm reading Tolkien (the Hobbit, with LOTR planned for after). 'Bout time.

Anyway, these New Year posts are always pretty much just reflective and incohesive rambles, but that was my 2018 in a non-comprehensive nutshell. How was yours? What's one memorable moment you have from this year now past?

(Tad late on this, too, but I wanted to get something out and it's not even mid January, yet, so it's still appropriate lol!)

Didn't feel the need to continue my "A New Year's Thank You" title tradition, either. Same content, but time to change it up.

As for other posts, I'm currently working on several new poems, one of which is a three-parter! I'm excited for that. 2/3 parts done, however, final completion date TBD.

Have a safe and brilliant new year! Thanks for spending some of it with me here at EoN.

/salute

Literary Book Gifts -- A Special Gift For EoN Readers [Promo Code: 20% Off Anything In Store]

Greetings! Long time no see.

In my previous post celebrating Edge of Night's fourth anniversary, I hinted at a special gift courtesy of Melissa from Literary Book Gifts. Melissa had perfect timing with her offer; I normally don't write posts like these, but it happened to be a really nice, and different, fit as an anniversary gift for you all, and I know plenty of you love brilliant authors like Lewis Carroll, Edgar A. Poe, Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen... (Heard enough yet?)

Fourscore and Seven [4] Years Ago... Four Years in the Blogosphere!

Hellooooo, there!

Dear lord, that was a terrible title.

Anywho, October 8th was a special day for Edge of Night; it was the fourth anniversary of its creation, and of my time in the blogging world, at least as the pseudonymous Eve. From 2014 to 2018, we've both come a long way -- in large part due to you.

Beautiful people, you are! Honestly.

I'm going to keep this blogiversary post very short and sweet this time 'round. I always try to get these posts out on the anniversary date, but I'll have to settle with getting it published over the weekend. I don't believe I even have any updates to share! I've pretty much covered them all recently enough that I'd just be repeating myself.

(If you missed 'em, or just want to refresh, below are a few of my biggest, still-relevant update posts. If there's another you'd like, feel free to ask!

- General Updates & A Few Snippets #2

Various updates related to me, EoN, and post writing.

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

Various updates, but of particular relevance still is the Nightfall Poetry Collection one. You can also visit this page to check its status!)

Blogiversary Stats & Gifts

A fun form of recordkeeping, the sharing of blog stats is a common blogiversary tradition -- it makes for a great way to reflect on progress made, and can also serve as a trip down memory lane (I've trimmed it down a bit this year, eliminating some categories I used in previous years).

Let's see where we're at on the road so far, shall we?

100k Q&A - Answers!

Just a little under two weeks ago, I had asked you to submit to me your burning questions for my August 13th - 20th Q&A celebrating 100k pageviews. I apologize for the delay in getting this post out (I thought I'd be able to get it out before the weekend! Oh well), but below you will find my answers to each one. There aren't many, as was expected, but Q&As are always fun -- and they're a great way to celebrate, so I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this as I have!

Beyond that, I'm going to jump right in. Thank you to those who participated & sent me their questions!

Questions are listed in the order they were received.

100,000 Pageviews -- Thank You! | Q&A Session Aug. 13th - 20th

Update (8/26/18): Answers are out! Read 'em here!

Howdy ho! Happy August.

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet today -- as you can obviously tell, I've been posting much less frequently as of late, even on my social accounts. I'm still here, still available whenever you have comments or questions or just feel like saying hey, but I've reached the point where I'm not so worried about having a constant stream of content to put out. If I have something to say, I'll say it.

As it has always gone, my posting frequency will go in streaks. But, to be quite honest, this slower pace lets me focus more on quality. Now that I have a decent amount of older content that folks can browse, I believe that's for the better.

But on to the real reason for this post today:

Thanks to each and every one of you, including myself when I forget to hit the "Don't track my pageviews" box or Blogger just decides it's a malfunctioning butt plug, my blog, sometime last week, reached the milestone of over 100,000 views.

General Updates & A Few Snippets #2

Hey, hey, hey!

Hoo boy. Been a while, hasn't it? If I'm not mistaken, this is one of, if not the, longest periods I've gone without posting anything new (including updates like this one). I'm sorry about that. It's not that I've become disinterested, and I've definitely not abandoned ship -- not at all, in fact. It's not even really about being "too busy," since life is always busy. It's just a particularly bad case of fark-I-can't-finish-anything-I-start.

*chuckles* In other words, the usual.

But this post is here to break the silence! While you might already be caught up on the general updates from my occasional Twitter postings, I'll also be sharing some more behind-the-scenes type previews of several of my current works-in-progress, as well as post ideas I've been considering trying out.

This will be very similar to my last Updates & Snippets post -- with hopefully one or two good tidbits in here to help tide you over during this quiet time!

As always, thank you for bearing with my slow arse.

A New Year's Thank You #4

Happy New Year!

It's getting about time for me to use a different image for these posts... I never saved a yearless version, like an idiot, and now I can't use Picmonkey without a membership. So. I copy/pasted an 8 onto "2017," and there will be a new one next time lol...

Anyway, can you believe 2017 has come to an end? I never can. Every year I say the same thing, and I never can believe how fast each year goes. And it's only getting worse!

I hope you had a great year. I know I did, despite there being some parts that I, let's just say, could have done without. I hope you have lots of good memories to look back on, and that nothing too nasty ruined it all. Each year has its ups and its downs; but every experience leads you to where you are, and will be. The best advice I can give to anyone struggling after a tough year is just that -- see it all as an experience.

The good, the bad, the simple, the extraordinary; everything that happens to you is now a story you can tell. Learn from it, whatever it is or was, and don't dwell on it for too long. Let it make you better, not worse; let it make you stronger, not weaker; and also, let it show you just how human we all are. Right? We all go through crap. Not one of us gets off scot-free in the end. The only difference, and the only thing that matters, and perhaps the only thing you can change, is how you deal with it.

So make it count. All of it. And don't be hard on yourself when you can't -- it's something to work towards. Just don't stop learning!

...And for god's sake! If you make one resolution this year, forget the promises to exercise more, floss regularly, and those many others that we promise every single year and rarely actually follow through on -- work on those anyway. But tell yourself you're not going to take yourself so seriously.

Allow yourself to see how small much of the day-to-day garbage you face really is. And laugh at it, as best you can. Oh, someone's holding up the line? Yeah, I've got things to do, but I'm just one of a million people in this same situation at this very moment. Ahh, customer called me the scourge of the Earth and hit me with a hat? Hmm, *giggles* what massive bug crawled up their a$$ today?

Over time, let yourself do this. You'll feel so much happier, I promise. I want to give so many more examples of earthly BS you can learn to love, but I need to shut up now and wrap it up. Nobody asked for this.

Basically, it's your choice how you see the year past. There's always going to be negative aspects to it, and always some positive, even if they were such small events you can't remember them. They were there.

Decide what is worth sacrificing your sanity for. Pick your battles, right?

Let the meme wars roll!

Video: "Star Size Comparison 2" via morn1415 ^ What I meant by "small." Ran across this a while ago, just thought it was cool!
May 2018 treat you well. Happy New Year, and thank you!

Post-Blogiversary Events: Poetry & Prose Reader Showcase + Poem Collab + Reader Survey

Howdy! Happy November to you.

October 8, 2017 marked Edge of Night's third anniversary, or blogiversary (if you missed it, check out that post here!). I gave a few general updates, including one on Nightfall, offered to send you all a little thank-you card, and then I left it open to suggestions on how else to celebrate. That's where this post comes in: Welcome to The After Party!

Scheduled events include a new poetry and story reader collaboration, as well as a second kind of little poetry collab, and a fall Reader Survey that will help me see how your experience has been here lately, and if there's anything I can do to make it better. More details on each of these below!

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)

Early Writings Tag

Tagged by Lisa

Good morning!

I have a question for you: How do you feel when reading your past works?

Doesn't matter if you consider yourself a writer or not, you've written something, be it an academic essay or a dozen novels. So, as you distance yourself from those things via the passage of time, how does your view of them change? Does it become embarrassing to go through them, and you'd rather rip the page out or delete the file than let it continue to exist?

Maybe you get this gut-wrenching feeling whenever someone goes to read them...

Writers have a tendency to hate their old works, and some prefer to pretend that such works never reached paper (or screen, in many of our cases). Thing is, though, that we all have those crappy first stories, and as time passes and our skills improve, it doesn't even have to be an "early" writing to suck. It just has to be old.

That's a good thing, though! Means you've gotten better, and now you can recognize what you did wrong before. Or at least that it wasn't as perfect as it felt when you first wrote it.

(But don't be like me and actually delete them all. You'll almost certainly regret it, I promise.)

Just thought I'd throw that out there, 'cause I've got a fun little tag to go through and it's on this very subject.

A big thank you to Lisa at Inkwell for tagging me for the Early Writings Tag, started by Abbiee!

Posting Resumes May 27! + Response to Reader Survey

Well hello! It's fantastic to be back.

It's been a while - just about three days shy of two months, plus all that time before my break where I couldn't get much of anything out. I just want to say thank you again for being patient with me during this time. I'm quite excited to get back into the swing of things, which I'm happy to confirm will be starting back up in a mere couple of days.

These are also the last two days to get your response in for my Reader Survey, also, if you've not done so yet but wish to answer a few brief questions to let me know how things are going. This will close when I officially return on the 27th. I've gotten several wonderful responses, and I thank those of you who have taken the time to send me your feedback!

No New Posts Until Late May/June

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Update (5/27/17): Reader Survey is now closed!

Update (4/5/17): Please consider taking my brief Reader Survey, available for you to fill out at any time during my post hiatus! Just a few basic "How are things?" questions that will help me to keep your experience here a positive one. Anyone is welcome to take it! Thank you!
(Closes when I return from break.)
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Spring greetings to all of you!

It has been a ridiculously long time since my last post that contained any real content. On February 23rd, I put out my General Updates & A Few Snippets post, but one has to go all the way back into January to find "Truce," my last (relatively) finished work.

As I've said before, I don't like just disappearing. I try my best to keep you all updated without cluttering your feeds and inboxes with update post after update post (this is where Twitter comes in handy - I was never a fan of tweeting, until I realized how useful it was for those little updates), and I've tried to get something out whenever possible. But, obviously, that hasn't been much, and I don't see that improving for at least a couple of months.

So, with that in mind, I thought I'd just go ahead and pause all blog postings until late May, early/mid June, when I'll be graduated from school and able to return to a decent schedule.

Some things I'd like to note:

•  I'll have a small stash of poems and a short story or two ready to post within the weeks following my May/June return. They're already written, I just can't post them until I'm out of the class they were written for, and until then I'll be doing some revision. This at least assures a steady stream of new content for a little while after!

• During this time, you can still reach me through blog comments, email, and my social media. I'll still be around, just not posting! Feel free to contact me if you have any need.

Best wishes to thee and thine,

See you in May or June!