Usually by this point in the holiday season (and the year) I am totally exhausted, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank you all for being part of my first year of blogging here at As You Were.
I started in February with a WordPress.com site, and started connecting with great bloggers such as Offer Kuban (wonderful writing on wine and travel), sj (brilliantly booksnobby), Amy (hilarious and with many deep thoughts), Andreas (witty and smart scientific posts), and The Booksluts (who very patiently bore with me as I tried to figure out WordPress.) (Actually, I’d say that goes for everyone who stops by here.)
Along the way I started to realize I am perhaps obsessed with Beowulf, I am one of many writers slogging their through innumerable rewrites of a novel, and that there are already a number great werewolf blogs out there (I’m looking at you, Werewolf-News.com).
I was thrilled to start interviewing people at As You Were, such as the talented comic writer and letterer Rachel Deering (if you haven’t been reading Anathema, start now); novelists such as Julianna Snow and Catherine Lundoff, and taking part in blog tours for folks like zombie/heavy metal expert Armand Rosamilia.
By May, I’d started running into a few limitations with my WordPress.com hosting (what? it won’t let me install a phases of the moon widget? Fie!) and, after tweeting to blogger extraordinaire Amberr Meadows and again grilling the Booksluts on moving to a self-hosted site, I made the leap myself in May.
Just in time, too, because in discussing Tolkien with sj on Goodreads, we somehow came up with the mad idea of blogging a huge read-along of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings over the summer. The ever-diligent sj came up with just about everything, from a reading schedule to a cadre of other bloggers to an official frickin’ badge for the series that I still think is awesome. I contributed a lot of enthusiasm and, I think, the title: “Puttin’ the Blog in Balrog.”
You can get a full survey of the myriad bloggers and their posts at Booksnobbery; but it was thanks to this wide-ranging series that I got to know the writing of such fine bloggers as Heather, Danielle, Tony, James, and many others. And I have to say, apparently the most popular thing I have ever written on Tolkien is a review of the soundtrack of The Two Towers. (Actually, I’ve gotten more hits on Tolkien’s dwarvish (not dwarfish) names, but since I shared that myself to reddit, I’m not counting that.)
I got a little more sane in the fall, but still rolled out a bit more organization, republishing some older pieces I had written along with new writing for Metal Monday, Thunder God Thursday and Feature Friday.
I was also very happy to add Chadwick Ginther to the list of authors stopping by for a guest blog post, and as I did for Nu Yang, Jason McKinney, Julianne and Armand, I asked him for a book-related playlist.
Not only that, but after submitting As You Were to Alltop, I was pleased to see I’d been added to their list of heavy metal sites.Woo-hoo! Hope all you visitors reaching me via that route aren’t too beflummoxed by my posts on werewolves and Norse gods.
My only regret is that when Speculating Canada picked up on the phrase “Werewolf Wednesday” (which some of us on Twitter had already been using to get the word out on lycanthropic news) and ran a series once a week in October, I was not able to post on it every week. Still, got to coordinate with the first-ever HowlCon in Portland and run my first-ever Q & A here, with the erudite Dr. Philip Bernhard-House on Celtic werewolves.
In a bit of a switch (though not really, if you know what my novel-in-progress is about), I took part in the blog tour for Dear Teen Me. Other people’s entries and the ones in the actual book are far better than mine, but it was a hoot to look back and attempt to give the younger version of me some words of wisdom. Well, some words, at least.
What’s next? Not too sure, but I have more plans to interview writers, pontificate on monsters, review heavy metal, and muck around in myth. So for all who have been with me so far, thanks for stopping by; and to any I have forgotten to mention, I apologize — it’s the end of the year and I’m a bit fried. Looking forward to more blogging in 2013, and learning a lot more as I go.
December 31, 2012 at 9:07 am
Happy New Year, David! I am so glad that we were able to connect this year. Thanks for the nice shout out. *raises glass* Here’s to more fun and f*ckery in 2013!
December 31, 2012 at 12:49 pm
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Heather!
December 31, 2012 at 9:23 am
Happy New Year, David! It was a pleasure to be included in your wolfishness! Let’s hope that 2013 brings more lycan love and Dog World’s sequel!
December 31, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Absolutely, Jason — let’s make it a great writing year. I feel like making a Christopher Walken badge that says “Moar werewolves!”
December 31, 2012 at 2:50 pm
If you do get those made, count me in for two!
December 31, 2012 at 3:32 pm
🙂
December 31, 2012 at 2:03 pm
I love your blog because it is so eclectic & yet has an overlying theme that pulls it all together nicely. Also? I just picked up some new bloggers to follow — so thanks for that! Happy New Year, friend! 🙂
December 31, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Aww, shucks 🙂 Glad you are enjoying my little rantings here. And glad to share the brilliance of other bloggers out there — from whom I have learned so much.
December 31, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Happy New Year! 🙂 I’m glad we connected here; it’s nice to see someone else who loves Beowulf as much as I do. Gods know my colleagues can’t stand it. All the best.
December 31, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Thanks Angélique! I’m no expert on Beowulf, though I’ve loved it since reading it in high school. Hmmm…. maybe there is a co-blog series potential in the New Year? If you’re interested? 🙂 I finally got my own copy of Tolkien’s The Monsters and the Critics & can hardly wait to re-read it…
January 1, 2013 at 3:19 pm
Ooh, I like the co-blog idea… I’m going to be teaching Beowulf in late February and early March, I think. (Still need to firm up my lesson plans, after I get back to school next week.) Then would be a good time for it, I suspect. What did you have in mind? And I don’t consider myself an expert, either, just a fan. 🙂
December 31, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Happy New Year! I hope that 2013 is a terrific year for you. 🙂
December 31, 2012 at 9:54 pm
Thanks Catherine! Happy New Year to you as well!
January 1, 2013 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for the shout out, David! It’s been a pleasure trading writing tips and moral support on our writing projects over Twitter and on IB. Here’s to success in 2013!
January 1, 2013 at 1:52 pm
You’re welcome, Tony! It’s been great to get to know you in the blogosphere & Twitterverse. I’m still laughing about Hipster Frodo.
February 3, 2013 at 11:38 am
David, my apologies first and foremost, as I must admit I’ve only just now seen this post. I’m weeks, nay months late in keeping up, Allow me just a moment to thank you for the very kind shout out, and to wish you (belatedly, I know, but here we are) all the best for 2013! Writing now via thewinehousewinnipeg.com and Twitter/FB for same. Hope all’s well with you! Ciao.
February 3, 2013 at 12:27 pm
No worries! Hope you are having a great new year so far. I will visit you at the new URL!