Favorite Thing Friday: Blogging in 2013

With the close of 2013, my archive holds another year of blogging. Between documenting my adventures in novel writing, sharing photographs and poetry, playing with creativity, and exploring random thoughts, this blog has been a source of immense joy. Thank you to all of my readers for continuing to stop by to read and leave comments. Your presence here never fails to inspire me to write and pursue multiple outlets of creativity.

Thanks to the WordPress stats helper monkeys, I can share what we did together:

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 38,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 14 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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In 2014, my journey as a writer continues as well as pursuits in creativity. Here’s what I’m considering for the coming year:

• A special series of Wreck This Journal posts or another Keri Smith adventure
• The return of New Familiars (a series about everyday things around the globe)
• Guest bloggers (I plan on inviting, writers, poets, and other creative spirits to share their talents and advice)
• The continuation of Sunday Abroad
• Continuation of photo art
• Book Reviews
• Posts about knitting (sorry, can’t help it), arts and crafts
• The continuation of Favorite Thing Friday
• A possible return of the Scribble Diary series

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What else would my wonderful readers be interested in reading about in this space? I’m all ears!

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c.b.w. 2013

Meow! The Winner Is . . .

Thank you so much to my readers for taking the time to vote in the Simon’s Cat Poetry Poll. It was a fun project and I’m excited to submit the winning poem.

Reader’s Choice with 53% of the vote:

See my dish,
where’s the fish?

Cute and fat,
fill my vat

Starving cat
swings a bat

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Fly Guy came in second with 36% of the vote:

Simon sits
unaware

Buzzing fly
stalking cat

Big eyes watch
waiting to pounce

Curtains shred
lampshade dead

Fly goes splat
Meow, now what?

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Sticky Tape rounded out third with 12% of the vote:

Sticky tape
on my foot
tongue and ear

Meow! Get off!
I panic
still not clear

There, it’s gone
Meow! I win!
Tail flick cheer

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I’ll be submitting the winning poem in the next week. Wish me luck!

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c.b.w. 2013

Simon’s Cat Poetry Poll

With my Simon’s Cat toy sitting on my desk, I’ve been busy writing possible entries for the Simon’s Cat Poetry Competition. Writing cute and funny poetry is definitely a challenge for me as I usually rely on nature and architecture as a means of inspiration. I’ve got a few poems that I’m relatively happy with and I thought it might be fun to let my readers decide which one I will submit. The last poetry poll was so successful, I figured this was the perfect way to usher in my first writing submission of 2013.

For each poem, I listed the inspiration as the competition is looking for poetry inspired by Simon’s Cat images or videos. I stuck with my favorite videos, (click on the images to watch the full length video) as well as the drawing that introduced the contest.

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Baseball Bat and Empty Dish

See my dish,
where’s the fish?

Cute and fat,
fill my vat

Starving cat
swings a bat

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Sticky Tape

Sticky tape
on my foot
tongue and ear

Meow! Get off!
I panic
still not clear

There, it’s gone
Meow! I win!
Tail flick cheer

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Fly Guy

Simon sits
unaware

Buzzing fly
stalking cat

Big eyes watch
waiting to pounce

Curtains shred
lampshade dead

Fly goes splat
Meow, now what?

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Thanks for voting! Results will be posted on Friday, January 25th.

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c.b.w. 2013

Poetry Poll #4

Thanks so much to my readers for making the first three rounds of the Poetry Poll a success. Your participation has made this process a fun and enlightening experience.

The fourth and final round of initial voting is here and ready to go with the last batch of poems. Once again, my wonderful readers will decide which one deserves to move on to the final round.  Your vote truly does matter as poll results will determine which three poems I will submit to  Wordrunner eChapbooks, (in response to their call for poetry that relates to the theme of “found”).

All polls will remain open until Poll #5 is posted with the finalists.  This is a numbers game, so the poems with the most votes overall across all polls will make it to the final four.  Follow me on Twitter or my page on Facebook, (see  sidebar) for daily updates on poll numbers.

Need to catch up?  Check out the previous rounds here:

Poetry Poll #1

Poetry Poll #2

Poetry Poll #3

Ready, set, Round 4 . . .

A Bridge Crossed

Unknown Steps

Solitude

Dawn

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Thanks so much for casting your vote!

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c.b.w. 2012

Poetry Poll #3

Let me begin by saying a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to vote in the previous two rounds of the Poetry Poll.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my readers are amazing!  I appreciate your support so much.

Round 3 is here and ready to go with four more poems.  Once again, my wonderful readers will decide which one deserves to move on to the final round.  Your vote truly does matter as poll results will determine which three poems I will submit to  Wordrunner eChapbooks, (in response to their call for poetry that relates to the theme of “found”).

All polls will remain open until Poll #5 is posted with the finalists.  This is a numbers game, so the poems with the most votes overall across all polls will make it to the final four.  Follow me on Twitter or my page on Facebook, (see  sidebar) for daily updates on poll numbers.

Need to catch up?  Check out the first two rounds here:

Poetry Poll #1

Poetry Poll #2

Here goes Round 3 . . .

Lifewalk

Secret Passage

Kaleidoscope

Where Dreams Wait

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Your vote is very much appreciated!  Thank you!

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c.b.w. 2012