Blogging Anniversary, Widgets & Giveaway

Saturday November 22, marks the third anniversary of this blog and I'm nearly at my 600th post.When I started blogging, I wasn't sure how often I'd post, but committed to at least one a week. Obviously I've done much better than that. Along the way, I've resolved some of the issues that I struggled with in those early days, others I continue to work through, and still others thought resolved continue to resurface. In that first post I talked about lack of accountability and the hope that public blogging would "help me focus, stay on track, pinpoint what works and what doesn't work as I explore how to better get these ideas in my head interpreted in my preferred medium of textiles."

I went on to say, "...if I have nothing but words to show for my efforts, this experiment will have failed. But if it actually shames me into playing with ideas and finding answers to keep me moving forward, then it will be well worth my time, and maybe even yours." I feared the blogging would turn into one more method of procrastinating to keep from doing the work. Happily, that was rarely the case, and I have much more than words to show for the last three years. The words have been important, the record to look back on also important. And as hoped, my readers have been important in this journey, keeping me accountable, giving support, offering suggestions and opinions, keeping me connected. It's definitely been worth my while, and if you are still reading along, I have to assume you find it worth your while too. To read the entire post, see here.

One of the downsides to blogging is that I don't really know who all of you are or even how many unique visitors I've gotten over the years. I have a sitemeter that tells me how many hits I get a day, and if I take the time to look, I can see where in the world they originated from. But if you're not commenting, I don't know specifics, I haven't gotten to know you and I don't know how many individuals are following. Out of the 150 to 200 hits I get a week, how many are repeats from day to day, how many only checking in once or twice a week, how many just once never to return? Just how many devoted followers do I have?

I don't really need to know, of course. Just curious. And blogger understands that curious nature of ours. It has launched a Followers widget whose hype I've succumbed to after noticing I had a public follower, researching it and deciding it was harmless and maybe even fun. I've signed up on a few other blogs as a follower and see that it makes it much easier to check out other bloggers with the same interests. There are other advantages too, which you can read about here. If you haven't already noticed, look below my profile in the sidebar and you will see the Follower widget.

Here comes the giveaway part. I've noticed other bloggers stage drawings to celebrate their blog anniversary and devise various ways to choose the winner. I've decided to do the same. Since I've missed my other anniversaries, I will choose three winners who will each receive a fabric postcard yet to be made. (Note to winners: holding of breath for prize not advised.vbg). Two of those winners will be chosen randomly from my official Followers list. Because not everyone may be able to use the Followers widget, I'll choose a third winner from those leaving a comment on this post.

So, if you are interested in winning an anniversary gift from me, all you have to do is either click on the Follow button and become a follower or leave a comment on this post stating "I'm a follower!" and include your name if you sign in anonymously (Otherwise, how will I know who you are???) The cutoff for "entering" is November 27 (to give those once-a-week readers a fair chance).

And watch for my 600th post on my Blog Anniversary...it will include a separate giveaway for one lucky blog fan.