Monday 10 October 2016

10 X 10 X 10 Giveaway post

It has been creeping up slowly over the last couple of months, but finally I have reached my 1000th post! It feels like a huge milestone, who knew I had so much to say. I decided to celebrate the things that I have enjoyed about blogging with a 10 x 10 x 10 post. 
Up first are my ten most visited posts:

10: Cool Aid Dying with 1031 visits

9: Cooking and Sewing Post with 1114 visits
8: Carol Ann Duffy with 1124 visits
7: for the home educators HESFES : long self-indulgent holiday post with 1216 visits
6: for the reptile fans Tegu Walking with 1123 visits
5: for the Philip Pullman fans Midsummer's day with Will and Lyra with 1496 visits
4: Engelby by Sebastian Faulks with 1158 visits
3: Luscious Lemon Cake with 1565 visits
2: an early poetry post, visited by many students I think Margaret Atwood Poetry with 3247 visits
1: (not quite fair on Margaret Atwood but combining two as they go together) Lizard Cake and Lizard Cake Tutorial with a total of 4985 visits

Next I give you, with much torturous decision making, my ten favourite books of the 462 that are labelled at book reviews (alphabetical for I could never rank them one to ten):


Any Human Heart by William Boyd

Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald
Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles
Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
Words from a Glass Bubble by Vanessa Gebbie

And the final ten posts are the ten that I love, either because they mark significant things that have happened over the last few years or just times when I wrote something important to me or that I was particularly pleased with:


Don't Apologise speaks for itself, I was angry, I should write like that more often.

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be is a brief post that celebrates 15 years of friendship with the Ridley Birks family. 
Two Deaths, Three Kisses and a Punchup was written in 2011 when I blogged for the Library Theatre's production of Hard Times
Monkey Quilt the Final Chapter is the result of over two years working on our beekeeper's quilt.
Favourite Moments gives the best bits from my visit to Costa Rica with my mum in 2014.
Dead Dog Poems is one of many many post written during my longstanding involvement with the Manchester Literature Festival, it was one of my favourite events.
What I Think is a course review of 'A Brief History of Humankind', of the many courses I have done with Coursera since 2013 it was the most interesting and engaging.
Night of Writing Dangerously: Monkey and I have participated in NaNoWriMo several times, and are planning to again this year.
Luggage: I have taken part in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge every year since 2012, several years I have done flash fictions, and this is one I particularly liked.
Blogger (a poem) that I wrote back in 2010


I hummed and hawed about what to do to celebrate, and thought that of course there should be a give-away. I know people visit when I post stuff and I hope you get some interest or enjoyment out of reading but I thought it might be nice to know who you all are. So here are three outrageously unique tote bags that I made for my short-lived Etsy shop, so maybe if people just say hi and leave their email contact/blog link and I will pick three people at random to send them to.
Red and Black flocked satin lined with white cotton.
Brown satin with gold spirals lined with pale pink satin.
Pink paisley satin lined with pale pink satin.


7 comments:

  1. Hi! I'm writing from DeLand, Florida, where we got very lucky with the recent hurricane. That's more than you asked for, but it's who I am, for now. :-)

    Congrats on reaching your big milestone! I'm happy to hear that "The Goldfinch" and "The Road" are among your favorites, as our tastes seem similar and I have yet to read them.

    Last but not least, the tote bags are lovely (especially the brown one with the gold spirals). Such a nice way to celebrate!

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  2. Hi J.G. thanks for your visit and comment, am glad to hear you have survived the hurricane it must be a very frightening experience.

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  3. Hi!

    Congratulations on hitting 1000 posts - and for keeping them so varied and interesting.

    I think we first connected when I was writing my The Really Good Life blog and as a reader, writer, maker and one day maybe potential homeschooler, I added you to my feed reader without hesitation :)

    I love your book reviews. They've inspired me to make more of an effort to review books I read - and also given me things to think about while writing my own stories. I quite often have you in my head when I think about how someone would read my work :)

    Most recently, you've inspired me to re-read The Crow Road - I read it several times in my late teens but not in the twenty years since then, so it'll be interesting to return to it after so many years. It's the next book in my queue now :)

    You have also inspired me to take part in A-Z challenges. I tend to leave them as unpublished drafts but it's still a worthwhile experience to push me to write on a set topic daily, so thank you for that prompt too!

    In short, thank you so much for blogging and here's to the next 1000 posts - I'll keep reading them as long as you keep writing them ;)

    -louisa :)

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  4. Hi Louisa I'm so glad that I have inspired your reading, I follow lots of book bloggers and get many of my choices from them.

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  5. Hi! I haven't read most of the books on your 10 best list, but I know that The Lacuna certainly is magnificent.

    Congratulations on your 1,000th post. I missed the first ones, but I'm in here now for the long haul.

    P.S. I have adored paisley since I was 15 - oh, my - nearly a half-century ago.

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  6. Hi Debbie, thanks for stopping by, I hope you find some good reads in the next 1000 posts.

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  7. Hi Martine, I tried replying to your email but it was returned to as undeliverable. Is there any way else to contact you?

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Thanks for stopping by. Thoughts, opinions and suggestions (reading or otherwise) always most welcome.

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