Happy Anni-bloga-birthdary!

*pops champagne, drinks half of the bottle*

I’m sorry, did you want some? Help yourself. Let me get out the cheese tray.

Well, kids, it’s been a year since I opened up shop here at Disregard the Prologue. Remember that? No? That’s okay. It was quiet here back then. The only sounds were the crickets, the wind, and the sound of me saying “excuse me, my mistake” when I tripped over the occasional tumbleweed that blew through.

Now? Well, if you count both WordPress and e-mail followers, we’re sitting at just over 250 of you crazy people. Not a lot by most blog standards, but a whole lot more than I ever expected to see hanging around here. That’s not to say that it’s crowded; I’m sure most of the people who signed up to follow don’t come by much. But those of you who do, who read the occasional post and comment, or even just lurk in the background, mean a whole lot to me. Whether we agree or disagree on the topics I’m posting on, I love having comment conversations with you. I love that you guys encourage me when I’m feeling low, that you help me out when I need readers (or someone to exchange cereal with), that you contribute your amazing insights in the comments of my posts and offer posts on your own blogs that are both entertaining and distracting. I hope you all get something out of this relationship, too. I assume you do… otherwise, you’re all some kind of saints for keeping me afloat.

A lot has happened here in a year, most of it behind the scenes. A year ago I was wondering whether it was time to start querying agents with a novel; now I’ve decided that’s not the path for me, and I’m figuring things out as I take another route to my goals. More importantly, a year ago I thought I was alone in this. Now, I have a community of ROWers and NaNoers and WIPpeteers who all have their own crazy dreams and plans, and we can hold each others hands and kick each other’s asses, and OH IT’S GLORIOUS.

What will the next year bring? I honestly couldn’t tell you. I’m looking to have a book out in the spring, but that’ll depend a lot on editing issues insights and whether my brain turns to mush before then. That means we’ll be having a cover reveal, a launch party for those on the exclusive invitation list*, giveaways… and probably a lot of me pulling my hair out by the handful. FUN!

All I can promise is that I’ll be here, I’ll be posting, and I’ll be cheering you all on in whatever it is that you’re doing in the next twelve months.

Feel free to mingle in the comments section. Grab some cake, there’s pop in the fridge for anyone who’s not into champagne (honestly, it’s not sitting so well for me right now), put on some music, dance the night away. And let me know how you got here, and what you’ve got planned for the next year. 🙂

Oh, I promised party favours, didn’t I? Let’s see… how about a little scavenger hunt? Find my first post, make a note of the name of one of my old blogs, and e-mail me your answer and your mailing address to kate.sparkes (at) live (dot) ca, and I’ll send you something nice. And flat. Because postage.

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*If you want to be on the list, I’ll be posting information soon on how you can opt-in to e-mails, and I might even get me one of them there fancy-schmancy Facebooker thingamabobs. You just never know…