Showing posts with label Blogoversary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogoversary. Show all posts

27 February, 2012

Blogoversary Celebration + The Evil Genius Blogfest

The Eagle's Aerial Perspective turns two years old today!


Wow. I wasn't sure I'd even be sticking it out beyond just starting a blog back in 2010, since I'd lurked in the blogosphere for a month or two and noticed bloggers appear and disappear within that time frame. But I did, and I'm glad of that; I've learned a lot from the experience and I got to know all of you amazing people.

Reading last year's recap post, I have to say that 2011 feels like it was busier.

There was the A-Z Challenge, the Harry Potter Blogfest, the Inanimation Blogfest, the It's All Fun and Games Blogfest, the Blogfest Interrupted, the Inspiration Blogfest, the Novel Films Blogfest, Terry Pratchett Month, the Worst Movies Ever Blogfest, the What I Did On My Summer Vacation Blogfest, the REN3 Blogfest, the Pay It Forward Blogfest, the Cool As Cucumber Blogfest, the Deja Vu Blogfest, the Origins Blogfest, the Third and Fourth Platform-Building Campaigns, Teaser Tuesday, and various writing, review, and guest posts. In addition to a few guest posts that I wrote and interviews of me.

Stat-wise, this blog reached 67,400 pageviews, 12,800 comments (not counting over 600 spam :P), and almost 650 published posts.

And since that takes visitors and readers, here's a big THANK YOU to you all. You make this blog more than just any other site among billions.

**********

Because of this date, I am hosting The Evil Genius Blogfest. Here's the information:


The Who:
You, of course. With the evil genius of your choice.

The What:
Create a story, in any format whether that's flash fiction or poetry, where the aforementioned character does something qualifying them as an evil genius. You can also choose an already-existing person, perhaps from one of your favorite books or movies--just tell us why you think they're the best.

Interpret the phrase "evil genius" any way you like: For the evil, it can be a truly sinister murder or a humorous prank; a teen hacking into high-level security or a plot to foil someone's trip to the mall. And the genius? Also up to you. Just make sure there's something that makes your entry sparkle. Or skulk through the dark, as it may be.

Non-fiction what you'd like to do instead? No problem. Feel free to write a post about an evil genius from history or the present.

Word limit for entries: 400. You may go over that number--but be aware, people are less likely to read your entire post if it is long.

The Where:
Your blog/website.

The When:
February 27.

The Why:
Because The Eagle's Aerial Perspective is turning 2 years old on February 27, and that calls for celebration. Furthermore, the blog's mastermind has had this idea simmering in the back of her mind for months (part of her plot for complete web domination, you know) and she thought it was about time she took the leap and hosted her own blogfest.

And why should you sign up? Well . . . three winners will be announced on March 9th; two shall be chosen by Random.org and one by popular vote, and those entrants will win something of their choice. Nothing monetary (since this evil genius is among the rest of them: experiencing recession) but the other options are many: guest post or interview on The Eagle's Aerial Perspective (written a book? Free advertising), some graphic design (examples can be procured), an edit/critique, and even some HTML/CSS coding (for websites and so forth). Other things within her (er, limited) domain of knowledge may be negotiated. Nothing so terribly exciting as, say, free books, unfortunately.




VOTING IS NOW OPEN. Go HERE to cast your vote for your favorite entry.

**********

And here is my entry. I decided to go the fiction route (though do note that you can write your post on any evil genius, whether that's fictional or real):


   She was dressed all in black, even her hands covered in smooth, tight gloves.
   “Commander.” The man dropped to one knee in front of her, his head bowed and his weapon pressing into his stomach.
   “You have the coordinates?” she asked. She walked toward him, her boots striking against the marble floor.
   “Yes, Commander.”
   “Show me.”
   He pulled a small computer from his pocket and handed it to her.
   “How easily destructible it looks.”
   “It would have been impossible to find without your technology, Commander.”
   “Of course it would have been,” she replied, handing the device back to him. “Everything—everything—this army depends on was created by me. The enemy has nothing against us. Their scientists? Fools and simpletons, incapable of everything except the wheel, and lopsided ones at that.”
   “Of course, Commander.”
   “How many soldiers do you have at Station 3?”
   “6,000.”
   “No more?”
   The man hesitated. “One of the ships was attacked by the enemy. My regiment tried to fend them off—”
   “Do you mean you merely tried to deflect them, Captain?”
   It was impossible to tell if he resented the address, directed as if he’d been in charge when the attack occurred. He only lowered his eyes and said, “Yes, Commander—“
   She turned her back on him before he could finish and walked toward the throne. “How many times do I have to tell you to never show the enemy mercy?”
   “We felt—“
   She turned around and faced him. “Felt, Captain. Precisely the word I do not want to hear within this chamber.”
   “My apologies, Commander.“
   “Return to Station 3 and tell the soldiers I want them performing at no less than brilliant. We have a reputation as the most cunning army in the galaxy—and I am its brain. Show the enemy that. I will arrive in six hours to check that operations are proceeding smoothly.”
   “Yes, Commander.” The man bowed and walked out of the room.
   A few seconds later, the woman froze. She did not even blink as a young, short girl walked through a hidden door in the wall.
   She patted the woman on the shoulder. “You performed marvelously well for a remotely-controlled android, Commander. How I wish I didn’t have to pretend, but of course, who would listen to a girl?”
   She sighed. “Even if I am a genius.”

(390 words)

**********

So, how long have you been blogging? How long do you think you'll continue--and/or how long do you want to continue?

And (if you aren't participating in the blogfest) who is your favorite evil genius?


-----The Golden Eagle

10 February, 2012

Announcing: The Evil Genius Blogfest

The Who:
You, of course. With the evil genius of your choice.

The What:
Create a story, in any format whether that's flash fiction or poetry, where the aforementioned character does something qualifying them as an evil genius. You can also choose an already-existing person, perhaps from one of your favorite books or movies--just tell us why you think they're the best.

Interpret the phrase "evil genius" any way you like: For the evil, it can be a truly sinister murder or a humorous prank; a teen hacking into high-level security or a plot to foil someone's trip to the mall. And the genius? Also up to you. Just make sure there's something that makes your entry sparkle. Or skulk through the dark, as it may be.

Non-fiction what you'd like to do instead? No problem. Feel free to write a post about an evil genius from history or the present.

Word limit for entries: 400. You may go over that number--but be aware, people are less likely to read your entire post if it is long.

The Where:
Your blog/website.

The When:
February 27.

The Why:
Because The Eagle's Aerial Perspective is turning 2 years old on February 27, and that calls for celebration. Furthermore, the blog's mastermind has had this idea simmering in the back of her mind for months (part of her plot for complete web domination, you know) and she thought it was about time she took the leap and hosted her own blogfest.

And why should you sign up? Well . . . three winners will be announced on March 9th; two shall be chosen by Random.org and one by popular vote, and those entrants will win something of their choice. Nothing monetary (since this evil genius is among the rest of them: experiencing recession) but the other options are many: guest post or interview on The Eagle's Aerial Perspective (written a book? Free advertising), some graphic design (examples can be procured), an edit/critique, and even some HTML/CSS coding (for websites and so forth). Other things within her (er, limited) domain of knowledge may be negotiated. Nothing so terribly exciting as, say, free books, unfortunately.

So. Think you're up for some Evil Genii? Sign up below. The host looks forward to your presence on February 27.



(You may also go HERE to view the list and add your link, in case there are technical problems and the script above does not show up.)


And don't forget to take the button to display on your site (not mandatory, but it would be awesome if you did):





Code:



-----The Golden Eagle

13 March, 2011

Book Review: Matched (And The Answers To More Of Your Questions)

Last week, I got a few more questions on the post that was part of my blogoversary:

Petty Witter asked:


What is the one thing guaranteed to put you off a book?

A bad plot. I cannot stand weak plots, ones with holes, or endings that can be seen from afar. I love twists, turns, turnarounds, and anything else you can throw at me.

N. R. Williams asked:


How do you choose the books you read? Do you have an e-reader?

First: blurb. Second: any reviews that are on the cover/jacket. Third: author. Fourth: cover. And, in some cases, if I've heard of the book before. I don't usually care about genre--if I've read a good review, or if something about the book intrigues me, I'll pick it up. :)

Nope. And, at the moment, I prefer it that way. I like reading paper and ink rather than an electric screen.


*****




Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Books
Genre: Dystopian
Page Count: 366
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Cover Rating: 4 out of 5. I like the green, and I like the way they put the girl in the orb. Plus, the font is very Dystopian-ish.

Inside flap:
In The Society, the Officlas decide. 
Who you love. Where you work. When you die. 
Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's hardly any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend is appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knowsn with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow--between perfection and passion.

My expectations: Mixed. I had read positive reviews saying "This is a great book!" and meh reviews saying "This book was a take-off of [insert title here]" and negative reviews saying "This book isn't very good".

About the book: One thing I read several times is that this book is a lot like The Giver by Lois Lowry.


My opinion? This book really was not like The Giver. Mainly because Cassia, the main character, was very different from Jonas, as were the others the book focused on. The Society is similar in many ways, but it never made it into my head that "Yes! This book is like The Giver!"


The writing style I just couldn't get attached to. I felt like the author was trying to keep some distance between the reader and the character, which I don't usually mind, but in this case I found kind of flat. The scenes were not particularly detailed--I would get information on one thing, but not other factors that I really would have preferred to know about. It wasn't a bad style, but it isn't my favorite.

  • Plot:
I could guess what happened. In what's probably every single YA book I've read the character goes after--taking from the blurb--"passion". Heck with "perfection". It's always passion, and this was no exception. Some details of the plot kept me going, like what the Society Officials were doing and if there would be revolution. I do love a good revolution.


  • Characters:
Let me say this now: I did not like Cassia. At all, really. She was okay at first--I felt as if she was a little annoying but might turn out to have some real potential when I read the opening scene--but I just couldn't get attached to her. Another contrast with The Giver: Jonas cares about the people and citizens of his city and their well-being. Cassia, it seemed to me, does not. It's all KY. And goodness, don't get in her way when it comes to Ky.

Ky himself was interesting. Again, I just couldn't get attached to him. He had his secrets, and it was intriguing that he knew how to write like that, but he wasn't the most spectacular love interest. I liked him better than Cassia, however. He knew what the Society was really like, and what they did to people.

(I felt there were too few emotional obstacles between them. It was just the Officials in their way--and come on, relationships aren't like that. There's conflict between people.)

Xander was normal. He had his faults, but he cared about Cassia and he seemed less willing to just believe than Cassia did. I hope he comes back in the sequel, because I get the feeling he could really have his day.

  • Setting/Elements:
The Society intrigued me. Their rules, regulations, laws, restrictions, what's not to find interesting and appalling about a government who destroys art, poetry, writing, everything except 100 works in each section of human expression?

Other: This book is relatively clean for a YA novel. In fact, I wouldn't say that Matched is significantly more violent/etc. than The Giver. It just has a romantic theme.

Do I recommend this book? Not really. I wouldn't say "Don't ever read this book!" but it's not on my list of must-reads.


-----The Golden Eagle

06 March, 2011

The Answers To Your Questions

Last week was my blogoversary, and I decided to celebrate by having readers ask me questions--so here are my answers!

*****


Jemi Fraser:

What's the best book you've read this year?


I have a lot of trouble picking favorites . . . especially when it comes to books. But one really good Young Adult Science Fiction novel I read was Cherry Heaven by L. J. Adlington. The plot, setting, and characters were fantastic.

The Words Crafter:

How in the world do you make it around to comment on so many blogs every day?

I don't use Google Reader, that's for sure. Despite all the support it's been getting recently with all the Crusading, (Rachael Harrie wrote a very helpful post on it--I was completely befuddled before and now I know how it works) I really don't like it. Most of the time I look through posts on the Dashboard, working my way through a certain number of hours or skimming to see if certain bloggers have posted. Or I just use my blogroll.

Deniz Bevan:

Did you see that post TH Mafi did the other day of her daily schedule? What's your schedule like?


No, I didn't see the post--but as for my schedule, it's get up, eat breakfast, schoolwork, writing, schoolwork, maybe some more writing if there's time, lunch, the homeschooling equivalent of P.E., blogging, writing, and I've got dance on Wednesdays. Also, the schedule changes a lot as new things crop up.


(By schoolwork I mean all the subjects I cover in homeschooling. Math, science, history/social studies, language, English, etc. . . .)

Edith F.:

What is your favorite flavor of toothpaste?

Well, it's not mint. (I hate mint.) Most of the time I'm forced to use it simply because it's one of the few flavors that's out there, but if I could choose my favorite is probably cherry. (Hey, it tastes good at the dentist's.)

Ali:

What do you like best about blogging?

Posting and reading comments. :)


And/or What is your favorite lesson you've learned through blogging?

Think before you speak!

Janet Johnson:

What has helped you the most with writing?


Besides a keyboard and word processor, one of the things that has helped me the most is discovering all the information out there online. Before I started reading about writing, I had no idea what a character arc was, how to write a first chapter, the difference between showing and telling, things about publishers and agents and the whole getting-the-book-onto-the-shelf business--a lot of the details that can make a huge amount of difference.

Nicki Elson:

What have you learned about blogging that you wish you would've known in the first month?


People actually read what you're posting, even if your blog is relatively small. (As mine was for a while after I started blogging.) I probably wouldn't have said some of the things I said if I had thought about that . . . I don't object to some controversy, but I get the impulse to delete some of my previous posts whenever I look back and read them.

Sangu:

What's been the most challenging part about blogging for you?


Networking! It takes a lot of time and some energy to get around to all those blogs. But it's also fun. :)

Alison:

Has reading all these blogs and author interviews/guest posts, etc made you want to try your hand at writing?


Nope! I was writing even when I didn't know people blogged about it--probably because I hadn't read the horror stories at that point. LOL.


Just kidding about the horror stories (although I have read some unfortunate occurrences with the publishing process especially) but I have been churning out words for a while.

Have you had a blogging slump? If so, how did you push past it.


Writing, and getting outside. Exercise helps me think a lot of time.

Arlee Bird:

Now that you know about establishing a platform with your blog do you feel like you are doing that?


Yes, I do. I feel like I've got a substantial platform (400+ is a whole lot more than I ever expected) and I try to increase it with the Crusades and other events like that--including the A-Z Blogging Challenge. Still trying to get around to all the bloggers participating!


Oh! And also, Old Kitty and L'Aussie both wondered what the "cbox" I mentioned in my post is. It's the green chatbox-thing on my right sidebar, beneath my button and the Crusader mention. Across from the "Need A Button?" text. People can leave messages and chat in it, if there are other bloggers on at the same time. (Which you can tell by the little black-and-red icon above.)


*****

Thank you all for asking questions! It was a lot of fun answering them, and I hope you enjoyed the post.

Is there anything else you bloggers would like to know about me? :)

-----The Golden Eagle

27 February, 2011

One Year Ago I Started This Blog


And then things took off.

Or, more like, I started a site which was basically just another blip in endless cyberspace.

I called it The Eagle's Aerial Perspective. I called myself The Golden Eagle. I put in a black-and-rainbow Pyzam template which I thought looked pretty schnazzy. I wrote up a cheesy "Welcome To My Blog!" post which you really don't want to go back and read.

My reasons? I didn't start a blog to create a writing platform (I didn't know people did that) and I didn't start a blog to network (I didn't know much about following and commenting) and I didn't start a blog just to be able to say I did (I don't do things for those kinds of reasons).

I started a blog because (once I learned what the heck a blog was) the fact anyone could go to Blogger or Wordpress or whatever and set one up appealed to me--a lot. So I jumped into the world of blogging, and I learned that having the ability to post on any subject, whenever I wanted to, was a lot of fun.

So I posted and I followed and I commented and now I am able to say that I've been doing it for an entire year.

But let's go back to the beginning, shall we?

One month in. The Eagle's Aerial Perspective has few connections, only 5 or 6 followers, (some notables would be KenzyIcewolf, Shimmer, and Jayden Black--I can't forget you guys!) and a Pyzam template which doesn't look very good along with several mismatched backgrounds from a whole host of sites. It also has a cool, eagle-oriented button.

3 months in. More followers now, ever-changing backgrounds, and now the blog author has learned the finer art of adding images, videos, multimedia, and other such stuff to her posts. Plus, she has gotten somewhat established with new followers popping up in the widget on the sidebar and more comments on posts.

6 months in. The blog and her author have been at it for a while now, and she has suddenly been exposed to the world of writing blogs, something she hasn't heard of before--and the next month is The Great Blogging Experiment hosted by Elana Johnson, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Jen Daiker, which she signs up for although she doubts anyone will actually read her post on How To Creating Compelling Characters. (The post subsequently gets over 50 comments).

10 months in. LOTS of followers now, and plenty more than the blog author ever expected. Posts continue, but now there are ones specifically directed toward humor, writing, book reviews, tags/awards, and Teaser Tuesday is going strong. Comment counts somehow manage to grow large, and for that the author is extremely appreciative.

12 months in. The blog author is struggling to keep up with what's called The Writer's Platform-Building Crusade, is preparing to launch the blog into the A-Z April Blogging Challenge, has something vaguely resembling a blogging schedule, and is amazed by the number of followers she has.

She also decides writing in the third person about herself feels odd but is fun.

Whew.

*****

And yes, I am planning to do something for my blogoversary. You know how I celebrated my 400th post, where I gave you all the chance to ask me questions? A lot of you seemed to enjoy the post and some of you even said you hoped I'd do the question thing again.

So--guess what--I'm doing it again. :)

It's the same as before. On this post, or on any other post up until next Sunday, you can ask me questions (as long as they're relevant/reasonable) which I will answer on March 6th. Put them in the comments, email, cbox, whatever. And if something occurs to you feel free to come back again and ask that, too. You've got a week!

*****

And, finally, I'd like to thank you all. For following. For commenting. For sticking with me and this blog through months and months, visiting my blog, reading my posts, and knowing that what I'm saying isn't just more blips in cyberspace. It means a lot to me!


-----The Golden Eagle