A Writer’s Purpose turns 1 today! It’s hard to believe an entire year has come and gone since I launched this blog. I’m so grateful for the opportunities this blog has created for me in the past year and I’m so thankful for you who read what I write. Thank you for sharing my thoughts and my words with me.
When I first created this blog last August I did so to create a platform to pen my thoughts. As time went on my love for words and books created a network of authors and book publicists. My hobby of reading has turned into a freelance opportunity to help promote authors and their work.
I looked back over the 77 posts I made and wanted to highlight the top 10 most visited. Here’s a look back on what happened on The Writer’s Purpose:
10. Looking for a Photographer?
I am so grateful for my friend and former co-worker Ingrid of Grit City Photography. She is crazy talented at making photos and she snapped the pics of me you see on this site. Seriously, if you’re in need of a photographer look her up! She will not disappoint!
9. Inspiring Justice: In Bethany’s Words
After attending The Justice Conference 2012 in Portland I had the initial spark to launch this blog. I wanted to write about things that needed attention, like justice. As a way to build up to the conference 2013 in Philly I started a weekly series “Inspiring Justice” to network with people all over the world and create a dialogue about what they were doing in the justice movement. Through this I met Bethany, who wore the same dress for 365 days to raise awareness for human trafficking. She is now working on a book about that year. Bethany, you are awesome!
8. Sarah Jio Giveaway
One of my absolute favorite authors is Sarah Jio. The Seattle-based author is getting ready to release her fifth novel but as she was launching No. 4 I had the privilege to interview Sarah for NWbooklovers.org. As part of the post I gave away a copy of “The Last Camellia.”
7. Book Exchange Book Club
It’s so difficult to not only 1, start a book club, but 2, decide the first book to set the tone of the group. So when I gathered together a group of my book-loving friends we all brought a book wrapped to exchange. It’s a great way to introduce people to books they normally wouldn’t read.
6. She’s A Country Girl
Helping to promote authors is my hobby, but when I have a personal connection with a budding author it means a lot to me to help them spread the word. A high school and college classmate of mine, Sarah Reijonen, traveled the world for seven months with her husband and lived to write about it in her debut memoir. The girl can write and I just love how sassy she is! Seriously though, if you haven’t read “Country Girl” yet, you really should!
5. A Cardinals Family
My job as a journalist at a military newspaper had granted me so many opportunities to connect with some of the most inspiring people, including Teresa Maggart and her son, Blake. Teresa’s husband was serving in Iraq when he was killed in action a few years ago. I have had the privilege to write several stories about Teresa’s everlasting devotion to honor her husband. The family is from Missouri and when former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa visited the base for a book signing I made sure Teresa knew about it. La Russa stood Blake on the autograph table and posed for photos while he wore La Russa’s World Series rings.
4. Princess Fiona Ramona
Last Halloween was a heartbreaking one, in that our pug Fiona passed away. She was the first dog my husband and I had together and she really was part of our family; my best friend really. I paid a tribute to her by writing this post and sharing what she meant to me. We were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to adopt Fiona’s mom after her passing, and since then have adopted a second dog. While sometimes I see glimpses of Fiona in her mama, La Di, she truly was a one of a kind.
3. What I’m Reading Wednesday — Julie Kibler’s Calling Me Home
Twitter has put me in touch with so many authors and keeps me up to date on soon-to-be-released books. Thanks to Twitter I was put in touch with Texas-based author Julie Kibler. She was getting ready to release her first novel and I was able to read an advanced copy and feature her with a Q and A interview. Her emotional novel has really taken off and is being translated into several different languages.
2. Celebrate With a Book Exchange Party
Thanks to Pinterest this creative party post has continued to spread! Online searches direct book exchange party planners to this post almost daily, which prompted me to launch a book exchange book club (see No. 7).
1. What I’m Reading Wednesday — Ken Wytsma’s Pursuing Justice
As part of Wytsma’s book launch team, I featured the pastor’s debut book, “Pursuing Justice” with a Q and A interview. The book was released in February and since then the founder of the The Justice Conference has seen his book used as course text in more than five colleges. I had the opportunity to meet Wytsma in Philadelphia after a break out session of The Justice Conference.
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