Thanks to All of You!

Alyssa from Teens Read and Write wrote a very positive post yesterday and asked us to share stories about other bloggers who have helped us or just made our days a little brighter. As I sat there thinking about who to write about, I realized there were too many to list in someone else’s comments. So here goes.

First of all, thanks to Alyssa! The comments on her post show that we were in need of a virtual group hug!

I have been friends on GoodReads with Misty at Book Rat for what feels like forever. I haven’t advertised my blog on GoodReads at all, other than posting a link on my profile page, but Misty found me and was one of my earliest followers and gave me a great big welcome to the blogosphere! She’s one of my most regular commenters, and her posts and reviews are thoughtful but usually funny in a way that is all Misty’s own. She also jumped in on my Character Connection meme right away and joins in as she has time. Thanks for everything, Misty!

I recently emailed Jennifer at Crazy-For-Books and asked her where she found her nice, neat GoodReads and email buttons. She promptly emailed me back, told me what search terms she used and then told me I could just use hers if I wanted to. Thanks!

Jan at Eating Y.A. Books emailed me just this morning to let me know that my commenting system wasn’t working. She could have just moved on and gotten on with her day, but she took the time to let me know something needed to be fixed. Thanks! Misty also tweeted me about the problem.

Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, Jenn at Book Crazy, and Marce at Tea Time With Marce were some of my earliest followers. It was and still is nice to find comments from them! They let me know that someone was actually reading what I wrote.

Aths at Reading on a Rainy Day somehow finds time to comment on almost every single one of my posts! That’s dedication and thoughtfulness!

I emailed Peace, Love, and Pat a few weeks ago and asked if I could use her “Borrow My Book” idea to get rid of an ARC I had and didn’t love enough to keep. I quickly got an answer of “Yes.”

The first time I really interacted with Parajunkee was when I won a blog button on her design blog. She took my rambling about fairy tales and blue and made me a gorgeous button. When I decided to start my Character Connection meme, I naturally contacted her to make a button for that. I had told her what the idea behind the meme was and then I dragged my feet about getting started on it. When she saw some people talking about starting something similar at that online blogger convention a month or so ago, she quickly spoke up and told them I had something in the works. Becky the Bookette respected that and contacted me about it. She could have just taken off with the idea and made it her own, but she didn’t. How classy is that? She’s awesome! They gave me the kick-in-the-pants I needed to get the meme started.

Since I’ve started my meme, Becky, Parajunkee, Misty, Alissa at Heart of Darkness, Kals At Pemberley, Whitney at She Is Too Fond Of Books, The Book Mole, Sullivan McPig, Enbrethiliel at Shredded Cheddar, and the Kirks at Teens Read and Write have posted about it, commented on each other’s character choices and just generally been supportive, creative blogging buddies.

My family were my very earliest followers and they jumped right in for me!  They emailed me, let me know that they were reading everything, still constantly encourage me, suggest post ideas, and answer the call when I send out the “Can you think of a good name for” or “What do you think of this idea” emails.  I have an awesome family.

I could probably list every one of you for doing something nice for me. Just One More Paragraph told me where to find a book I was excited about, Lady Q at Let Them Read Books posted pictures of summer gardens in Williamsburg as part of her Time Travellers series just when I had decided that winter was never going to end, and I just love checking out Polish Outlander‘s mailbox and Waiting on Wednesday posts. She always finds books that look amazing.

This really is a great community we have here, and I want to thank all of you for welcoming me and encouraging me and commenting, and just being a fantastic group of people. Now go share the love. 🙂