I have about one week left for my blogging journey. Over the past 350+ days, I'd like to think I've had a good post or two. There has been a lot to comb through, but as I took my trip down memory lane I managed to pick out a few of my favorite posts over the past year. I'd really love to hear any posts you guys have enjoyed as well!
10. "Setting Goals and Giving Swag"
The post that started it all. This entire journey started because on January 1st, one of my former writing students post a video of her brother doing a backflip every day last year. I was so inspired that after watching it, I showed it to my wife and told her I wanted to do something similar. So on a whim, I decided I would take this blogging journey. The idea of it hadn't even entered my mind in 2012 - this entire journey was decided over the course of a few hours. And yet here we are! December 23rd without a single missed post. I even had to change my own rules and do a monthly giveaway as a "thank you" to my readers because I knew I wasn't going to let myself fail this one.
9. "Dreams of a Painter"
Earlier this year I laid out some goals I had for myself as a painter. After finally writing it out, I felt compelled to really start pursuing them. Out of the five goals, I was able to accomplish one of them twice! This year I was able to donate a small Menoth army to Clash for a Cure, as well as a Behemoth to Battle for Hope. Next year I'd really like to win a contest, so wish me luck on that one!
8. "Gamer GIFs" volumes one, two and three
I had a lot of fun with these, but searching through hundreds of GIFs in a single day wasn't very sustainable. I'd really like to get back to doing these when the mood strikes, so look forward to some more Gamer GIFs in 2014!
7. "WarmaChess - Stalling Out"
Although a less meaningful post for most readers, this one held a huge personal revelation. My buddy Zach has been playing chess with me to help me sharpen my gaming skills, and through that I realized that despite enjoying aggressive play, I'm really more of an attrition player. That has really changed how I look at a lot of my gaming, and has changed how I play games - not just Warmachine and chess, but it's even affected how I've been playing Call of Duty. That bit of insight has made me more methodical in my decisions, and overall I feel like I've become a better gamer because of it.
6. "Escaping Escapism"
This one was probably my most somber post of the year, but it was also one that I think a lot of people could relate to. When things in life would get overwhelming, I'd subconsciously try to escape in to gaming until I could suppress the stress enough to continue on. When my grandfather passed away this year, I finally accepted that tendency, as well as my need to change it. I don't think that could have happened without this blogging journey, because writing every day has forced me to really get to know myself and analyze why I do what I do.
5. Music for the Geeky Mind
This one didn't get many views, but it was one of my favorites to write. Although I'm not a huge music guy, there are certain songs out there that can really get my imagination rolling. There are so many great songs out there that could inspire entire books, and I think gamers are well-equipped to fully appreciate the creativity put in to music, and the imagery created from it.
4. Community-Focus posts
I tried to narrow this one down, but alas. Almost every month you guys could be guaranteed something - a rant and a post about community. Of all the people in the world, I truly believe gamers have the greatest potential communities. The problem is that our passions often cause us to be some of the most fractured. My local gaming group was pivotal in helping me handle (and by God's grace be cured of) severe depression. Because of that, boosting the gaming community has become very important to me.
Some of my favorite community posts this year have included "The Wiggity-Wack World of WYSIWYG," "Fixing Player Toxicity," "Get a Life," "We're All a Little Mad Here," "What Does It Take?" as well as my confession about wanting to actually coordinate a community myself!
3. "Being Married to a Gamer"
Maybe this is cheating since I didn't write it, but it was definitely one of my favorite posts of the year. My wife had been working on a fun post, and had been conspiring by taking photos while I was gone, or tricking others (including me!) in to taking photos for her. Although the post is pretty lighthearted, I think a lot of gaming spouses can agree that there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to living with us crazy gamers!
2. "Starting Them Young" series
This year I saw my daughter, Emma, finally becoming a bit of a gamer. I did some posts about her buying her first miniature, painting it up during her first painting lesson, and then using her miniature in a few adventures using the RPG Kids rules. Every gaming parent know that there's no greater thrill than when your kid starts showing interest in your hobbies, so seeing her go from playing with Barbies to asking if she can play with my dice has been a dream come true.
1. "Is WAAC Whack?" series
I did this 3 part series early on, but as soon as I wrote it I knew it would be hard to top. I got quite a bit of buzz from the community, many of whom had some very kind words to say about the series. Writing this also opened my own eyes, as the entire series was really a personal exploration of why I game. The 3 posts have totaled about 1,200 views, which has been quite humbling. I want to do more series like this in the future - I've done some deeper posts here and there, but it's usually hard to spend a single day organizing, writing, and rewriting a post until I'm happy with it.
There have been so many posts I've enjoyed writing that it was hard to really pin them all down. Admittedly there a few where I was so tired, sick, or whatever that it was definitely written just to write for the day. Those were few and far between - I took great care to try to make my daily posts interesting, relevant, and diverse. I hope you guys have enjoyed taking this journey with me.
Whether you've been here since January 1st, or you just got here, I'd love to hear about your journey with me. Have there been any posts you've really enjoyed? Have you had any of those "Huh, I hadn't thought about that" moments? I'm curious to hear whether all this typing has been able to have a positive impact on someone!
See you tomorrow!
Remember to follow me on Facebook! I'm doing a blog post every single day for 2013, and Facebook is a great way to stay up-to-date as well as take part in my monthly giveaways. This is my last month of guaranteed giveaways, so don't miss out on a free copy of Super Dungeon Explore, a painting project, and more! Click here for details!