Thursday, July 7, 2016

I'm 8!!! + a Giveaway

8 years ago today I published my first ever blog post at the age of 8. So yeah, pretty cool that those numbers are matching up now! Welcome to my blogiversary bash!

It's been one heck of a crazy ride, but I've loved every bit of it. Getting to meet all of you fellow bloggers/online friends has been amazing and I'm so grateful that you faithful followers have stuck around to witness my insanity. A big, big thank you to all of my readers, commenters, and anyone who reads my blog, whether this is your first time in my little corner of the internet or you've been here for years. You guys make me smile and I couldn't ask for a better group of friends.


My virtual hug to all of you. ^


Since I'm turning 8, I thought it'd be fun to play a get to know you game involving lists (YAY), because I love lists. Like a lot. I make lists every day for everything I do. Sometimes they involve numbers, other times checkboxes, and other times none of the above. For these lists, they'll be numbered, 1-8, though they won't necessarily be in any kind of rank order. I'll list 8 things about myself (maybe 8 of my favorite books or favorite words), and you can steal any or all of the list topics (as well as adding your own!) and comment your own lists in the comments. :) You guys get to know me, I get to know you, and thus begins/continues a beautiful friendship.

I also thought it would be fun to continue the big thanks to all of you with a GIVEAWAY!!! Read on to find out more . . .

Are you ready?


8 favorite books


1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
2. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
3. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
4. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
5. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
6. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
7. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
8. The Calvin & Hobbes series by Bill Watterson

(Note: How in the world is anybody supposed to narrow down their favorite books to EIGHT?! Why do I torture myself?! This list will probably change in the next ten minutes, so that at least gives you an idea of my favorites.)

8 favorite movies


1. The "Harry Potter" movies
2. "The Fault In Our Stars"
3. The "Hunger Games" movies
4. "The Way, Way Back"
5. "What If"
6. "Stuck In Love"
7. "Midnight In Paris"
8. Marvel movies

(Note: Again, totally not a complete list . . .)

8 favorite TV shows


1. "Doctor Who"
2. "Supernatural"
3. "Sherlock"
4. "Gilmore Girls"
5. "Castle"
6. "Jane the Virgin"
7. "Veronica Mars"
8. "Friends"

8 favorite musical artists/albums


1. Taylor Swift
2. All of the music from "Hamilton"
3. The Civil Wars
4. Imagine Dragons
5. Ed Sheeran
6. OneRepublic
7. Sleeping At Last
8. All of the music from "Dr. Horrible's Singalong Blog"

8 favorite OTPs


1. Tenrose (the tenth Doctor + Rose from "Doctor Who")
2. Luneville (Luna + Neville from Harry Potter)
3. Thress (Thorne + Cress from the Lunar Chronicles)
4. Sherlolly (Sherlock + Molly from "Sherlock")
5. Megstiel (Meg + Castiel from "Supernatural")
6. Javajunkie (Luke + Lorelai from "Gilmore Girls")
7. Caskett (Castle + Beckett from "Castle")
8. Jane + Michael (from "Jane the Virgin - what the heck is their ship name?!)

8 favorite smells


1. Baking cookies
2. Books (especially trade paperbacks)
3. A new box of crayons
4. Mown grass
5. Peanut butter
6. My "Sherlock's Study" Book Lovers' Soy Candle
7. Pencil shavings
8. Garlic

8 favorite writing snacks/drinks


1. Reese's peanut butter cups
2. Popcorn
3. Cheez-Its
4. Cookies
5. Hot chocolate
6. Milkshakes
7. Mochas
8. Lemonade

(So yeah, lots of chocolate is key.)

8 favorite names (or "8 names that Kate repeatedly uses throughout different stories without realizing it)

1. Isabel/Izzy
2. Jamie
3. Sam
4. Patch
5. Cassandra/Cassie
6. Charlie
7. Emma
8. Grey

8 favorite animals


1. Puppies
2. Llamas
3. Elephants
4. Horses
5. Giraffes
6. Lemmings
7. Marmosets
8. Pandas

8 favorite celebrities


1. Felicia Day
2. Lin-Manuel Miranda
3. David Tennant
4. Benedict Cumberbatch
5. Jared Padalecki/Jensen Ackles (Because now I can't imagine one without the other; They're a package deal.)
6. Emma Watson
7. Daniel Radcliffe
8. Jennifer Lawrence

8 favorite words

1. Magic
2. Serendipity
3. Superfluous
4. Optimism
5. Ineffable
6. Eloquence
7. Iridescent
8. Epiphany

8 words to describe me


1. Imaginative
2. Fangirl
3. Introvert
4. Klutzy
5. Geeky
6. Booksniffer
7. Homeschooled
8. Optimistic


One lucky winner will receive a FREE e-book of the Fauxpocalypse anthology, a science-fiction collection of stories about the end of the world that wasn't. I'm one of the contributors. Each story has its own special take on this fake apocalypse and provides a different tone to the book. Everyone will find a story that speaks to them!


All you have to do to enter is check out the Rafflecopter form below. You have until July 31st. Good luck!!

(Note: If you already own a copy of Fauxpocalypse, I will gift a copy to one person of the winner's choice!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
Thanks for joining in with the Blogiversary fun! Leave a comment with a list of 8 things about yourself, if you'd like, and don't forget to enter the giveaway! Here's to another 8 years! :)

7 comments:

Hannah said...

Happy 8th Blogoversary! XD

I LOVE Supernatural. And Friends. Though I only watched that this year...
*High-fives you because Meg and Castiel*
I used to use the name Isabel all the time. Now, it's firmly reserved for one specific character in one specific story...which led to me awkwardly changing the names of several characters in several other stories... Are writers allowed to use the same name across multiple stories? We need to look into this. ;) Sam's a favourite of mine too.

Diwakar said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Carly said...

Happy Blogiversary! *cute the celebratory confetti*

*sends a virtual hug back* I'm so thankful to have been able to get to know you over the past year! You never fail to make me smile whenever I see your comments and the fangirl sessions that it leads to. ^_^

I'm on a mad dash to finish reading the Harry Potter series before The Cursed Child comes out... But at the pace I'm going, I'd be happy to just finish The Order of the Phoenix before then. A fangirl can dream...

The Lunar Chronicles is probably my all time favorite series nowadays. Although I haven't been able to bring myself to read Stars Above because I don't want the journey to end! I can never decide on a favorite ship for this series, I'm always bouncing from Thorne and Cress to Kai and Cinder every other week. XD

Dr. Mark said...

Happy Blogiversary! Great lists. I think I *may* have been able to come up with most of them, but I may be a bit optimistic on that one. I can hardly believe you've been doing this for 8 years. My, how time flies! Keep up the writing!

Theater Guy said...

Hello Kate. First, Happy Blogiversary! You must be very proud to of kept it up this long. I know several people who stopped long before then. I blog about a few movies I watch, it just isn't always consistent. This is my first comment on any of your posts but I've read a few. I watch a lot of movies so I could easily give 8. Granted, quite a few of them are horror movies. Halloween I and II (the remakes), Crimson Peak (that one came out fairly recently), The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Hunger Games trilogy, Jupiter Ascending (also came out recently), 1408, and Black Swan. That's about eight, more if you count the Hunger Games as 3 or 4.

Boquinha said...

FUN, celebratory post! *cheers, jumps up and down, and throws more confetti*

I love the TV show list. I'm amazed you could come up with a book list at all (how?!?). The names - Jamie! Oh man! I know you love that name. And I know we've talked about this before, but it's so weird to me, because I have bad associations with that name. :P You have a couple names there that I use in my writing, too - Patch and Charlie (for a girl). And it's pretty cool that Emma is on your list since it's one of the names Daddy and I considered for you. Very classic (and also, thanks a lot Friends! :P).

I don't know what kind of list to make, but I want to participate, so here goes (and I'm trying to make a different list than the ones you've made):

8 Websites/Facebook Pages I Regularly Follow

NPR
The Magic Violinist
I Don't Eat my Drumsticks
Everyday Feminism
Jennifer Pastiloff
NPR Books
Facebook
Psychology Today

I'm not saying those are all necessarily favorites (except for yours and Max's blogs); they're off the top of my head.

I also like the words "ubiquitous" and "innocuous." :)

The Magic Violinist said...

@Rain

Thank you! :)

Welcome to the fandom, and yay for another Megstiel shipper! I've found that we're definitely in the minority for that OTP. xD

LOL, I'm all too familiar with awkward name changing. I'm thinking we really should create some sort of rule that allows us to reuse the same name over and over again.

@Carly

Thanks! *catches confetti in a jar*

Aww, thank you! I love exchanging comments and fangirl sessions, so your blog is perfect for that. :)

Hehe, well hopefully you're able to finish all of them and get to Cursed Child before you hear too many spoilers! I just finished it a couple days ago. SO. GOOD.

The Lunar Chronicles are definitely some of my favorite books right now. I was the exact same way with Stars Above, but sadly I finished it. *sniffles* At least I still have Fairest on my shelf to be read, although I can't imagine reading about Levana will give me the same warm-fuzzy feels that the main gang gives me.

@Dr. Mark

Thank you! :) I wouldn't put it past you to guess most of them. I'm not exactly a closed book. Me, neither! It's crazy!

@Dale Volker

Thanks! I'm really happy I've stuck with blogging all these years (some more than others, but at least I'm still here!). Reviews are tons of fun to write. I'm glad you stopped by to comment! Ooh, I've heard lots of good things about "Crimson Peak." I'm a big fan of Tom Hiddleston. All of the "Hunger Games" movies are fantastic. :) Jennifer Lawrence is the perfect Katniss.

@Boquinha

Thank you! :)

Believe me, the book list took the longest! I still wonder if I should've swapped some out for others, but I'd be at my computer all day if I tried to get it perfectly right.

Hehe, I loved it after reading The Host, which has a great character named Jamie in it. We generally have similar tastes in names, I've noticed. Charlie has been a long time favorite.

Ooh, nice, unique list! I could've guessed a lot of those. And I'm sure there are many, many more. xD