• quinquennial adj. and n.
    OED Word of the Day (last Tuesday): quinquennial, adj. and n. A fifth anniversary, among other things…

It’s five years since I started this blog. That’s quite a milestone.

Amazingly (by missing out Monday) THIS IS MY 900TH POST!!

My first post (still called Hello-World in the URL, which all wordpress users will recognise) was simple enough…  entitled The Beginning, it reads

The first post on the new blog site.

I’m currently editing the first of my stories, writing an outline and a synopsis, and generally getting ready to submit chapters to an agent or even a publisher.  I think an agent is probably best.

Isn’t it cute?

I posted about six times in the next eight months, before I got going with more ideas, but it was mostly about blurb for the book (Princelings of the East), and my progress with rejection slips (if only they sent them).  On my fourth post I mentioned I’d had another idea for a book starring Mariusz/Hugo… but Traveler in Black and White must have already been written because I went on to talk about the one I was working on, which became Bravo Victor.  I wonder what that idea was… possible the backstory for meeting the Rajah.

In March 2011 I wrote a very telling post: What is the reason for writing?  Frankly, nothing has changed, as far as the Princelings books are concerned.  Maybe I think more about my audience with the Viridian Series.  I’m clearly not a commercial writer.  I wonder whether I ever will be?

Only a couple of posts later, in September 2011 I was still getting rejections and had nearly finished my list of agents to approach… but I had an idea for another story.  The interesting thing is I’d forgotten I’d written this down.  I know I wrote a few chapters of it and decided it was too early to write it…  If you read my interview with Rebecca Douglass during my blog tour, you’ll put two and two together and realise this post is the summary of book 8!

The next post, dated 22 October 2011, is called Kindling enthusiasm?  and talks about signing up with an outfit called Kindle Direct Publishing.

Pett Ipad croppedTwo weeks later I posted about the Writers’ & Artists’ conference I went to in London, and the posts started flowing.  I got a Twitter account.  I got a cover. By the end of the month Princelings of the East was out on Kindle, and ten days later on Smashwords.

Then I started blogging regularly, with content like book reviews.  Then I found the A to Z Challenge…

And the rest, to use a cliché that I wouldn’t dare use in a book, is history!

To Celebrate – A Giveaway

The Prizes

  • ONE SET of Princelings paperbacks (six books) anywhere in the world

All you have to do is leave a comment, and I’ll draw the winner using a random number generator.

Entries close Monday October 26th 2015.

 

Five years of Jemima’s drivel
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28 thoughts on “Five years of Jemima’s drivel

  • 21 October, 2015 at 6:36 am
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    Congratulations on FIVE YEARS of blogging. Time flies by, doesn’t it. And this is your 900th post?! That is amazing. Good luck with the next five years. I’ve enjoyed your posts. Can you make it to post #1800? 🙂

    • 21 October, 2015 at 1:21 pm
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      I really, hope so, Sue! Thanks for visiting 🙂

  • 21 October, 2015 at 7:09 am
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    Congratulations! I figure blogging will either kill me or keep me alive – glad to see that you’re in it for the long haul! Here’s to the next five years and 900 posts!

    • 21 October, 2015 at 1:23 pm
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      Thanks, Paul – I enjoy your blog too – and all those great photos! Look out for a BBC programme called Inside the RAF – looking at the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain flights – on iPlayer but maybe not available outside UK yet.

  • 21 October, 2015 at 7:40 am
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    Massive Congratulations Jemima. This is indeed a major milestone and one to be proud of. Most people don’t have staying power.
    xxx Humongous Hugs xxx

    • 21 October, 2015 at 1:24 pm
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      Thanks, David. I will take a leaf out of your book if necessary, and go for one humungous blog per week!
      Thanks for all the hugs, too – I love them! xxxxxxxx

  • 21 October, 2015 at 8:06 am
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    Congratulations Jemima! I don’t know how you find the time to do all you do! xx

    • 21 October, 2015 at 1:25 pm
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      Neither do I, Julie – I pretty much rely on waking up with a story in my head! Thanks for your continued support 🙂

  • 21 October, 2015 at 12:01 pm
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    Actually, I’m looking at the number of short stories you’ve written: 153. Plus 194 book reviews (of course you had to read the books first). Plus writing, how many books? 7? (Not counting the Viridian series.) Not bad for 5 years. 😉 HAPPY BLOGVERSARY!

    • 21 October, 2015 at 1:27 pm
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      Yeah, it really took off about 18 months after I started. Thanks for your support 🙂

  • 21 October, 2015 at 3:00 pm
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    Congratulations! I am so grateful you began way back then, or I might not have found you now! <3

    • 21 October, 2015 at 3:37 pm
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      Thanks, Annette. I’m glad you found me, because now I’ve found you!

    • 21 October, 2015 at 3:38 pm
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      Thanks, Steve!

  • 21 October, 2015 at 3:30 pm
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    Not drivel! There has been some great stuff on here in the years since I met you (something less than 5 years). Your blogging arc sounds a lot like mine, except I didn’t start blogging until I’d already self-published my first book. But my early posts are just as…cute 🙂

    Long may you write!

    • 21 October, 2015 at 3:39 pm
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      I keep thinking I spend too much time blogging and not enough on writing, but then, one does have to keep one’s profile high 🙂

  • 21 October, 2015 at 3:34 pm
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    Congratulations, Jemima! A huge point in time. I think I’ve been with you for maybe four years? And your posts are NEVER drivel, always interesting, challenging, and fun.

    • 21 October, 2015 at 3:40 pm
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      Thanks, Noelle – you’re too kind. That’s English English for “extremely kind and highly valued”.

    • 21 October, 2015 at 11:41 pm
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      Thanks, Lynne!

  • 21 October, 2015 at 9:04 pm
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    Congratulations! 🙂

    • 21 October, 2015 at 11:42 pm
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      Thanks, Elin!

  • 21 October, 2015 at 10:07 pm
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    Happy anniversary! 900 is an extremely impressive number.

    • 21 October, 2015 at 11:43 pm
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      Thanks, Anabel. With your lovely tour of Shetland and the Isles, I expect you’re there, too!

      • 22 October, 2015 at 7:37 am
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        I only recently passed 300 on my travel blog – a long way to go, in both senses!

  • 22 October, 2015 at 4:21 am
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    Happy blogoversary! ??

    • 26 October, 2015 at 10:25 am
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      Thanks, Vania 🙂

  • 27 October, 2015 at 9:23 am
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    Congratulations, Pumpkin Lynne! The random number was 10, which makes the winner YOU!

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