In 2009, 47 million new websites sprouted up on the Internet: http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/22/internet-2009-in-numbers/

I couldn’t find the statistics on new blogs (which I thought was a shame), but I am sure the number of those is just as staggering.

I was one of them, exactly a year ago.

According to this NYT article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/fashion/07blogs.html, the majority of bloggers abandon their efforts within less than half a year.

When at the suggestion of my wise and wonderful agent, I wrote this first posting at the end of 2009 with trembling fingers, I had no idea where it all would lead.

https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/hello-world/

A year later, I have gained new friends who support and encourage me, discovered amazing new pieces of literature that otherwise might have slipped under my radar, and found an outlet for my journalism skills.

THANK YOU, READERS!

I now think of you as friends. Even those of you lurking silently in the safe anonymity of the web — and showing up only as stats on my blog’s “dashboard.” If it weren’t for all of you out there, who knows if I would have stuck it out this long?

THE PRIZES

Here is what I will be giving away, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, and as part of the blog-birthday (blirthday?) “celebration.”

First, three titles from my super list of great contemporary historical fiction:

https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/best-contemporary-historical-fiction-part-i/

https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/best-contemporary-historical-fiction-yamiddle-grade/

“The Red Umbrella” by Christina Diaz Gonzalez ( a very gently used copy — I had to read it once before giving it away, for goodness sake . . .)

“The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (again, VERY gently used)

“How I Paid For College” by Marc Acito (BRAND new!)

(btw, I am just back from New York City where I sat on a red couch in Marc’s midtown apartment with a view of the East River — which was hard to see in the dark, but still. Sipping tea with milk, I chatted with him about his childhood, the realities of being a misfit, and his life in the arts. Look for that interview on this blog soon — give me a week or two, folks.)

EVEN MORE PRIZES

In addition, I’d like to toss these two of my favorites in — from my “bookshelf:”

https://katiaraina.wordpress.com/my-bookshelf/

Newberry-winning “Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy” by Gary Schmidt (brand new copy!)

“The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd (brand new also).

The contest ends next Sunday, November 28th.

[Update: Nan Marino, a friend of mine and an author of “Neil Armstrong is My Uncle” — and Medeia Sharif, author of upcoming “The Bestest. Ramadan. Ever” and a faithful blog reader I am forever grateful for, are the sole participants and winners of this contest, who will be splitting the loot. Thanks guys, for your appreciation! Hope you enjoy the books!]