This is my 400th! Post

Goodness! I can't believe I have reached 400 posts. There for a while, I was posting statistical information about posts when I reached certain milestones and I thought I would use my 400th post for just that purpose. Prepare to be bombarded with links!

1st post: I had not really took to blogging before creating Dee Declares on June 9, 2011. I tried of course, but they never lasted longer than 10 posts or so. I just got too bored with them. This blog has lasted almost a year and a half and for a while, I posted every day. I'm trying to get back to that- honestly. Social Media is more work than people want you to realize. Anyone that says it "is easy and only requires 5 minutes a day" isn't putting enough time or thought into their posts. The original purpose of Dee Declares was to begin to build my writing platform and has turned into a personal soapbox on some occasions, a showcase for my crafts, a cheering ground for important milestones, etc. I am incredibly proud of this blog!

100th post: My 100th post was not a happy one. This post was regarding the aftermath of the London riots from August 8, 2011. I posted articles, videos, and links to find help for those affected by the riots, those wishing to help clean up the city, those that just wanted to know what the hell was going on. I also ranted about the celebrities that were incredibly mum about the rioting, while praising the 3 (Neil Gaiman, David Krumholtz, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) that at least mentioned it. It was a very scary night and I was half a world away!

200th post: I had to laugh when I reread my 200th post. It is the first of my 2011 NaNoWriMo journal posts. Last year, I hand wrote a journal and then transcribed them to Blogger at the end of the week with annotations relating to what I wrote. I tried to keep the transcription as true to what I wrote as possible but it was hard not to edit what I had already written to make it clearer and less manic. I remember that night at Star Bucks very well. *cringe* This year's blog isn't annotated and is much shorter.

300th post: This post went up January 14, 2012 and was edited to remove all photo content on August 15, 2012 due to reports of bloggers being sued over the use of other people's images even in the case of taking pictures down immediately after a take down notice, linking back to original sources, openly stating non-ownership of the images, and giving credit to the actual owners/originators- all on blogs that do not generate income themselves. I have been very resistant to putting AdSense on my blog because I for one hate ads and never click the ads on blogs or other social media. I find it distracting and invasive. That said, I can see both sides here. I deleted the images and replaced them with the disclaimer that is now on the page (and several other pages). It took forever to go through every blog post and delete images. Ugh. You can read the post relating to the image take down here.

Did you know that part of my signature that appears at the end of every post from August 14, 2011 onward- minus the one here and there that I completely forgot- is a line said regularly on NBC's The New Normal? Alright, it isn't probably specifically from my signature as it really is a common sense phrase (love is love) but since I've been using it for more than a year prior to Ryan Murphy, I'm claiming credit. :P And yes, I freaking love that show. That original post was about an article posted on LGBTQ Nation about what Jesus would do if he were invited to a wedding between two men or two women. Here is the post and here is the article.

Over the past near year and a half, I have taken to voicing my opinions on pop culture, current events, and politics. I participated in the social media blackout protest of SOPA and PIPA. I voiced my displeasure of the indefinite detention article of NDAA. I wrote an essay letting people know exactly what I stand for and what I stand against. I wrote about some of my favorite shows/movies, performers, authors, and books.

And finally, since this started out as a writing blog, I have added a link at the top of the page where I have compiled all of my writing specific posts. You can scroll to the top and look at the banner under the title. You'll find these links at the top: Blog, About Me, Journey of Shadows, and Writing Information. The blog tab will take you to the latest 10 blog posts; about me is a link happy semi-humorous biography; JoS includes the cover art (shout out to Alberto who made my amazing cover- seriously, go look at how amazing it is), links to purchasing my book from Smashwords or Amazon, and a pronunciation guide for words found in the book; and Writing Information will take you to a list of writing specific posts (not including all the NaNoWriMo posts- maybe those will go in another page some other time).

This blog has survived post-a-day marathons, elections, riots, computer crashes, two NaNoWriMos (alright, so one is in progress right now), political turmoil, copyright issues, lax maybe-5-a-month posts, and more since it started in June 2011. I am close to 800 views per month and expect to reach 14,000 total views this month. I couldn't be more proud of Dee Declares. Thank you for coming by. I hope you'll comment, share, like, etc. and continue to come back for more randomness by me!

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

4000 Views Yay Statistics!

December was a great month for Dee Declares. I passed 4000 views overnight so its time for site statistics once again.

Views by month (numbers may be off by a few here or there):

• June 259
• July 495
• August 654
• September 566
• October 535
• November 486
• December 910
• January already over 100

Most popular page of all: Chloe Moretz Sunday Sale: almost 450 viewings alone!

Visitors:

1. US
2. Russia
3. Germany

These updates are coming steadily faster. I made my first "views" post on June 25th and marveled over 200 visits. haha I made a 400 views post on July 6th, 600 views on July 23rd. I guess did not do a 1k views post (though I could have swore I wrote one o.0) The 2k post came October 2nd. 3k posted December 7th, though, I hit 3k a few days prior to that. That I already hit 4k in less than 30 days is amazing.

December was my busiest month to date, owed in part to my various families coming to see the pictures of my ornaments, holiday movies, and the Chloe Moretz post. This is working out to something like 22 visits per day on average, up a bit from the last post where it was 20 per day I think. To hit 4k so close to the beginning of the year... well that is just awesome. My blog started June 9th. That was 178 days ago. 4008/178 works out to 22.5. Not bad imho. :) 284 posts to date (not counting the 5 I already have scheduled/drafted/ready to post) and I've done a fairly decent job of  posting daily, responding to comments, and such.

Overall, I'm very happy with my blog. I love my daily posts. It keeps me interested without getting bored. I do need to start posting more about writing though, since this technically is an author platform blog. haha Yeah, I know... I'm so distracted. Can't help it. You don't even understand how many blog posts I started then scrapped over the last few days about the new puppies. I'm trying not to go overboard on the whole OMG PUPPIES!!!! soapbox. I'm thinking of starting a side blog up to talk about the critters. We'll see. I'll let you know if I do it on the small chance you are actually interested in the poochies, cats, and fish.

Have a great Wednesday everyone. I woke up thinking it was Monday since the kids went back to school today so Wednesday is already better since I found out I had the wrong days! Thanks for stopping by. You really are the highlight of my day.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Saturday Salute: Honoring a Pledge

This is a very short Saturday Salute. Kids are going crazy right now. :)

I want to recognize the veterans and active duty military that have come out to support the Occupy protesters. When enlisting in the military, soldiers take an oath to protect and serve United States Constitution and obey the orders of the President and officers. However, if you ask most soldiers, they will say they made a promise to protect U.S. Citizens and our Country. And some of those same soldiers are taking that promise to protect to heart. They have joined ranks to provide support and protection for the 99% protesters across the nation.

From the Veterans for Peace to groups of Occupy [Military], soldiers are coming forward (along with members of the police BRAVO!) to continue protecting us even after they have returned from war. It hasn't come without some issues. Former Marine Scott Olsen was critically injured at a raid against Occupy Oakland. Sargent Shamar Thomas verbally abraded NYC police; dissidents immediately went to work to tear him down via the Internet for daring to stand up for his beliefs.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you soldiers, for your service at home and abroad. You are exemplary of why I resolutely support the troops!

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

3000 Views

I have exceeded 3,000 views by several hundred. It was on the 2nd of October that I posted about 2,000 views so in a little over 2 months, I have racked up another 1.2-1.3k views. How awesome! It looks like I'm averaging a good 20-ish hits a day. That is wonderful! Thank you to everyone that stops by. Sometimes, blogging can feel like you are talking to yourself... it is nice to check the stats page and see that there are a ton of folks that actually read my posts. You all rock! Keep visiting, reading, and commenting! You are the highlight of my day.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

Welcome to the month after! The month after NaNo that is. It is time to unwind and let the stress of last month wash away. For those of you that finished your NaNo novels, you have my permission to turn your inner editors back on and start working to make your novel the best it can be! Those of you that wrote but haven't finished your whole story (even if you crossed 50k), KEEP WRITING! I can tell you from personal experience, being able to write "THE END" on a piece feels amazing. It opens your eyes to possibilities that you will never realize otherwise. Keep going. You will reach the end of your novel with it is ready to end.

With the end of NaNoWriMo comes the beginning of my new daily posts. Today is Thursday Thought. Watch out for a post later this afternoon. I think I will try to find something about success, or finality, or something else appropriate.

I genuinely hope you enjoyed my NaNo journal, the daily writing prompts, and the little updates here and there. I hope that October's preparations were helpful for at least someone. From today, I will be alternating finishing the last few chapters of Immo2 and the final edit of Immo1. Still working on that cover for Immo1. I'll be there soon. Tentative goal: Immo1 ready for publishing and first draft of Immo2 by January 31st. :) We'll see.

Have a great month everyone. I'm making homemade Christmas ornaments, soaps, and tasty treats for everyone this year. I'll post pictures!

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS

My 101st Post

Alright you all, this is my 101st post! I planned to have this update be the 100th, but the London update was more important. Anyhow, maybe I talk to much. Maybe I don't talk enough. I'm still learning this whole blogging thing. But I am enjoying the hell out of it! I cruised passed 800 views sometime last week without realizing it. In fact, I'm beyond 900 already. I'm super excited about all of this. Thank you all for the visits, the comments, and just for being around. You all rock!

Some statistical information for you all if you are interested after the jump.

400 Page Views!

I posted a few days ago that I had reached 200 page views since the blog started. That was 200 views from 6-9 to 6-25 in 17 days. In the 11 days since, I have doubled that number! Most visitors are from the United States, but I also have collected visits from Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Canada, France, Netherlands, Australia, Denmark, and United Kingdom. To all of you, hello and thank you for stopping by! I hope that you enjoy your visit to my blog. Feel free to contact me about writing and any of the myriad of posts that I have made. Happy Hump Day! Also, today is National Kissing Day in the States so *smooches* to you if you are so inclined.

200 page views!

Wow. I never expected such a fast response to this blog. I have officially passed 200 page views, with viewers from 7 different countries! Some views are from friends and family I am sure, but that might account for 50 of the views. So hi all you people that I don't know! I hope you are enjoying the blog as much as I am enjoying writing it each day. Let me know how I can improve and make this blog even better!