Yearly Highlights: 2015

Welcome to the Highlights from 2015!

This is the one post that will gather together all the Highlights from 2015! If this is your first visit to Forgotten Featherpen, then this is how a "Highlights" post is going to work. Like my Monthly Highlights, I will showcase the high points of the blog. This will include popular posts, events, and future plans. I'm really excited to show you all of what happened this past year. So, let's get started!

Wow, it's been one incredible year. At the start, it seemed pretty hum-drum. I spent the first few weeks of this year packing up a house in Florida and moving up to Virginia. I was on the road for my twenty-second birthday. I didn't know what the future held for me. The summer was spent keeping up a full load of online college classes while dreaming of one day living on a campus. Now look at me! I've just finished the first semester of my Junior Year at Bryan College. Along the way, I've managed to post consistently on Forgotten Featherpen and not go insane.

I was actually curious to see if I actually posted every week like I had promised myself. So, I checked the stats. I knew I missed a few weeks in December....but how much had I posted this year?

44 Posts for 2015! 

That's just 8 Mondays short of writing and publishing a post Every Week!

I'm so pleased with myself. In 2016, I aim to post every single week without fail!

Now I realize.....I'm a horrible blogger. I completely forgot Forgotten Featherpen's Birthday!

This past November 9th, the anniversary of my very first post, Forgotten Featherpen turned one-year-old. 

Technically, Forgotten Featherpen has been up and running for two whole calendar years, but I like the November to November thing better. That's how people's birthdays work so why should it be different for people's blogs?

Some Pretty Numbers

Are y'all ready for some pretty exciting stats? Because I am! I was so happy to see these numbers over this past year. It is so, so encouraging to know people actually do read all the stuff I post! I wasn't paying much attention at the start of this year to how many people actually followed Forgotten Featherpen. But I'm assuming it was under 10. Here's what the numbers look like now!

Followers

7 Blogger followers

3 Google+ Followers

12 BlogLovin' Followers

7 email subscribers

25 Instagram Followers

That's 54 followers total!

I know there's possible a few repeats in there....but still! This makes me so proud of my year of work on the blog. I look forward to it growing even more next year.

Most Popular Posts of 2015

There were a lot of really neat posts this year. Seriously, I had fun with lots of them. So, for this yearly wrap up thing I wanted to go back and see which posts from this previous year stayed the most popular. I was surprised by the results.

1. Movies and History - El Dorado (488 pageviews since February)
2. Calm Amidst Chaos: A Response
3. The Creative Blogger Award
4. Share Your Serenity
5. What Anime taught me about Memorable Characters
6. When Wings Grow Weary 
7. Top Ten Books I'd love to see as Movies 
8. Movies and Worldview: Spirited Away 







A post from February remained in the top all year long! And that post has next to no comments on it! I'm wondering why this particular post was so popular. If my reviews on movies are that interesting then maybe I should write more of them? Besides what made it to the top of this list, I have a few personal favorites to share.

My Favorite Posts:

- Movies and Worldview: Spirited Away
- Release Announcement: The Secrets of Ancient Man
- 5 Ways to Challenge Yourself in College
- My Time to Fly
- When Wings Grow Weary
- Adam and His Kin: A Book Review
- The Big Misconception about Pre-Historic Man











I'd like to hear from you guys too. What were your favorites posts from 2015? What would you like to see more of in 2016? I'm all ears!

Plans for Next Year

The main plan is to continue posting every Monday morning, every week of 2016! I know I might miss a week or two because life tends to happen. But if I plan for it I still might be able to make it.

But you're wondering about next year's actual post topics aren't you? Well, definitely expect a post with my new year's resolutions! That's going to be a fun one. I'm thinking I won't do as many fluff posts or tag posts like I did this year. Instead, you can expect two big topics next year.

Creative Writing

Okay guys, I'm taking three writing classes this upcoming semester. Two specifically for creative writing and the third for expository writing. On top of that I'll still be doing my own novel work. So guess what's going to be on my mind 24/7? Writing! Prepare to be presented with lots of posts about the subject.

I'm really excited about this. I can't wait to write all year! Will it make me go crazy? Probably. All the same, I look forward to sharing what I've learned with you and hearing what you think!

Ancient Man

With the release of "Secrets of Ancient Man", I am so ready to write a review! I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my personal copy so I can dig in. As soon as I do, you can expect a thorough review. Plus, I've been asked to help out some more with the ancient man blog and other projects they have in mind. It's gonna be so much fun.

And, since I'm taking an Expository Writing course this semester, you can probably expect some independent research articles on the topic. I'm getting pumped up for this, y'all.

Closing Thoughts 

I'd like to take a moment here and thank everyone who's had a part in the growth of this blog. My family has been such an encouragement to me. And I could hardly have the same drive to continue without my friends. Both in "real life" and on the internet. Even something as small as a "follow" or a comment has made my day.

A special shout out to Victoria @ StoriToriGrace for her amazing comments all of this last year. Seeing her around all the time has been amazing. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, you definitely should. She manages to post several days a week and I'm totally envious of that. Thanks, Victoria!

And thanks to all my other followers, active or silent, I am thankful for you all and hope to keep you coming all of next year.

Well! That's all for 2015. On to 2016!