The Four Year Anniversary Book Giveaway!

My blog is four years old today, which is amazing. So many wonderful things have happened over the last four years and while I don’t often post the events of my life in any kind of detail, I’m happy to have a small glimpse of them on record here—a sense of how I’ve grown as an artist, as a writer, as a mother, a wife, and a spirit capable of love and peace and compassion. There is a lot going on today in addition to the blog's anniversary. I am releasing a new book. It's National Indigenous Peoples Day. And finally, today marks the start of my effort to learn the Cayuga language using the master-apprentice method with my husband. All very exciting things and to celebrate, I am gifting away some of my books! 

Celebrating Turtle Island

I started this blog because I wanted a space where I could share the positive things I saw happening in my community. Four years ago I had just left a job where I was fortunate enough to travel and visit many First Nation communities. The travel wore me out, but the communities never did. I love the people of Turtle Island. I love the stories they have to share. The resilience. The hope. The creativity. The ideas. The passion. In every community I visited I met people who were committed to making thing better for their children and for the future. That inspired me. I am very fortunate to work in my own community and try to be helpful. And though our community has our struggles, there's also a lot of strength, creativity and shared commitment to areas I've personally come to love, like language and education and art. I hope I'm always able to see and support everyone's efforts. 

Writing is the other reason I started this blog. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to tell stories. Over the last four years I’ve continued to work away at that dream with a bit more focus—learning about storytelling and publishing through reading and writing and practice. All along, my goal has been to not only write stories but to share them and over the past four years, I've done just that. I’ve written a ton of stories—some of which I’ve shared (some of which will likely stay in the trunk) and I’ve even branched out and begun sharing some of my artwork. I won't lie, sharing your art and your writing can be a scary experience but on a whole, I’m very happy to be doing it.

So today is a special day. It’s a day to celebrate this blog and the journey I’ve been on. And this blog really does mean a great deal to me. I have no idea how many people read or visit my blog, but I thank each and every one of you that do. Having this space has never been about numbers or traffic—even though I know those things are very important for authors. It’s mostly been about creating a small space to think about things, to practice writing and to share. Most of all, it’s been about having a place to talk about the things I love, things like writing a book or learning the language or formatting and publishing books or my own wonderful little family. I am so grateful for all of it—for every second—and I know there is still so much to learn and experience.

But for now, I'm happy to celebrate the accomplishments of the last several years and in honour of that, I will be gifting away copies of my books! One book will go to one of my newsletter subscribers (you can subscribe here). Another book will go to a random retweeter of this blog on Twitter. Another to a liker of this post on Facebook. And finally, another book will go to a liker of this post on Instagram. The giveaway goes until midnight tonight and I'll announce winners tomorrow. 

Happy Writing Everyone! And Happy Blogging! And Happy Reading! And Happy Dreaming!

S.