Ten Years Before the Screen

The Palouse Wargaming Journal (PWJ) marches across its tenth anniversary.

It is said that a habit is formed in 21 days.

Publishing a blog for ten years, with regularity, must represent a lifestyle.

With 1,458 blog posts, blogging as a lifestyle decision seems applicable.

With nearly 40,000 comments (OK, half are mine!), this has become a wargaming community and outreach program for me.

What are ten take-aways from ten years of blogging?

• Averaging about 10 posts per month, I have yet to run out of content.  When I began, I worried that potential material would soon become exhausted.  To the contrary and to my surprise, more ideas and topics pop into my head than there is time to write up.  My list of draft topics is long.
• Blogging has enhanced my hobby enjoyment. 
• Perservance.  Keep at it and write regularly.  Regular updates are key to engagement.
• PWJ seems to attract readers and regular commenters of a similar demographic with similar interests.  How did this self-selection happen?
• The blogging community is generous and polite.
• Readers tend to follow the principle of if you cannot say anything nice, don't say anything.  My painting may not be the best nor my games the most handsome but you would never know it from commentary here.
• I gained new wargaming acquaintances and friends from all over the world.  Many with whom I have even enjoyed a game or two.  Amazing, really.
• Blogging opened up new possibilities and a venue to share thoughts on gaming, collecting, and wargaming in general with (mostly) likeminded wargamers.
• Following other bloggers’ works and reader commentary are both motivational and inspirational.
• I am grateful to anyone who happens to stop in to read my work and doubly grateful for those readers who regularly offer up a comment or two. 

Thank you for your patronage and friendship.

Now for a little contest!

As a small token of my appreciation for my valued readers, I offer up a gift voucher to one reader's favorite wargaming shop or bookseller.  The only constraints are that the vendor must allow for an electronic gift voucher purchase from the USA and the winner must supply an email address.

The Rules:

1. Create a Haiku observing the traditional three lines of text having 5, 7, and 5 syllables each. 
2. Theme: What draws you to checking in on actvities at the PWJ?
3. Enter as many times as you like by leaving your Haiku as a comment to this post.
4. One Haiku will be selected randomly from my favorite entries.
5. Gift Voucher amount will be determined by the number of responses.

Below are two examples to prime the creative pump:

Paint desk is busy

Armies march into battle

Anticipation.

Thoughts swirl and wander

Inspires; encourages

Quite habit forming.

Contest will close 30SEP2022.