Five Year Blogoversary // This or That

Well, voyagers . . . we’ve been together for five years now. Every blogoversary is such a visceral time because I’m still blown away by this community. I’m in awe of how many of you there are and how many of you have been here since day one.

I know that blogging isn’t a popular thing anymore. It’s not something that attracts a lot of people, but you’re here anyway. A handful of you still hop on and read my posts. A hundred and fifty of you are subscribed to my blog. Over three hundred of you follow me on Twitter. No matter the platform, you voyagers show up. And I’m so, so grateful for each and every one of you.

I don’t know if I’ll blog on here forever. One day, I may feel God call me to make the change to a newsletter instead. Maybe one day I’ll post my newsletters here instead of blog posts that are way too long. I don’t know what the future holds, but I’m excited. When I think about what God’s done with this community already, I can’t help but smile. You’ve all worked so hard to make this a safe, loving, and kind corner of the internet. You’ve been nothing but wonderful, and I’ll never forget that.

So, here’s to five years of the best community on the internet. Here’s to five years of rambling and writing advice and being vulnerable with each other in ways that have made us stronger. Here’s to five years of making new friends and connecting with beautiful souls.

Here’s to five years of watching God build a community that only He could build.

I love you all more than words can express. If you’ve been here since day one, I want to say thank you for standing beside me on this epic journey. If you just found the voyager community today, I want to say welcome. We’re a wild little group, but gosh, I love it here.

I hope you decide to stick around for another year because I think God’s gonna do something really cool.

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The Long Voyage Stats

Places my blog has reached (views): United Stages (14,079), Canada (982), United Kingdom (770), Australia (683), India (481), Philippines (417), Germany (224), New Zealand (132), Netherlands (132), South Africa (117), France (111), Malaysia (96), Indonesia (96), Singapore (95), China (92), Ireland (84), Poland (81), Spain (79), Brazil (69), Italy (66), Sweden (66), Sri Lanka (62), Pakistan (60), Mexico (53), Cambodia (52), Hong Kong SAR China (48), Japan (46), Portugal (43), Nigeria (43), United Arab Emirates (41), Austria (38), Israel (35), Denmark (35), Romania (35), Norway (32), Belgium (32), Switzerland (32), Argentina (30), Finland (28), Vietnam (27), Saudi Arabia (26), Turkey (26), Czechia (25), Ukraine (25), Russia (22), Egypt (21), South Korea (20), Bangladesh (20), Serbia (17), Thailand (17), Slovakia (17), Puerto Rico (16), Greece (13), Nepal (13), Kenya (12), Peru (12), Morocco (12), Honduras (12), Lebanon (12), Bulgaria (11), Hungary (10), Lithuania (10), Ecuador (9), Colombia (9), Trinidad & Tobago (9), Chile (9), American Samoa (9), Bhutan (9), Zambia (8), Jordan (8), French Polynesia (7), Tawan (7), Qatar (7), Slovenia (7), Cyprus (6), Estonia (5), Kuwait(5), Oman (5), Algeria (5), Macao SAR China (4), Venezuela (4), Luxembourg (4), Latvia (4), Botswana (4), Moldova (4), Turks & Caicos Islands (3), Guatemala (3), Jamaica (3), Kazakhstan (3), Croatia (3), Panama (3), Bahrain (3), Zimbabwe (3), Uzbekistan (3), Bosnia & Herzegovina (3), Bolivia (3), Suriname (3), Sierra Leone (2), Iraq (2), Anguilla (2), Iceland (2), Uganda (2), Azerbaijan (2), Ethiopia (2), Mozambique (2), Réunion (2), Bahamas (2), Madagascar (2), Myanmar (Burma) (2), Costa Rica (2), Uruguay (2), Dominican Republic (2), Tanzania (1), Malawi (1), Liberia (1), Barbados (1), Cayman Islands (1), Haiti (1), Guam (1), Lesotho (1), Cameroon (1), Montenegro (1), Fiji (1), Cuba (1), St. Vincent & Grenadines (1), Georgia (1), Malta (1), Bermuda (1), Guyana (1), Palau (1), Belarus (1), Northern Mariana Islands (1), Andorra (1), Tunisia (1), Ghana (1), Mauritius (1), Afghanistan (1), European Union (1), Libya (1), Aruba (1), Guadeloupe (1), Curaçao (1), Guersney (1), Yemen (1), Maldives (1), and Armenia (1).

My Most Popular Posts:

My Favorite Post(s) from this Year:

Okay, now it’s time to answer all of your This or That questions. I want to give a huge shoutout to Jaedyn, Brooke, and Tirzah for submitting these questions. If you didn’t get a chance to torture me with a This or That question, feel free to drop some in the comments. I’d love to hang out and answer more cruel questions.

Coffee or Tea?

This question would’ve been a lot easier if you’d asked me three years ago before I knew about strawberry tea and bubble tea. However, since you’re asking me now in 2024, the answer is tea.

Yes, I know this is a shock to everyone. I promise it was somehow still a bigger surprise to me.

Audiobook or Podcast?

Audiobooks. I listen to podcasts occasionally, but I’m a lot more likely to listen to audiobooks. They not only count toward my yearly reading goal, but they also tell a story. And, well, it’s me, so story trumps conversation pretty much always.

Sweet or Salty Snacks?

Sweet because I really do love chocolate. I am a fan of pretzals and crackers for a writing snack, but if there’s chocolate, I’m gonna grab that.

Note-Taking or Doodling (while listening to something)?

I don’t know if this will be a popular decision, but 100% note-taking. I’m that person who took 12 pages of notes in a high school class and like 24 in a college class. I also took extensive notes at my last writing conference. I like doodling, but I’ve been cursed to be a terrible doodler, so I usually just take notes.

Everyday Makeup or Special Occasion Makeup?

I really don’t wear makeup very often. I used to wear it sometimes when I went out, but the older I get the more I just don’t want to spend the time and energy to do it. That being said, I do really love a simple everyday look, so I’d choose that one.

Dark and Brooding Character or Sunshine Golden Retriever Character?

This might be the hardest question any of you asked because I really love both. My personal favorite is the dark and brooding boy who’s secretly a sunshine golden retriever boy on the inside. But, since the whole point of this is for me to choose, I shall go with the dark and brooding character.

Most of my favorite characters fall into this category (Edward Cullen, Jace Wayland, Carden Greenbriar, Kaz Brekker, etc), so it makes sense. There’s just something so attractive about the snarky boy who’s clad in black with a mysterious past . . .

Summer or Winter?

I love the idea of summer, but I’m choosing winter. I don’t do well in the heat (and it’s always stupid hot where I live), which makes it really hard to enjoy the summer season. Besides, winter brings rain, cozy fires, leggings, sweaters, beanies, and warm drinks. What’s not to love?

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate. I don’t hate vanilla, but I’ve found that almost everything is better when it’s chocolate instead of vanilla.

Books or TV Shows?

Books. I’ve found some incredibly TV shows recently, so this was painful, but I quite literally wouldn’t be able to live without books. My entire career is built around the existence of books, and I can’t really think of a good life without them.

Also, the Bible is a book that I refuse to give up. So, I’m sorry to see TV shows go, but there’s really only one correct choice here.

Romance or Dystopian?

I hate this question with my whole heart because how DARE you make me choose between my two loves. *literally sobbing* Teenage Bree would literally hate me for this, but I must choose romance over dystopia. It’s a painful decision, but the only true one I can make because there’s way more crossover potential for romance than dystopia. Romance is in so many stories, even as subplots, and choosing dystopian over romance would mean losing all of my favorite stories.

That being said, I’m keeping any dystopia that includes romance because CROSSOVERS BABY.

Pens or Pencils?

If we’re talking about what I use more often, then pencils because pens have too much permanency for me. But, if we’re talking about which I use to annotate my nice books and what I like, then pens wins all the way.

That being said, if it’s neither of those options and it really is just a simple question, I’d say pens.

Taylor Swift or Sasha Alex Sloan?

Taylor Swift. Brooke forced me to answer this question, which is super evil of her, but yeah. I love Sasha Alex Sloan and her music has literally meant the world to me, but Taylor simply has so much more to choose from.

Also, if I think about this question too long I’ll go insane.

TV Shows or Movies?

This is so hard. I can’t believe I signed up for this and thought this would be fun. Lol. I generally prefer movies, but lately I’ve been watching way more shows than movies, so I don’t know. I guess I’ll say movies since most of my favorite things to watch are movies and not TV shows.

Movie Adaptations or Musical Adaptations?

Movie adaptations. I love a good musical, but I’m way more inclined to movie adaptations (yes, even the bad ones).

Long Chapters or Short Chapters?

I really like both because I think different books require different chapter lengths. Sometimes I love those short chapters cthat just pick up the pace of a story and keep things moving. But, other times, I love a good long chapter that goes into the details and really lingers in the moments.

I also tend to write really short chapters, so I feel like I’m partial to them. I’d really choose a good mix of both to keep things from feeling too monotone, but if I’m being forced to choose, I’ll say short chapters so I can go to bed sooner.

Main Character or Side Characters?

Main character, probably. I love a good side character or bunch of side characters, but I’m generally able to relate more to the protagonists of a story because we get access to their heads and souls more intimately. This is, obviously, different if you get POV chapters for side characters, but the protagonist is the one who makes or breaks the story to me, so I’ll choose them every time.

Ice Cream or Froyo?

Ice cream. I love frozen yogurt, but ice cream is just . . . more satisfying. Plus, I’m legally obligated to say the one with more milk since I’m lactose intolerant, and all of us just have a weird addiction to the thing that makes us suffer. *winks*

Highlighters or Colored Pens?

Highlighters. I love a good colored pen, but usually I go for black pens because there’s something more satisfying about black words on cream paper. Also, highlighters work really beautifully for annotations (although I haven’t done that yet), so they can make black words look EVEN PRETTIER which is really freaking cool.

Word Count or Page Count?

Word count. It’s so funny to me that readers always go by page count, but writers go by word count. And, well, as a writer I’m not obligated to use the word count system (even though I’m still a reader). It’s also just more fun to be chaotic with the word count because nobody, including me, knows how to convert word count into page count, so we’re all just over here winging this length thing.

Fantasy or Dystopia?

This is really just a cruel question because you’re making me choose between my first love and my current love. Dystopia was my everything as a teenager, and I can’t just let that go. But fantasy has been growing on me because it’s really cool. It takes me a while to get into it, but once I’m in, like, I’m IN.

Ughhhhhhhh, Alexa play “I Hate It Here” by Taylor Swift because this is just wrong and I refuse to answer the question.

Editor Bree here to say that my gut reaction was fantasy, but if I think about it for more than five seconds, I’ll say dystopia. Either way, I hate it here because either way I’m losing something I love and simply cannot live without. Does this really answer the question? Absolutely not, but this is my blog and I get to make the rules so . . . I’m sorry but also not.

Let’s Talk!

Do you prefer brooding characters or golden retriever characters? Are you more of a fantasy or romance person? Do you like to doodle? Let’s talk all things This or That down in the comments below. P.S. If you have a question that didn’t get answered, drop it down in the comments and I’ll get to it soon!