Celebrating One Year of A Writer in Training!

Well, look at that. I've now had this blog for a year. Pretty cool, right? 

I started A Writer in Training on June 15th, 2016, with the aim of learning a bit about journalism and writing in general. It began with a book review -- The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare. Since then, I've been sharing articles, book reviews, one or two stories, a sprinkling of poetry, some other book/movie-related fun stuff, and even photography. 

Overall, it's been fun learning about writing a thorough book review! I've reviewed a large handful of books so far (you can find them all under the Book Reviews tab) and should hopefully be doing more in future. 
Just for fun, here's the top three "awards" for most popular book reviews, based on number of views:
1st Place - The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
2nd Place -  Worth It All by Isabella Morganthal
3rd Place - (tie!) The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

I've also enjoyed sharing articles and various other reflections. Holiday-based ones have been fun. (And ones that technically weren't holidays; e.g., Star Wars Day, Hobbit Day. Which were quite fun to write.;))
Top three placings are:
1st Place - Rain and Responsibility (Reflections)
2nd Place - Harry Potter - To Read or Not to Read?
3rd Place - Why Do History?

And then there are the more creative-writing pieces! So far I haven't done much of that, but I hope to pursue creative writing a little more actively this summer, so you may get to see another short story or two. 
Top three placings are: 
1st Place - Short Story - The Teapot 
2nd Place - Short Story/Poetry - Winter Wonderland
3rd Place - Photos/Poetry - A Continued Celebration of Fall (+ some poetry)

Lots of variety, lots of fun. 

Tinkering with the blog site has also been interesting... several of you may remember the days when it was themed dark-red with a background of candles. Which I liked. However, I like the current look better; I want it to stay clean and professional. It's been fun learning how to tweak Blogger to make its templates look more --- well, more unique.

Goals for the future? Hopefully more articles and creative writing, and definitely more book reviews; possibly some summer reading lists? Other than that, we'll have to wait and see what happens. 

I'm going on an adventure!

So, what are you interested in seeing here this summer? What have you enjoyed? Any thoughts for blog design?