Woo! You guys are ah-mazing!!! You make my judging job so difficult because every. single. post is beautiful and thoughtful. I get so excited hearing about what you're reading and your stories about the places in your lives - some of them may seem commonplace to you, but they're extraordinary for me! Thank you to everyone who upvoted, promoted, and participated in this contest! You at least made this one person's life brighter!
Decisions have once again been made, and prizes doled out, so here's the wrap-up:
The Winners
Photography Winner: @akaem
"Ven" on a Park Bench
Once again, @akaem's photos capture the essence of a classic reading experience. This time, it's escaping from the bustle of daily life with a thoughtful novel on a park bench. @akaem mentioned that her friend Miguel would wait until she was relaxed and into the book before snapping the photo, a great strategy for any of us who are camera-shy.
Storytelling Winner: @sunravelme
"The DaVinci Code" Destroyed On a Burning Man Honeymoon
This is not your typical adventure reading tale, with a focus more on adventure than reading - it's definitely a unique and crazy ride! Read it for yourself to find out how @sunravelme made creative use of a bestseller to get out of a treacherous situation. You never know just how that book you're carrying around might come in handy!
Community Winner: @rindaman1234
"State of Mind" in a Coffeeshop
One of our most loyal adventure reading participants, @awhsarada, recruited her friend and fellow reader @rindaman1234 to join this contest last time. During this round, we got the bonus treat of seeing one adventure reader in another's post! Woah! Together, they're a wonderful part of the community. They're both very consistent commenters and their posts are lots of fun to read, and @rindaman1234 goes the extra mile in the analysis of the books he reads - he should have a whole book review blog! Also, after both of their recommendations, I'm convinced I need to read a Katzenbach thriller. I'm also giving @awhsarada a 1.5 SBD bonus for her consistent awesomeness.
The Payouts
8.5 SBD from me + 3.611 SBD from first post + 0.156 SBD from update post = 12.267 SBD
Split equally three ways = 4.089 SBD
Plus 1.5 SBD from me distributed as a bonus
As promised, I also 100% upvoted every participating post (as far as I know - let me know if I missed yours because I obviously didn't go on Steemit very consistently - shame on me!).
Future Plans
I'm putting this contest on a temporary hiatus as further incentive to finish this never-ending construction project (thank goodness I didn't choose this as my job - I'm not cut out for it!). With that behind me, I know I could make time for writing and Steemit by reshuffling some of my other priorities. I want to do justice to you guys on here by being fully present and helping promote your content!
So as not to keep everyone in the dark, these are the things I've been up to: reading (including adventure reading of course), programming a tool for authors, exercising 60+ minutes a day with Darebee and Zombies, Run!, building a home studio by hand, producing a musical podcast, volunteering at therapeutic horseback riding, playing VR games with friends, walking strangers' dogs, doing the usual cooking and cleaning, and... watching inane Youtube videos (mostly construction tutorials).
Progress has been really slow on all my projects, most days are gray and rainy, and I feel pressured to stabilize everything before traveling again... But I'm still learning lots of news skills and counting the days until I can feeling confident enough to get back to writing.
I LOVE hosting this contest, and it makes my entire day to read your posts, so I will be back! Watch out for further announcements, but my current plan is to host #4 starting on April 8.
Until then, have fun reading lots and lots! :D
- Katie, @therovingreader
