Birthday Giveaway! Miniature Tim is 1 Year Old!

1 year ago today I re-entered the blogosphere with Miniature Tim. All short jokes aside, I made a commitment to make this blog a priority for me, posting at least once per week with content that I would actually want to read and hoping that a few folks out there would want to read it as well. I did my research, read articles on how to run a successful blog by successful bloggers, and cannonballed into the deep end.

Holy crap…it's been a year already?!?!


Now I could go all sappy on you, and mention how Skarvald from Wolves for the Wolf God, and the entire crew over at Dark Future Games really inspired me to get serious about blogging...or how much your comments, you following this blog and the friends I've made though here mean to me. Maybe even...well, you get the point. Through this blog, I've made some amazing friends and have gotten some amazing opportunities and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I'd like to quote, and link, a few articles and authors I've read that I mentioned earlier. The articles that really helped shape how I blog and how I maintain focus, the research I did to try and make this blog something more than just my random musings and opinions.

Stay with me here, the details on the Birthday Present Giveaway will come at the end, I promise!

From The Warp
Ron has written extensively about his thoughts on how to blog, what to Blog about, and what not to do in a blog. Some of the ones that helped me the most I'll link below, but he has an entire section of his archives devoted to topics like this. I suggestion you check them all out.

The purpose of your Warhammer 40k blog
10 ways to improve your blog
I have a 40k blog and I don't know what to post
Assumptions you make when posting

Strictly Average
Brent is an extremely prolific blogger who's got a lot to say, is entertaining, and has many well put points of perspective. I found his blog though Bell of Lost Souls where he also writes, and where his article on blogging is hosted. You can search "blogging" on his personal blog and find nearly a dozen other posts on the mechanics of blogging as well.

Editorial: Top Tips, the Blogging Edition

Dark Future Games
Yup, it figures that these guys have an opinion on how a successful hobby blog is run. The entire group writes great articles, and they are on my daily reading list. It really doesn't hurt that they are also a great bunch of guys in person and ones I count as friends, even if we are spread across the country!

Some Tips for Growing Your Wargaming Blog

Frontline Gamer
Good Lord...if there is a success story when it comes to one man and his blog, Frontline Gamer is it. Not only is he a fellow, old-school Battletech player, he's a solid writer and seemingly has more hours in his day than I think there physically are! In all seriousness, this man is inspiring to me and my own blog here. The article I'll link to here is a long one, and a more recent one, but one that every blogger should read.

Frontline Gamers guide to writing a successful Blog

By no means is this an exhaustive list of posts and articles on this subject, but it is a list I'm very thankful to these authors for writing.

On to the Birthday Present Giveaway!

If this is a birthday of sorts, then some presents of sorts are needed, yes? Well, I've got a set of presents that will be the first ever giveaway hosted on Miniature Tim! Inspired by Frontline Gamer's own birthday giveaways, I've got a prize that includes 3 boxes of hobby love! Mantic's Warpath, Marauder Grunt Platoon, a Hordes Trollbloods Battlegroup, and a Chaos Daemons Seekers of Slaanesh!

In order to be eligible for the Birthday Present Giveaway, I only ask three things:

1. Be, or become, a follower of this blog. Many times, aside from some cold hard statistics, bloggers only have two ways to know what he or she is doing means something to someone. Becoming a follower of a blog you read is one way of doing that.

2. Post a comment below saying you want free stuff! Comments, of course, being the other way you show a blogger you agree, disagree or just in general read what they have to say, are always appreciated and looked forward too!

3. Do both of the above by Midnight on Thursday, June 7th, GMT.

That's it, that's all I ask! This is the least I can do to show my appreciation for everyone who's left comments, followed, or just simply read what I've had to talk about for the past year! Have at it, folks!

- Tim