Advent Invitation

Twelve months have passed since I sent out a message similar to this, asking for contribution posts for the 2014 Advent Blog series. Over the past couple of weeks I have made requests, via social media, for people to come forward to be this year’s curator. I must confess that I have been humbled by the response, so many people have complimented me on the job that I did last year and suggested, with surprising insistence, that it would be good if I was prepared to host again. Thank you! I was happy to pass on the baton, and will be doing so next year, but I am flattered by the kind words and am genuinely pleased and honoured to host the series again in 2015.

It is such a privilege being the curator, you get to: 

• encourage hesitant new bloggers to publish their first post;
• catch up with friends and make new contacts, many of whom are globally respected bloggers and well known experts with a huge following;
• share the trails and tribulations of others’ years before the wider audience read about them;
• be able to congratulate people on amazing achievements and see the celebratory responses when their post becomes public;
• post certain pieces anonymously, as certain individuals wanted their thoughts known but dreaded repercussions if others knew that they were the author;
• have a chance to interact with friends and contacts from around the world; and
• sustain what has become an annual, treasured tradition. 

All credit and thanks to Alison Chisnell, the Advent Fairy, who was the original creator of this amazing series, and who retains an active interest and involvement. I proposed to her a selection of potential titles/themes for this year. We have agreed on one that we both hope will give people sufficient scope and which might spark imaginations and memories.

So, here I am, calling all you High Fliers and those of you who have toiled hard or even felt yourself trapped in the dark over the past year – people from around the world enjoy the Advent Blog series every year. I know that they would like to read about your experiences or indeed any post that you choose to write based on this year’s theme: 

”Comet Tails and Coal Dust” 

Comet Hale-Bopp (1997), which possessed two distinct tails -
a dust tail (white) and an ion tail (blue)

Traditional Advent calendar windows start being opened from the 1^st of December, with a new surprise being revealed daily. The Advent Blog series is the same, in that a new blog is published each day. However, despite being called the Advent Blog series, these blogs are not a religious countdown and the series is not limited to just 24 posts. In recent years the contributions have continued well into the New Year, with people contributing posts from around the world and from a mixture of backgrounds and outlooks. All authors are welcome. Please check out the posts on my blog for December 2014 and January 2015, if you want an idea of the kind of things that people write. I will provide introductions and illustrations as I did last year. Contact me if you have any questions. I very much hope that you will decide to join in.

I know from people’s comments that the Advent Blog series has become a treasured tradition but it doesn’t happen without your involvement and help.  Please spread the word and encourage those who are nervous. It is fun and it brightens up the end of the year for so many of us. I can’t wait to see what this year brings.

Please send your blogs to me, as soon as you can, my email address is kate@kategl.com.  I look forward to hearing from you.