Thank You for Following + Giveaway

Dry As Toast's Facebook page reached 200 likes last week! To celebrate, I'm having a big giveaway to thank you guys for following through all these years. When I first started up the blog back in 2007, I had finished grad school and was having the toughest time landing a magazine job. During a networking session, one contact suggested I start a blog so that I could continue to write and learn how to edit myself. I was so shy and nervous about the idea that when I finally hit publish on my first post I didn't tell anyone other than my sister. Well fast-forward nearly seven years and 1,575 posts later and here we are. There have been quite a few times when I've had to back away for a bit because work + life + lack of inspiration, but I'm so thankful for those who've been reading all along. Whether you stumbled upon Dry As Toast in the early days or are a recent reader, I'm very grateful that you take any time out of your day to read the randomness that spews out my brain. I'm really looking forward to sharing the next year ahead with you.

As a token of my appreciation, I'm giving away a box filled with paper goodies to three readers. Over the years, I've realized that I'm quite the formidable paper hoarder. I have drawers and bags filled with greeting cards, notebooks, note sets, postcards, bookmarks, and other lovely items I've collected from stationery shows, PR reps, friends, and my own purchases. Silly thing is, they're just so pretty I've never been able to part with them or *gasp* actually write in these. Crazy, I know, but here's where you can help. Save me from myself (read: help me make room for my paper obsession). I hope the winners will share their goodies, use them to bring a smile to a friend, send snail mail, and jot down thoughts and dreams. Each box will be randomly filled with swag from my stash so it'll be a complete surprise, but a really fun one.

To gain multiple entries for the giveaway, just log into the Rafflecopter widget below and a winner will be announced Wednesday, Jan. 22.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CONGRATULATIONS: This week's giveaway winners are Jenelle, Cody, and Dariany!

Where to Find Dry As Toast and Me on the Internets

I was already knee deep in social media before and in the last couple of weeks I've expanded my reach with two new accounts. Some remain for personal use and interacting with my friends and others are to engage with you in different ways. So to save myself from posting the same thing four different times and subject you to that redundancy, I've listed out what different things you can expect if you follow me in the social media sites below.

Dry As Toast will of course remain the hub of it all. Here, you'll be treated to posts about relationships, art, travel and lifestyle as well as my insight on personal topics and interviews with awesome people. I'll also share details about articles I've written as I continue to add to my portfolio. I've narrowed down the blog's scope to really produce some thought-provoking posts, but that said, expect me to pop in with my snarky observations from time to time. As much I want to contribute something meaningful to the sea of drudge, I think it's perfectly fine to kick back and comment on the madness every now and then.

Shortly after redesigning the blog, I abandoned the old Facebook Group and created a brand new Page for Dry As Toast. I put a few more touches on it over the weekend (like the ribbon photos at the top, which include links to the topics I will cover here) and followed some favorite blogs. Aside from links to blog posts, I'll be asking questions to pick your brains or just pop in to see how your week is going. Remember the random ramblings you'd been privy to all these years? Well this is now the place where we can chat about those things. I hope it becomes our go-to place for conversations and feedback when those thoughts are much too short to warrant an entire post.

I will also share fun links and finds so be sure to pop in regularly and "like" the page so you'll be notified of any updates and chats! Who knows? Those Facebook conversations could evolve into a blog post, too.

Follow: facebook.com/dryastoast

Twitter will be more about me than the blog itself. Expect random thoughts, day-to-day doings, my interactions with followers and other creative types and my life as a writer. I won't be posting links to blog posts regularly, but expect a comment made there to either spin into a future post or be inspired by something recently written. If you're curious about what's in my brain or experience New York City through my eyes, this is where to go.

Follow: twitter.com/dorkysramos

Pinterest is one of my latest acquisitions! For those who aren't familiar, it's a collection of virtual inspiration boards that allow you to pin and share images from around the web. I was already searching through the site for weeks to find ideas and beautiful photos to share with you here so I finally decided to just get an account and stop clogging up my browser's bookmarks tab. I admit I use it more for my own research and inspiration than interacting with the other members, but it's been fun poring through other people's pinboards and discovering new websites and talents.

Follow: pinterest.com/dorkysramos

Even though I joined Google+ a few weeks ago, I hadn't dabbled much with the site until this past weekend. I'm still playing around with it, but am slowly getting more comfortable with the format. This is a great place to break out of 140-character restrictions, use complete sentences (hooray for proper grammar!) and give yourself a bit more room to expand on thoughts and ideas (almost like Tumblr). Like Twitter, you can follow anyone and anyone can follow you, but you can limit who views what you post and choose to either share things with the public or only certain circles. In this way, you can keep your followers satisfied by only exposing them to things they'd enjoy, keep from sharing details of your personal life with total strangers and only follow the people you're actually interested in.

I still don't know what role this will play in regards to Dry As Toast, if any, but for now I like that I can introduce myself to a new audience, meet and interact with others who share my interests, which in turn makes followers more inclined to respond to the things I share (as opposed to Facebook "friends" who really don't give a crap about your dilemmas). I'm starting to see Facebook as the place to get your quick dose of gossip - who's doing what, who hates their job, who just got married - and my Google+ stream as a playground for artistic minds and thinkers. It's almost like having another Google Reader except it's easier to comment and start conversations with the person who posted without having to leave the page.

The site is still very much in its infancy, but it's really gaining momentum as more people join in. For now, I shall use it as a smarter alternative to Facebook, to discover new things and the place to head to if I ever need to bounce ideas and questions off people who will actually respond.

Follow: plus.google.com