2014 Year in Review

2014 has been a truly amazing, unforgettable year for OUTLANDER fans all over the world!  Here are some of my favorite moments from the past year:

January 12 - A comment I made in a discussion on Compuserve inadvertently inspired what Diana Gabaldon referred to as the "Necessary (Horrible) Thing" that was going to happen in WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD. (Hint: see the end of chapter 133.) Despite what Diana said at the time, it's definitely Not My Fault! <g> But I'm delighted that I was able to contribute to the writing in some small way.



February - Diana Gabaldon visited the set of OUTLANDER for the first time, and filmed her cameo appearance for Episode 104, "The Gathering". (Photo credit: Entertainment Weekly)



April 15 - The standalone e-book edition of Diana Gabaldon's novella, "The Space Between", was published. This is the same story that was previously published in THE MAD SCIENTIST'S GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION and A TRAIL OF FIRE. For more detailed information, see "The Space Between" FAQ page.



March 20-April 6 - I held a Friday Fun Facts contest to celebrate my 100th Friday Fun Facts post. Thanks again to everyone who participated!



June 1 - Fans everywhere celebrated World OUTLANDER Day on blogs, fan-sites, Twitter, and Facebook. It was a lot of fun.



June 10 - Diana Gabaldon's WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD was published, debuting at #1 on the NY Times Bestseller List!





I was thrilled to be mentioned in the Acknowledgements to MOHB! (Click on the images above to enlarge them.)

Managing the MOHB discussions in the Diana Gabaldon folder on Compuserve (aka the "Great Thread Explosion of 2014, Part 1") turned into a full-time job for me for the next 5 or 6 weeks, but I was really pleased with the way things went.

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July 25 - The world premiere of the OUTLANDER TV series took place at the San Diego Comic Con. Shortly thereafter, STARZ made the first episode available online, and we found ourselves in the middle of the "Great Thread Explosion of 2014, Part 2" (TV series edition). <g> I was so busy over the next several months trying to keep up with the discussions on Compuserve that I barely had time to breathe, but it was a LOT of fun!



August 9 - OUTLANDER officially premiered on STARZ!! I really couldn't be happier with the TV series -- the writing, the acting, the cinematography, the costumes, the music, is all WONDERFUL, and it's been an amazing experience to watch the story come to life on TV.

Here are my recaps of Episodes 101-108:

Episode 101: "Sassenach"
Episode 102: "Castle Leoch"
Episode 103: "The Way Out"
Episode 104: "The Gathering"
Episode 105: "Rent"
Episode 106: "The Garrison Commander"
Episode 107: "The Wedding"
Episode 108: "Both Sides Now"

For those of you who don't know, the series will resume on STARZ on April 4, 2015.



August 15 - I was thrilled to see that Outlandish Observations was mentioned in a list of OUTLANDER fan-sites in the August 15 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine!



August 15 - OUTLANDER was renewed for a second season on STARZ!



September 20 - Fans all over the world celebrated Jamie and Claire's wedding in Episode 107 of the TV series by tagging their tweets with #OutlanderWedding. There were a number of very successful OUTLANDER-related Twitter campaigns this year. I was the one who came up with the idea for this one. <g> I suggested it to Outlander Ambassadors after seeing the hashtag in the wedding invitation posted by STARZ (pictured above -- click on the image for a bigger view), and I was delighted to see that they took my suggestion and ran with it. Thanks to everyone who participated!

December 14 - Outlandish Observations reached 6,000 followers on Facebook!  THANK YOU ALL!!



December 16 - Diana Gabaldon's WRITTEN IN MY OWN HEART'S BLOOD was featured on "Jeopardy". (Photo credit: princesstlcw on Instagram.)

What an incredible year this has been! The average number of daily visitors to my site has more than doubled, from 552 in 2013 to 1229 in 2014, and I'm delighted to see all the new people who've found their way here in recent months.  Thanks to ALL of you who take the time to visit Outlandish Observations, and I wish you all the best in 2015!