Outlandish Observations is 10 years old!

Outlandish Observations turns 10 years old today!!

I started this blog on August 28, 2008, with two goals in mind. The first was simply to learn about blogging. The second was to create a central repository for news and information for OUTLANDER fans, a place where people could go to find answers to commonly asked questions, links to other OUTLANDER-related sites, and the latest information on Diana Gabaldon's new and upcoming releases.

To say that this blog has succeeded far beyond my wildest imaginings is a severe understatement! In the beginning, I never expected anyone to visit my site except a few dozen of my friends from the Compuserve Books and Writers Community (now TheLitForum.com) and the Ladies of Lallybroch fan-site. I didn't talk about it on Compuserve for the first couple of years, because I was very reluctant to draw attention to it where Diana Gabaldon could see -- which seems silly in retrospect, but it's true.  Suffice it to say that I did get over that shyness, eventually. <g>

Special thanks to all of my followers on the Outlandish Observations Facebook page! Last year at this time I had 9,604 followers on Facebook. Today that number is 10,876, an increase of 13.24%! I'm delighted that so many new people have found my site in recent months. Welcome! I hope you take some time to look around and see what else is available here.

Outlandish Observations was one of the first successful OUTLANDER-related blogs. These days there are dozens and dozens of fan-sites, Facebook groups, and so on. The more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned! <g> I'm proud to be a part of such a thriving, creative, and enthusiastic worldwide community of fans, united in our passion for these books and characters and this amazing story Diana Gabaldon has created, that is now being brought to life on TV.

I'm delighted to see so many new people discovering OUTLANDER as a result of the TV series!  In case you're wondering, yes, I will be posting weekly recaps of the Season 4 episodes once the show resumes in November, just as I've done for the first three seasons. Look here for my episode recaps.



In celebration of this 10th anniversary, I have a special treat for all of you: my first-ever interview with Diana Gabaldon! I did my best to come up with questions that are somewhat different from the sorts of things that everybody always asks her, and I am just DELIGHTED with her responses! (The photo above is from our first meeting, at a book-signing in Maryland in 2009.)

Part 1 of the interview is here. Part 2 is here. Hope you enjoy it!

Many, many thanks to all of you who've visited Outlandish Observations over the past ten years. It's been an amazing journey, and I'm so glad you've come along for the ride.

THANK YOU ALL!!