Friday, September 28, 2012

Bloggiesta: Starting Line


Bloggiesta is officially underway! This is my first time participating in Bloggiesta so I'm pretty excited to make some improvements, learn some new tricks and meet new bloggers in the process. I'm admittedly not so great at time management, so hopefully I'll be able to actually follow through with some of my intentions!

Bloggiesta is group blog event that brings bloggers together for a weekend of blog improvements, mini challenges designed to teach improved productivity and blog management and twitter parties. Of course you can make blog improvements any time you want, but doing it alongside other bloggers turns tackling your to-do list into a party!

Bloggiesta is hosted this year by Suey of It's All About Books and Danielle from There's A Book and takes place Sept. 28-30.

Sign up for Bloggiesta HERE.  More than 200 bloggers are signed up!

Starting line posts are linked HERE.

Mini-Challenges are posted HERE.

Twitter parties! Friday Sept. 28  9-11pm EST
                         Saturday Sept. 29  noon-2pm EST
                         Sunday, Sept. 30  5-7pm EST

Just follow @Bloggiesta and the hash tag #Bloggiesta on twitter for parties and general blogger interaction.

My to-do list is quite ambitious, but I'm listing it all anyway and hoping to accomplish as much as I can.  Honestly, I'll be happy if I'm able to check one or two things off my list by the end of the weekend.

  1. Back up blog! I've never done this before.. 
  2. Add those cute little buttons to my sidebar. RSS feeds, Twitter, goodreads, instagram, email, etc..
  3. Create some pages. About me, On my bookshelf, In the kitchen, In the Garden, Health & Fitness, Travel & Adventures, Arts & Crafts 
  4. Update photos. Remove and or credit photos not my own.
  5. Add creative commons copyright thingy [need to figure this out] 
  6. Consolidate my separate blogs See how she runs... [fitness logs] and The happily ever after... book archives [lists of monthly reads since 2008] into my main blog. Maybe their own page here? 
  7. Start the process of making a unique, artistic header graphic. At least explore some options. My sources of inspiration: Angieville and Lurve A La Mode
  8. Participate in a few of the mini challenges. Quite a few of them are even relevant to my to-do list!
  9. Re-organize and update all the blogs in my feed reader. 
  10. Meet new bloggers through Bloggiesta!!!! I love making new friends, don't you?


Unrelated to Bloggiesta, I've got quite a few other book and blog related things I'd love to get to by the end of the weekend:


  1. Elemental Assassin Read Along discussion 
  2. Read first three chapters of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book for The Graveyard Read Along that starts Monday! 
  3. Finish reading this month's book club pick: Cold Fire by Kate Elliot 
  4. Finish and post book review of The Rift Walker by Clay and Susan Griffith 
  5. Weekend Cooking post 
  6. In Death Series Reading Challenge: September 2012 post


I told you my list was ambitious. ;)


Is there anything about my blog that YOU think needs improvement?  Please let me know! I'm open to suggestions.

13 comments:

  1. Awww.

    Kenda's blog is awesome. Love her mad design skillz.

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  2. Here's what happens to me, once something starts to feel like a job, bloop, I don't like doing it anymore :) I made a decision last year to blog about what made me feel something, be it anger or euphoria. If a book didn't stir me to review it even if it was good, I don't. I don't go nuts with trying to keep up with categorizing my reviews. I kinda go with the flow.

    I like your blog just the way it is. I don't have to hunt for anything : )

    Started reading the Graveyard Book to my kids, so far so good. My daughter Sophia got nervous in the first few paragraphs saying she doesn't like stories like that!

    Paula

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  3. I can't think of anything to change about your blog. I never thought about backing up my blog. Oops?

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  4. Wow that list is ambitious, especially trying to do your own header. I need a header since I just changed my blog but I think I might get someone to do it for me.

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  5. Definitely an ambitious list! And ughhh - how could I have forgotten about The Graveyard Book readalong?! I wish I could follow along, but just know I won't have time for it this weekend :-(

    And I like you blog - a lot! Only thing I would change is for the comments - add the option to be able to comment with name & URL (but that's just personal preference since I don't use Blogger or Wordpress).


    Tanya Patrice
    Girlxoxo.com

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  6. I love your ambitious list! You can do it! And there are so many ppl available to help out, if needed.

    Yay for Spider's Bite! ♥

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  7. Good luck with your list!!
    I'm sitting out Bloggiesta this time :( Just didn't have time to plan things so I'm going to just read and try to get ahed of my review pile.

    Hope you have a great time :D

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  8. Woohoo for your first Bloggiesta! You have a great list!

    I'll second the desire for a Name/URL option in the comments. Then, I don't feel the need to add my blog link in the comment so you know who I am :-)

    Joy's Book Blog

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  9. Awesome list! I'm so jealous mine is so short haha! Your blog looks great!

    New follower here! :)

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  10. Love those social media icons. :) Good luck with the rest of your goals!

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  11. Angie, Your brother-in-law is the bomb! And yeah, Kenda has mad design skillz. In fact, she doesn't know it yet, but she's on my radar for my header ... ha. ;)

    Paula, I know exactly how you feel about a joy turning to a job. That's why I don't accept books for review anymore. The guilt for being late--which I inevitably am with book reviews--is so not worth it.

    Thanks for the blog feedback. :)

    Hoping to start The Graveyard book tonight! :)

    Brandy, I never thought about it either until I saw someone tweet about it last year. Last year! And I still haven't done it... but it's on my agenda today. I'll let you know how it goes and will post about it in my Bloggiesta Wrap-up post tomorrow night or Monday. It would be a shame if something happened to Blogger and everything you ever wrote was lost, wouldn't it?

    D. Ann, I know! The custom personalized header task is just to "get started"... I don't plan on finishing it. I just want to get the ball rolling so to speak. Hope your having a productive Bloggiesta! Thanks so much for visiting. :))

    Tanya, Oh please join in with The Graveyard Book read along anyway! The first three chapters are "due" tomorrow, Oct. 1 but I anticipate not being ready either. I'll just get caught up in the next few days and be ready for the next chapter set due the following week. It's a middle grade reading level book, isn't it? We can do it!

    Thanks for the tip about the comment section. I think I had it the way you suggest, but I was being bombarded with spam so I tightened it up. I'll look into it. Of course I want it to be easy for everyone to comment. I love comments. :)

    Hope you're having a productive Bloggiesta weekend!

    Smash Attack! I'm not afraid of my ambitious list one iota! It's fun having lots of goals! Then I'm one step ahead of the game for the next Bloggiesta, because whatever I don't finish is on my list for the next time! haha!

    Gin for the win!!!

    Alex, Thanks for the Bloggiesta cheers!

    Joy, Thanks for the Bloggiesta cheers! I LOVE your mini challenge, by the way. I started to comment on Friday night and got distracted but will be over today to tell you what I did. I literally JUST started using Evernote in July the day before we left on vacation because I wanted a note system that would sync automatically between my iphone and ipad and laptop. I LOVE it but have to practice more and learn more of the super cool features.

    Thanks for the tip about my comments section!

    Cori, Hey, there are huge merits of having a short list. For one, you're more likely to get to it all so you'll have a sense of accomplishment and two, you have more time to visit other Bloggiesta peeps. :)

    Thanks for visiting and for following me! Yay! :))
    Off to visit your blog now!!

    thepamjelly I'm so happy I got those social media icons up! I feel so accomplished. lol! Thanks, good luck to you on Bloggiesta, too! Thanks for the visit! :)

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  12. Looks like you got a good start to your list! Bloggiesta always reminds me how much blogging is a work in progress ;) Hope you had a productive (and fun!) weekend!

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  13. Looks like you did great, Christine! I so need to back up my blog as well. LOL, next Bloggiesta :) I was too busy this week-end to participate, but there's always a next time :)

    Good job!

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