Bloggiesta Accomplishments

The Bloggiesta is over (at least for me) and while I did get quite a few things accomplished in the 12 hours I worked on it, I could spend a whole other weekend on my blog and still not get through my to-do list!

What I did do:

• I fixed almost all the dead links on my blog using both Xenu’s Link Sleuth (which I found via Karen’s mini-challenge at Karin’s Book Nook) and Link Evaluator (a Firefox add-on).


• I added pages to the top of my blog and transferred my review indexes to them (and removed my homemade menu bar); however, I still need to write a proper review policy.


• I publicized my current giveaway, which resulted in several new entries.


• I ran my blog through Website Grader (for Ruth’s mini-challenge at Bookish Ruth) and realized I no longer had any metadata, so I added some (which improved my score by over 30%).


• I visited several new-to-me blogs (and hope to visit more next week).
  


• I created several new Google Alerts for Emily’s mini-challenge at Emily’s Reading Room.


• I worked on four different reviews (although none of them are finished to my satisfaction).


• I finished one of my BEA/BBC posts.


• I wrote up my Mailbox Monday post for tomorrow.
  


• I responded to some of the comments on my blog.


• I created a favicon for my blog, finally, thanks to Trish’s mini-challenge at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? Even though this might seem silly, this is the change I’m the most pleased with (and it took no time at all)!


• I had tacos for supper tonight, which seemed like an appropriate way to end this event!
  

What I didn’t do:

• I didn’t stay up all night like I did for the first Bloggiesta and I didn’t stress too much about the things I wasn’t managing to accomplish.
  

How did you do on the Bloggiesta? Thanks, Natasha, for organizing this great event!

It’s Bloggiesta Time Again!

It’s Bloggiesta time again! What is the Bloggiesta, you ask? It’s a twice-yearly event organized by Natasha at Maw Books Blog. This particular Bloggiesta runs from 8 a.m. today to 8 a.m. Monday (your time). As Natasha put it, this is “an opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two!”

It’s not too late to join in the fun at Maw Books Blog.

My to-do list is extensive (and undoubtedly incomplete):

• write reviews
• write a proper About Me page
• write a Review Policy
• update my review indexes
• post latest reviews on LibraryThing and Goodreads
  
• publicize my current giveaway on LibraryThing, Goodreads, etc.
  
• finish writing BEA/BBC posts
• respond to comments on my blog
• fix my sidebars and include a button for my Stream of Suggestions Challenge
• respond to emails
• comment on BEA/BBC posts (especially those written by bloggers I met!)
• fix broken links
• add pages
• add favicon

I may add to the list as I go and I’ll definitely cross stuff off as I complete each task. I’m hoping to spend at least 16 hours on the Bloggiesta. (I unfortunately have to work today, but may sneak in a few tasks during the day anyway. Otherwise, I’ll start in earnest this evening!)

Let me know if you’re joining in too!

Post-Bloggiesta blues...

You know that feeling you get after a particularly fun (and intense) visit with family or friends, after they’ve gone home and the noise level in your house has gone from constant to nonexistent? It’s a blah let-down kind of feeling, like the party’s over and all that’s left are mountains of dishes to be done. That’s pretty much how I’ve been feeling for the past few days now that the Bloggiesta is over and life’s gone back to normal. It doesn’t help that I’m on a book pause—I’m supposedly reading Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe but I haven’t really gotten into it yet and I haven’t opened it in over a week. I guess there’s nothing for it, I just have to bite bullet and start washing dishes! (Hmm, I’m not sure this metaphor is totally working for me... Which part of blogging is like washing dishes?)

Many thanks again to Natasha at Maw Books Blog for organizing this fabulous event!

If you have no idea what I’m on about, I apologize. Otherwise, please commiserate with me!

Bloggiesta update #3: Wrap-up post

Fifteen hours, one cup of coffee* and one sleepless night later, Bloggiesta is over. Thank you so much, Natasha, for organizing this fantastic event. And thank you to all the bloggers who hosted the great mini-challenges!

In some ways, I feel like I completely blew it, as I only managed to write one review and start two others (and wrote no other posts!) and didn’t even finish replying to all my comments. However, I did accomplish lots of other things:

Mini-challenges (9 out of 12):

• I updated my Google Alerts and created Technorati watchlists (Emily’s mini-challenge at Emily’s Reading Room).
• I updated my top 10 posts (as well as just about every other post on my blog!) (Jen’s mini-challenge at Devourer of Books).
• I ran my blog through Website Grader (Ruth’s mini-challenge at Bookish Ruth) and my website grade rose from 92% to 93% as a result of completing the Bloggiesta.
• I commented on approximately 20 blogs (Jill’s mini-challenge at Fizzy Thoughts).
• I cleaned up my Google Reader and added categories for the first time (Rebecca’s mini-challenge at The Book Lady’s Blog).
• I now have a blogging buddy and will hopefully find more (Amy’s mini-challenge at My Friend Amy).
• I registered with BlogCatalog and updated my profile on a couple of other directories (Lynn’s mini-challenge at Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile).
• I spend a HUGE amount of time fixing anchor text (Michelle’s mini-challenge at GalleySmith).
• I now have a gravatar (Trish’s mini-challenge at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’), though I still need to figure out how to create a favicon!

Other accomplishments:

• I updated my challenge posts (thank you to Sandra at Fresh Ink Books for inspiring me to do this).
• I updated my “similar covers” posts (in some cases replacing images with larger versions; I also added a couple of images to my collection of bowler hat covers).
  
• I went through my entire blog and replace all the “click here” links with proper anchoring text (the only ones I didn’t bother changing were links for obsolete giveaways).
• Using the Link Evaluator add-on for Firefox (which I found out about from Wendy at caribousmom), I double-checked all the links on my blog. This also helped me spot missing links and quite a few typos!

This was my first experience with this kind of challenge so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. I do think I should have spent more time writing posts and less time tweaking my blog, especially since I didn’t do anything that’s really obvious! But still I’m happy with what I accomplished. Next time, though, I think I’d prefer the Bloggiesta to be held over the weekend (or maybe over three days?).

OK, I need to go to sleep now. I’ll do the rounds and comment on folks’ wrap-up posts next week!

*This was only my second cup of coffee in the last 17 years, so it was very effective for keeping me up all night!

Edited to add:
If you’ve read this post before and wonder why it looks completely different, I just fixed the formatting, not the content!

Bloggiesta update #2

I meant to post this update much earlier and it slipped my mind!

I’ve only written one review so far (ack!), but I’m still hopeful that between now and tomorrow morning I’ll be able to write a few more. (Since I’m a night owl, this is not completely outside the realm of possibility.)

I’ve completed five and a half more challenges:

Fizzy Thoughts (commented on a dozen new-to-me blogs as well as several blogs I’m already familiar with)

The Book Lady’s Blog (cleaned up my Google Reader, which meant deleting blogs that are no longer active or that I don’t really read, adding categories and renaming subscriptions to include the blogger’s name in parentheses; I also added new blogs of course!)

My Friend Amy (sent out two emails requesting official “blogger buddy” status; I haven’t heard from either of them, a fact I’m trying not to be paranoid about!)

Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile (added my name to the BlogCatalog site and updated a couple of my entries on other directories)

GalleySmith (thanks to Natasha, I already knew about the proper way to use anchor text, but I went back and fixed several of my old posts)

Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’ (signed up for a gravatar, but haven’t created a favicon yet)

I also replied to some of the comments on my blog, but I still have lots more to reply to. I may have to resort to coffee (which I’ve only had once in the last 17 years!) in order to continue bloggiesta-ing for many more hours!

Edited to add:
I forgot to mention that I’ve spent another six hours on the Bloggiesta!

Bloggiesta update #1

Officially, the Bloggiesta challenge has been going on for over 24 hours, but I’ve only managed to work on it for 3 hours so far!

I haven’t finished writing any reviews yet (although I’ve worked on one), but I have (almost) completed three mini-challenges:

Emily’s Reading Room (updated my Google Alerts and created Technorati watchlists)

Devourer of Books (updated my 5 top posts as well as a handful of others; I’d like to do more for this mini-challenge if I have time)

Bookish Ruth (graded my blog using Website Grader, but still need to comment on Ruth’s blog)

I’m hoping to spend most of today bloggiesta-ing (!), so hopefully I can complete a few more mini-challenges AND cross lots of reviews off my list... Wish me luck!

Bloggiesta starts now!

Natasha at Maw Books came up with this great idea: The Bloggiesta challenge asks us to focus on “blog content, improving/ cleaning up your blog or working on your social network profiles.” In other words, catching up! It officially started at 8 a.m. today (in whatever time zone you are in) and runs for 48 hours. I’m hoping to spend 12 hours on it at least, but we’ll see! (I’m going out to lunch with clients today, so that will definitely cut into my day.)

My priorities are:

• writing book reviews (I have 18 to write at the moment!)
• replying to comments on my blog (I’m at least two weeks behind)
  
• cleaning up my blog
• writing an opinion post
  

Reviews are really the top priority—ideally I’d like to write at least six.

These are the books I need to review:

• The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade by Thomas Lynch
• The Pages in Between: A Holocaust Legacy of Two Families, One Home* by Erin Einhorn
• Skin Deep by E. M. Crane
• Willing Spirits* by Phyllis Schieber
• Sing Them Home* by Stephanie Kallos
• Coventry* by Helen Humphreys
• The Next Big Thing by Johanna Edwards
• Places I Never Meant to Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers edited by Judy Blume
• The Wishing Year: An Experiment in Desire by Noelle Oxenhandler
• Between Friends: A Year in Letters by Oonagh Berry and Helen Levine
• Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath by Jillian Becker
• A Troubled Guest: Life and Death Stories by Nancy Mairs
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
• In Summer Light by Zibby Oneal
• What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
• Keeping Watch by Laurie R. King
• Katherine’s Wish* by Linda Lappin
• The Local News* by Miriam Gershow

Are you participating in this challenge? Do you have any suggestions for how I can improve my blog? Please let me know!

*These are books I accepted for review. I may or may not review all the others.