Bloggiesta - It's A Wrap

Wow! I got so much more done with my blog than I was expecting to this weekend. I didn't manage to cross everything off my list but that's mostly because I got completely distracted by the idea of creating a new header. Picasa and I had quite a few angry words but I finally figured out how to use it for some of the work and the Microsoft editor for the final piece. If you were up really late Saturday night watching my blog, you would have noticed some very strange configurations popping up. Of course a new header lead to a whole new look. I like it so much better now that it looks more personal but it remains a work in progress.

Here are my goals and what I got done:

* clean up my labels   - done with this as much as I'm planning on doing (or not-looks like this will be ongoing)
* create a comprehensive list by title of all of the books I've reviewed here - in progress
* get caught up on my feed reader and clean it up
* learn to use Google tools to organize my review books better  - decided my calendar will work but got an   idea that will allow me to use Blogger to work with the calendar
* clean up my email
* create new header
* check out at least five of the mini-challenges and try to join in some of the Twitter conversations

Mini-Challenges:
1. The Bluestocking Society's Five Ways To Spiff Up Your Blog Challenge
2. Fiction State of Mind's Events Challenge
3. Melony's Musings Five Tips To Write Book Reviews Faster
4. Katie's Book Blog Twitter & You (finally feeding my post directly to Twitter!)
5. Beth Fish Reads:  Labels and Tags (oh, sure I found this one after I spent hrs on my tags & gave up on them--now back to it!


All in all, a very productive weekend...if you don't look any where in my house. The blog looks better, the house, not so much!

Bloggiesta Ole!

It's that time again - the time when book bloggers more or less say to our non-blogger readers "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" as we tinker with our blogs to make them better and more useful for our readers.

Bloggiesta started this morning and lasts through Sunday so you're going to be seeing a lot of Pedro this weekend: plan, edit, develop, review, organize. There will be mini-challenges as bloggers educate each other and we all work hard to learn something new that will improve our blogs. I'll be doing some learning and working to update some areas of my blog this weekend but mostly I'm going to be working to organize things. Here are my plans:

* clean up my labels   - done with this as much as I'm planning on doing (or not-looks like this will be ongoing)
* create a comprehensive list by title of all of the books I've reviewed here - in progress
* get caught up on my feed reader and clean it up
* learn to use Google tools to organize my review books better
* clean up my email
* create new header
* check out at least five of the mini-challenges and try to join in some of the Twitter conversations

Mini-Challenges:
1. The Bluestocking Society's Five Ways To Spiff Up Your Blog Challenge
2. Fiction State of Mind's Events Challenge
3. Melony's Musings Five Tips To Write Book Reviews Faster
4. Katie's Book Blog Twitter & You (finally feeding my post directly to Twitter!)
5. Beth Fish Reads:  Labels and Tags (oh, sure I found this one after I spent hrs on my tags & gave up on them--now back to it!

This is certainly less ambitious than the list I usually put together but I've absolutely got to get my taxes done this weekend and those pesky FAFSA applications completed (for those of you without college students, these are the apps for loans and they take even longer to complete than my taxes do!). Plus we'll be celebrating Easter with my side of the family Saturday so my time is limited. I'll likely stretch Bloggiesta out for the coming week as far as completing my personal projects!

***On a whim, because I thought it sounded like a lot more fun than cleaning up my tags, I decided to redesign the blog and FINALLY create a header that is more personal. I'm pretty happy with the result but dang, people, that was NOT fun!

Sunday Salon - January 23

As you can see from my past couple of posts, I've spent part of this weekend working on this blog.  Some of it is all but invisible to visitors (kind of like cleaning out the linen closet in your home) but I also ended up making big changes to the design of the blog.  I spent hours Friday evening and Saturday morning cleaning up my tags.  They are much better but after I had gotten about 2/3 of the way done with them, I decided I should have done them a bit differently.  Maybe next bloggiesta.  Then it was time to fix the header, something that's been bothering me since the last design change.  And that's when it all blew up on me.  By the time I got the new design set up, I was so frustrated I decided I was done with bloggiesta for this year. 

I also participated in The True Book Addict's "A Winter's Respite Read-A-Thon" this past week.  I did better on that.  I read one book, several Edith Wharton short stories, two fairy tales, and got about half way through another book. 

Tuesday a smaller than usual group of the Omaha Bookworms met to discuss Outside The Ordinary World with author Dori Ostermiller (we had gotten just enough snow just late enough in the day to make the roads a bit dangerous).  We always enjoy getting to pick the author's brains about the books but this time we really spent a lot of our Skype call talking with Ostermiller about a wide range of writing topics including the genesis of this book, her writing process, what she's working on know, what it's like to work with an editor.  For February we're reading Jane Goodall's Harvest for Hope, recommended by one of our members who's very knowledgeable about the food we eat.  It's definitely out of our usual comfort range but should generate a great discussion. 

Coming up this week are reviews of Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, reviews of the three Edith Wharton stories, and another guest review from my dad.  I can't wait to tell you the story behind this book!  And, of course, Fairy Tale Fridays!

What are you reading this week?

It's Bloggiesta Time - Ole!

Nastasha, of Maw Books, is once again hosting the Bloggiesta.  This is a weekend for bloggers to work on their blogs--cleaning things up, making changes, meeting new bloggers, getting posts ready, setting goals. The best part of doing all of these things this weekend is that so many other bloggers are ready and willing to help. 

My plans usually include cosmetic changes but I'm not sure if I'm going to make that many changes this year.  I do want to do some work on my header and I'd like to get a page put together of all of the books I've read (although that may take more time than I'm willing to spend just now). I do plan to do some of the mini-challenges, including one that will help me figure out how to use Google forms (I get so frustrated by them now!) and one that will help me make banners and buttons.  Also going to work on my cleaning up my tags and taming my Google reader.

Now I'm off to figure out where to start!

Bloggiesta Final Post

Well, I feel like I've spent a ton of time sitting at my computer this weekend and there is still so much more I could have gotten done. I did, however, accomplish all of the things I set out to do.


1. My Google reader and I have been doing battle. And it's not just that I haven't been able to keep up with the posts that are coming in. I've also had quite a few blogs that for some reason would not show as having things read once I'd been through them. I need to catch up on my reading, clear out the blogs I just don't to (over 200 is much more than I can manage), clear out the blogs with the glitch and try to get them reinstalled. I cleared out the blogs that I don't really read or that have all but stopped posting, read all of the posts out there and kept them read all weekend. I did add some new ones that I found through the Bloggiesta feed which I'm looking forward to reading.

2. Set up a schedule for the planned "The Space Between Us" readalong to begin in July, make a button for it and write a first post about it. The post is written and scheduled for this Thursday and I got a post written for "All Things In Common" which is also scheduled for this week.

3. Go through all my challenges and get them updated. See if I need to adjust my lists of books to make getting through the challenges more doable. Done. I've written and scheduled a post for this week to wrap up the challenge that it turns out I'm done with. I'm still hoping not to have to make a lot of changes in my reading lists for the other challenges. Both of the books I'm reading right now will work for a number of challenges.

4. Change my template and either go back to a two-column format or reset the three-column format to make my blog look less cluttered. I'm betting that this will take me most of a day -- unless I can recruit my resident computer geek to help. Done--well, for now! I have completely redone the layout and background, thanks to Blogger's new templates. So easy to work with. I still need to tweak the header and I may change the colors but otherwise it's good to go for a while.

I also did a couple of mini-challenges but I'm embarrassed to say that I don't even remember where I found them. I actually found them by going through someone else's blog as I read the Bloggiesta feed. I graded by blog, set up Google alerts, and worked on my RSS feed. All in all a very productive weekend. I probably spent about 20 hours working on my blog this weekend.

Under Construction!

As part of the Bloggiesta, today's project is to redesign my layout. I'm trying one of the new blogger layouts--much easier to do than anything that requires any knowledge of HTML. Since my resident computer geek is at work (how dare he?!), I'm taking the easy way out for now. There will be much moving around of elements as construction continues and maybe some color changes as well. Or...a completely different look if I don't like it when all is said and done with this look!

Bloggiesta Update 1

I spent seven hours yesterday cleaning up and reading posts in my feed reader. I cut 37 blogs out and I think I only cut out the ones that I don't have regular contact with but it's possible I accidentally dropped someone I read regularly. If you don't hear from me in the next few days, will you please send me an email?

Today I spent a couple of hours working on a new template. I thought I'd take the easy way out this time and go with one of the new Blogger layouts. They're much more customizable than the one I have now and I had one that was lovely almost ready to go. Then, as I was moving elements around on the new layout...poof...everything I had done was gone. At first I was frustrated that I had saved at any point but now I'm glad I didn't end up with something that was half done that I had to fight with. Now I'm thinking I'll go with the template I wanted to begin with, but I'll do that tomorrow.

Also today I've gone through all of my challenges and made sure I entered the books on those sites and updated my sidebar. Imagine my surprise to find that I've actually finished one of the challenges and wasn't even aware of it because none of the books I read for it were the ones I had planned to read. I'll do a post of that which I'll schedule for Monday.

Last, but not least, I've got the post written and scheduled for Thursday for "The Space Between Us" readalong. I can't wait to start that book!

Now I'm off to eat supper--nachos anyone?!

Bloggiesta Ole!

Late to the party (that hardly ever happens!) but ready to put on my sombrero and get to work. Bloggiesta is hosted by Natasha at Maw Books and " it’s a blogging marathon. A 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." I've only got a few goals this time but I have a feeling they may take a good long while. If I had a lot of smaller things, then I'll be tempted to do those first so I can mark things off faster and never get the the things I really want to get done.

1. My Google reader and I have been doing battle. And it's not just that I haven't been able to keep up with the posts that are coming in. I've also had quite a few blogs that for some reason would not show as having things read once I'd been through them. I need to catch up on my reading, clear out the blogs I just don't get to (over 200 is much more than I can manage), clear out the blogs with the glitch and try to get them reinstalled.

2. Set up a schedule for the planned "The Space Between Us" readalong to begin in July, make a button for it and write a first post about it.

3. Go through all my challenges and get them updated. See if I need to adjust my lists of books to make getting through the challenges more doable.

4. Change my template and either go back to a two-column format or reset the three-column format to make my blog look less cluttered. I'm betting that this will take me most of a day -- unless I can recruit my resident computer geek to help.

Today I'm hoping to complete the first goal checked off and check out the mini-challenges.

Bloggiesta Wrap Up

I knew going into the weekend that finding even 18 hours over 3 days to devote to Bloggiesta was going to be difficult. Then I suddenly found myself with my mother-in-law come to visit on Saturday into Sunday. Which should have made it more difficult but curiously made it easier for me to sit at my desk for hours. After all, that's where she was camped out. I couldn't very well wander off to clean bathrooms and leave her all by herself, could I? So I got my did manage to get 18 hours of work in after all. So what did I do with all of that time? I started by hitting up some of the mini-challenges. Rebecca at The Book Lady's Blog challenged us to set goals for the coming year which actually helped me to figure out my priorities for the rest of Bloggiesta. Then I grabbed on from the previous Bloggiesta, where Emily, from Emily's Reading Room, taught me how to set up alerts.

While I was checking out the flashback challenges, I noticed Trish's (of Hey Lady! Whatcha' Reading) which talked about favicons and gravatars. I had no idea what favicons and gravatars were so I had to check that out. And now I have a favicon and a gravatar and I know how to change them when I finally hit on the image I want. For now, the book picture I've been using for a lot of other things will work.

I was having so much fun with the old challenges that I checked out how to analyze by blog (and was very surprised and pleased with the result) and took a cue from Rebecca again and cleaned up my feedreader as well as catching up on all of my unread posts.

Then I got back on track with the things I had planned on doing to begin with: I put together a list of ideas for Sunday Salons, a list of books I want to highlight on my Friday Favorites and downloaded the book covers I need for that, I fixed and updated by slide show, put together a list of ideas for future posts and authors to contact and I got my blogging calendar put together. But the big thing I got accomplished, which you'll notice right away if you've been reading this blog, is to switch the blog to a 3-column format. I'm still not sure I'm happy with it but it is a change.

I feel so good about everything I accomplished. Maybe even better, I feel like I'm re-energized about blogging. Thanks to Natasha, of Maw Books, for hosting Bloggiesta!

Blogging Goals for 2010

I was all fired up for Bloggiesta. I couldn't wait to get home from work to get started. I had a to-do list ready. I steeped some Chinese Jasmine tea. And then I hit a wall. Where to start? So I headed over to Maw Books to check out the mini-challenges and right off the bat say Rebecca's mini-challenge "Set Goals for 2010" which seemed like as good a place to start as any.

Every January, I make the usual resolutions: lose weight, get more organized, paint a few rooms, etc. And every year, I make it about a month (just like you, I would guess) then I start to taper off. This year I resolved to make fewer resolutions. And I'm going to try to keep my blogging goals to a doable number as well.

1. Work on putting more of my own voice into my reviews. This is something I've been trying to work on for the past few months and I'm getting closer to where I want it to be.

2. Take notes while I'm reading to make writing the reviews easier. I've resisted this. It felt too much like homework. So I think I'll use an index card so I don't get too carried away. I've been wanting to include more quotes and this will help with that as well.

3. Reach out to authors. I'd like to include more guest posts and author Q & A's. Who knows--some of the authors might not even be with us any more!

4. Get back to doing Friday Favorites. There have certainly been plenty of books I've loved over the years.

5. Do Sunday Salons every Sunday--on Sunday!

How to reach the goals? I've already begun working on a blogging calendar for this year to help track some things. I'll plan to work on Friday Favorites and Sunday Salons on any day that I'm not doing a book review. And I'll use this weekend to start reaching out to authors. Thanks Rebecca for encouraging me to do this!

Bloggiesta--Ole!

Natasha, of Maw Books, is hosting Bloggiesta this weekend, January 8th through January 10th. I've seen the Bloggiesta image around the blogosphere but until recently, I had no idea what it was, other than to know that it had something to do with working on your blog. Turns out it's a great big party for working on your blog at the same time as a whole lot of other folks are too.

Natasha says that Bloggiesta is an "opportunity to cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog." Better yet, she also suggests we "break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two!"

I've still got to get the Christmas decorations down this weekend, so I'm shooting for 18 hours total time spent working on the blog. My to-do list includes:

1. Move the blog to either a three-column format or set up tabs. This is the biggy but will require the help of my resident computer geek so how much I get done on this will depend on how much time he has to give me.

2. Review blog roll and favorite sites. Do I need to add anything? Remove anything?

3. Put together some ideas for Sunday posts and do as much prep work on them as possible.

4. Get as much put together for future reviews as possible.

5. Fix slide show which hasn't worked properly since I changed my blog.

I'm looking forward to this! Now I just have to figure out a way to keep Miss H busy and away from the computer for 18 hours this weekend!