Bloggiesta Wrap Up

Is bloggiesta over already? Man, that was a fast week.  I did pretty well with my goals, though I got kind of burned out by a crazy week from about...Wednesday on.  I did accomplish a few things: I've written and formatted a number of reviews, but really, considering I have 40+ titles waiting to be reviewed...well, I don't think I made much of a dent.  Here's the list of what I did do:

Updated Author and Title review archive pages
Wrote some reviews (not caught up, but pounded out some)
Cleaned up side bars
I also did a little bit from Ms. Bookish's mini-challenge to brainstorm blog post ideas (not the full challenge, but I made a short list)

I seriously can't believe I didn't make it to a single twitter chat! I really wanted to, but every time I planned to, I got busy with my daughter (she's rather a handful right now, which makes it hard to tweet and watch her :)

The new spokesperson for Ally Carter's books :)

Anyway, I loved having a whole week to work on it, because there were some days where I honestly didn't have the energy or time to sit down and work on it.  But there were still days where I could.  Nice! How did your bloggiesta go?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta!

Oh how I've missed participating in Bloggiesta! It's been three years?!?  How time flies when you aren't updating your blog :).  If you've no idea what Bloggiesta is, click on that link and find out!  Anyway, I'm so far behind in blog upkeep that a whole week wouldn't be sufficient even if I did have a week's worth of time.  But, maybe with some encouragement and participation in the blogging world again, I'll get some stuff done.  With that long and exceedingly drawn-out intro, here's my list:

Update Author and Title pages (sadly neglected)
Catch up on writing reviews (yep, still doing last year's books)
Maybe give my blog header some updating? (Meh, probably not - I'm not feeling inspired)
Clean up side bars (wow, some of that stuff is seriously outdated) As good as it will get :)

Write or brainstorm some non-review type posts

Well, it's not a long list, but I assure you there is enough work in there.  Participating in Bloggiesta? What are you excited to work on this week?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta Wrap-Up

Well, Bloggiesta has come and gone again (though, hurray for possible mini-bloggiestas in January and July).  I did not get much done, since I had such a busy weekend and a bad case of the lazy-ies.  Still, when I did work I managed to get some fun stuff started:

-Completed seven reviews and a handful of mini reviews (which I now need to schedule)
-Put up more pages links at the top (not happy with how they display, but not sure I have other options right now)
-Updated my Classic Double book list and fairy tale retelling list - still open for suggestions there
-Did a handful of mini-challenges (so much for a million), including Jenni Elyse's, Hannah's, and Jessica's, still thinking about Heidenkind's
-Most exciting: I started work on a classics and fairy tale retellings celebration week, tentatively set for January 13-19.  If you're interested in doing a guest post about retellings, please let me know.  I'm hoping to get some guest posts from bloggers and authors (can't believe I sent those requests - that scares me!)

What did you accomplish and what do you *wish* you'd accomplished?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta, Day(s) 1(-3) - What Am I Doing?

It's Bloggiesta time!  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, head to It's All About Books or There's a Book for more info.  Essentially, it's three days dedicated to improving your blog in whatever way you want!  And there are so many ways I want.  I technically haven't started my improvements yet, as I'm busy at work.  But, I might have a moment or two here and there today to get started.  Here is my super-ambitious-as-always list of stuff I'm working on. I'll update this page if I do manage to accomplish something.

-Write reviews and do more review prep (links, images, summaries, etc)
 Finished seven reviews and a handful of mini reviews!!!
-Make some scheduled posts
-Revive Listless Monday and Name That Book
-(Think about) changing the blasted header (I always say this and never do it)
-Figure out how to fit all my Pages links up there (oy, not a fan right now)
-Make sure reviews have correct labels
-Make a mini review button?
-Work on a week-long celebration of classics and their retellings (maybe?)
-Work on new Classic Double badges (I hate that hamburger)
-Update Classic Double list and fairy tale lists (Check them out - offer suggestions!)
-Update goodreads
-Do a million mini-challenges (they all look so good!) (well, I did Jenni Elyse's, Hannah's, and Jessica's)

What are your goals?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Good Times Ahead

I've been sort of remiss in talking about some of these upcoming events.  There are lots of good times ahead in the blogging world, so keep your eye on these:

I'm feeling very sad that I'm not signing up to be a judge for Cybils this time around, as I've been so fortunate to be a judge now for three years on the MG Sci-fi/Fantasy panel.  But, my life is rather busy and uncertain and I don't want to sign up and not contribute to my fullest.  However, if you love Cybils and reading, do jump into the judging pool by this Friday, so you don't miss out.  It's always been such a fun and rewarding experience, plus you get to read lots of fabulous books!  Also, get thinking what books to nominate, as the nominations open October 1st.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week is back again!  I'm super excited to have this fun week-long event come back and I'm pretty relieved that the awards aren't making an appearance this year.  Mark your calendars for September 10-14 and prepare to celebrate each other and ourselves in the book blogging world!

I was super thrilled when Holly announced she was going to host a Seven Days for Sevenwaters celebration, all in honor of the fabulous Sevenwaters series by Juliet Marillier.  Despite only having read the first two books, I fell in love with the gorgeous world and beautiful relationships in each one.  I'm so excited to see what she's got planned for that week.

Last, but certainly not least, the wonderful fall Bloggiesta is set for September 28, 29, 30 this year.  I've participated as much as possible in this event and it's so wonderful to have an excuse to work on keeping up your blog.  Right now, Suey and Danielle are calling for mini-challenge hosts, so if you're interested in that, head on over to the mini-challenge host posts.  And prepare yourself for the fiesta!

What events in the book blogging world are you looking forward to!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta...A Bit Like Foggiesta

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement this weekend, even though my participation in Bloggiesta was...spotty to say the least.  It felt like I was moving in a fog, hence the weird title :)  I am very hopeful that next time I'll have lots more time to improve and participate. 

First, HUGE thanks to our two fabulous first-time hosts: Suey at It's All About Books and Danielle at There's a Book.  You guys did great and things ran very smoothly, like you've done this for years!

-I was able to accomplish one complete task: updating my Reviews by Title and Reviews by Author pages. 
-I also started on getting internal links for those pages - you can see them on the Reviews by Title page - those links at the top that take you to the corresponding letter, so you don't have to scroll through the entire list. 
-In addition, I posted a short (and possibly confusing) tip on aligning your images in rows.
-Oh, and I'm working on getting some social media icons.  I'm kind of making my own, which might be a disaster. 
-And I also managed to move all our stuff from our apartment to our new house, clean said apartment, and start the daunting task of settling into the house.  You know, in my spare time.  :)

I am planning to spend the next weeks (months?) looking over those mini-challenges and learning new stuff, since I really didn't do any of them.  Maybe next time I'll do a little mini-challenge like my photos in a row one. 

What did you get done for Bloggiesta?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

How to Format Your Images Into Rows - My Bloggiesta Tip

I've actually had a few people ask me about formatting photos, which is totally surprising, considering I'm not exactly the most savvy of bloggers.  So, I thought I'd tell you a little about how I do it (obviously in blogger).  Plus, bloggiesta is the perfect time for that, even if I'm not really participating due to moving this weekend.

Want your images to line up like this?

First, nearly all of my book cover photos come from Amazon affiliates pages, so that's what I'll show first.  To get them all lined up in the middle, here's what I do:

I can usually only fit about three across (of the large sized covers) on my blog format, so that's what I stick to.  You can play around with yours to see how many fit on your blog.  I copy and paste the html from the amazon links (um, in html mode, obviously).  They generally come without any alignment formatting (ie not automatically centered), but with loads of weird extra code, so both good and bad.  I usually will paste the three photos all in a row, putting one space between their codes. 

Then, when I have all three together, I will center them, by putting the html text in instead of using blogger's centering feature (ie: <div style="text-align: center;">).  I've had issues with blogger's centering option when I try to get all three centered together, so typing the code myself is generally the easiest.  This puts the three images all in the same <div> and centers them all together in a row.  To do multiple rows, I generally do one hard return between each set (<br/> in html), but more space can easily be added either in html mode or compose mode.  Then I start a new <div style="text-align: center;"> for the next set of three and so on.  Here's what the code looks like (in html mode, of course):

<div style="text-align: center;">
<img 1 code> <img 2 code> <img 3 code>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img 1 code> <img 2 code> <img 3 code>
</div>

Now, for images that you add using blogger's insert image button, these will come automatically formatted, which can be good or bad.  They generally don't let you line up images neatly together, but put only one per row.  This is what the code looks like when an image is uploaded:

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="IMG LINK" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="192" src="IMG LINK" width="320" /></a></div>

Some of that extra stuff just gets in the way of what I want, so here's my method of fixing that:
Essentially, I will put the three images (or however many you want per row) all in one <div> - and I usually replace the <div class> code above with the shorter and simpler one from above, <div style="text-align: center;">  Putting multiple uploaded images in the same <div> will require you to delete the <div> code from the other uploaded images, since they all come with it attached (both the opening tag <div class, etc> and the closing tag </div>).  I also usually change the "margin-left" and "margin-right" to "0em", since I find it adds a little buffer around the edges of images that interferes with my alignment.  So here is what three uploaded images' code would look like:

<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="IMG LINK 1" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="192" src="IMG LINK 1" width="320" /></a> <a href="IMG LINK 2" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="192" src="IMG LINK 2" width="320" /></a> <a href="IMG LINK 3" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: right; margin-left: 0em; margin-right: 0em;"><img border="0" dea="true" height="192" src="IMG LINK 3" width="320" /></a>
</div>

And that's it!  There is obviously other code there I could likely get rid of, but since I'm not sure what it all does, I figure it doesn't hurt to leave it :)  You can also change the size of the images from the code as well, but be warned it doesn't keep the height/width ratio the same, so they could look stretched. You can also put the images all together on the right or left by changing "center" in the <div> code to "right" or "left."

Anyway, hope this helps some of you align your images into rows!  Let me know if this was totally confusing or if you have any other questions.  

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Let the Bloggiesta Begin (Maybe?)

Turns out, we're moving this weekend, so Bloggiesta might be a total flop for me this time.  Still, there are a few things I'd like to get done this weekend - here's to hoping I can squeeze in some time this weekend that doesn't involve hauling boxes, cleaning house(s), and putting stuff away.  I could definitely use some chips and salsa in there somewhere to give me energy, anyway.  To sign up or learn more, visit Suey at It's All About Books or Danielle at There's a Book.  Check back on this post to see if I've done anything.  :)  I may even manage to squeeze in a mini-challenge (I've got some things I need help with and I'm betting they will help).

Bloggiesta To-Do:
Update my Title and Author pages
(I'd really like to add internal links at the top so you can skip to a letter and not have to scroll down)
Update goodreads
Update my header (so need something new up there - it's making me bored just looking at it)
Write some posts for rainy days (ok, this is definitely too ambitious for this weekend, but still)
Get a local events page started (!)
Figure out something for the button bar (I seriously need help here - I've got a need for more buttons, but they all just bunch up instead of making a new row!)
Post about formatting photos on the blog (this might actually happen, but it might also be painfully confusing)

And that's about as ridiculously ambitious as possible.  I hope I at least get one or two things done...

What are you working on for Bloggiesta?  Any tips for me on those issues up there?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Celebrating Leap Day...Sort Of

Here it is, leap day, and I couldn't think of a single pertinent thing to post.  So, I thought I'd just tell you about something fun coming up: Bloggiesta!

I was hoping to do this awesome blog-fixer-upper event again, and even though the lovely Natasha of Maw Books isn't hosting, two of my other favorites are: Suey of It's All About Books and Danielle of There's a Book.

Not sure what Bloggiesta is?  Here's the run down, from Suey's blog:
"Bloggiesta is a three day event where participants will spend as much time as they can working on fixing all those pesky blog related tasks.... all those things that you think "some day I'm going to clean that up, or change that around, or add that thing!" Everyone will post a "to do" list, or goals they want to accomplish and then all of us will work together to get our lists done."

So, prepare yourselves for this coming March 30, 31, and April 1 - it's time to spruce up those drooping blog sidebars!  For more info, check out the intro posts on It's All About Books and There's a Book.  Also, sign-ups are available for hosting mini-challenges, so leap (ok, I had to have one bad pun) into that if you want.  Yeah for improving the old, boring blog (I so need this)!

Are you participating this year?  What are you hoping to improve on your blog?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta Day 3

Hopefully I'll manage a little more time today.  I haven't usually got a lot to spare on Sundays, but we'll see.  Here's the progressing list again:

Write 10 or so reviews
Write the double feature that's been in the works for months
Write a discussion post
Create some Name That Book posts (1 counts, right?)
Create some Listless Monday posts (yeah, 1 counts)
Create a picture for Listless Monday (see previous post)
Improve tags
Group tags Check them out on my left sidebar!
Make tags uniform (in progress...probably forever)
Update goodreads
Update pages
Create pages
Possibly make a button (for my double feature, see previous post)
And some mini-challenges too!
Completed Beth Fish Reads Labels/Tags mini-challenge
Completed Jenn's Bookshelves Organizing Books mini-challenge
Completed Beth Fish Reads Opinion Post mini-challenge 
Completed SMS Book Reviews Button/Banner mini-challenge (though I really ought to make a new banner and a matching button for the blog)


Total time: ~22 hours (And I'm finished!  Thanks again, Natasha, for all your work!)

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta Day 2

I've brought my list from last post and hopefully I'll be able to cross more items off it today!  I only managed about seven hours yesterday, but hopefully I'll get more in today.  And I'm off:

Write 10 or so reviews
Write the double feature that's been in the works for months
Write a discussion post
Create some Name That Book posts
Create some Listless Monday posts
Create a picture for Listless Monday (see below)
Improve tags
Group tags Check them out on my left sidebar!
Make tags uniform (in progress)
Update goodreads
Update pages
Create pages
Possibly make a button (for my double feature, see below)
And some mini-challenges too!
Completed Beth Fish Reads Labels/Tags mini-challenge
Completed Jenn's Bookshelves Organizing Books mini-challenge
Completed Beth Fish Reads Opinion Post mini-challenge 
Completed SMS Book Reviews Button/Banner mini-challenge (though I really ought to make a new banner and a matching button for the blog)

Time so far: ~17 hours

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Let the Bloggiesta Begin!

It's that time again!  Time to perform all those necessary housekeeping duties around the blog.  Thanks to Natasha of Maw Books Blog, we have a whole weekend to do it together!  It's a great weekend for me to sit around with the computer, since I'm recovering from surgery and have nothing better to do (except maybe read).  Without further ado, here's "the list"

Write 10 4 or so reviews
Write the double feature that's been in the works for months
Write a discussion post
Create some Name That Book posts
Create some Listless Monday posts
Create a picture for Listless Monday
Improve tags
Group tags Check them out on my left sidebar!
Update goodreads
Update pages
Create pages
Possibly make a button 
And some mini-challenges too!
Completed Beth Fish Reads Labels/Tags mini-challenge
Completed Jenn's Bookshelves Organizing Books mini-challenge

Time so far: ~7 hours

Though the list looks a bit short, I'm thinking it's quite ambitious.  We'll see just how far I can get on it.  

Good luck to you other Bloggiesta participants!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta, Take 3

And on to day 3.  Wherein I will try to squeeze a bit of time in here and there.  We'll see.  I've gotten about 1 hr 30 min this morning.  I probably won't get back to computer stuff until this evening, since I've got things to do during the day.  I've been working on some Listless Monday posts.  I also realized I'm going to have to go check on some of my old links from tags - but that might have to wait for another day!  


Total time: 15 hrs 30 min

Update 1:  Yeah, I've only had about an hour since I last posted.  Not the most amazing weekend dedicated to the blog.  I may have a bit more time tonight, but I doubt it.  I've done a few final things on my list noted below.  But, for now, I'm posting my final time as: 
Total time: 16 hrs 30 min


It's been a blast when I had the time and thanks for all your kind comments about my progress!  Hopefully I won't put off all the housekeeping until the next Bloggiesta!  Thanks Natasha for being such a fabulous host!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta Day 2

It's a fresh new day for working on the blog and I've finally gotten started again.  I'm bringing the list from yesterday's post to this one to mark my progress.  I'm hoping to work on some aesthetic elements of the blog today.  Be sure to check out my brave new double feature, where I compare/contrast two similar books.  I posted the first review today - I'd love to know what you think.  (You can find it just below this post.)


Update pictures/links
Save a copy of the blog
Add widgets
Organize sidebars
Update blog list
Update archives
Update goodreads
Update challenge posts
Work on tags
Write reviews
Think of post ideas
Think of Listless Monday ideas
Create Listless Monday page
Possibly change header (again :)

Update 1: I've been at it for about 3 hours now and haven't come up with any major changes I'd like for my blog header and style.  I do like blogger's new feature that lets you play with the template.  Perhaps I'll have to put those changes on hold for now.  I have to step away from the computer for a while now, but hopefully I'll have more time this evening.  I also did Puss Reboots mini-challenge and got an email subscription service up for those who don't do RSS feed subscriptions.  You can see that on the left sidebar.  

Total time: 11 hrs 50 min


Update 2: Total fail.  Seriously, I've been so busy from this morning until now (11 pm) that I've only gotten about 2 hr 10 min in the whole time.  What can you do?  And I didn't accomplish something new on the list, but I've been adding tags for the star-ratings from my reviews.  Hopefully those might be useful (though with 100+ items with 4-star reviews, maybe not).  And now I've got to hit the sack because I'm beat.  Hopefully I'll be able to do some more tomorrow, but it's looking pretty full too.  Thanks for all your awesome comments and encouragement!
Total time: 14 hrs

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta - My Blog Could Use a Face Lift

It's that time again!  Time to do some blog housekeeping.  Check out what Bloggiesta is all about at Maw Books.  Here's my delightfully unrealistic list of stuff I desire to work on:

Update pictures/links
Save a copy of the blog
Add widgets
Organize sidebars
Update blog list
Update archives
Update goodreads
Update challenge posts
Work on tags
Write reviews
Think of post ideas
Think of Listless Monday ideas
Create Listless Monday page
Possibly change header (again :)

It is another dreadfully busy weekend for me, so I'm not going to be spending nearly enough time on this list.  However, I'm shooting for 12 hours (out of 72, I know).  I also hope to cross off at least 5-7 items on the above list.  And maybe one or two mini-challenges.  We'll see.

Update 1:
Well, I've had a good four hours this morning, just updating links and pictures.  There were a lot of images missing!  I think I'll be taking a break to clean and do some other stuff now, but hopefully I'll be back at it soon!

Update 2:
After some dreadfully boring cleaning, I got back to fixing things up!  Note some of the things I've crossed off above, including a page for my Listless Monday themed booklists.  I've spent about 2 hrs and 50 min since the above, so I'm about 6 hrs and 50 min, which is ok for me.  I may have to take another break soon, though.  Lots of things to do.  I've done a few mini-challenges, including:

• Kim and Jackie at the Blog Improvement Project I came up with a few long term and short term goals.
• Jennifer at Girls Gone Reading (@girlsgonereadin) I updated my review policy.
• Pam from MotherReader (@MotherReader) I've got a different kind of review coming up hopefully tomorrow.
  
• Danielle at There’s a Book (@the1stdaughter)I figured out how to read and understand some of the crazy stats for my blog.  [And I still have a tiny bit of confidence left, even though my stats are pretty low.]

Update 3:
I've now added about another 2 hours to my total and finished writing the basics of my pending reviews.  Watch for a hopefully interesting double feature review tomorrow!  I'll probably be stopping for the night to finish up some stuff around the house.  Back for more fun tomorrow!
Total time: 8 hrs 50 min

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta Final Update

Friends, I'm afraid I've reached my limit.  It has been very fun and also extremely beneficial!  A huge thanks again to Natasha of Maw Books, who put together everything and is an all around great blogger!  Here's what I managed to accomplish:

I finished a few more mini-challenges, including:

Danielle from There’s a Book – Blogging takes time & I’m sure we’d all love to blog faster.  Using a cheat sheet is just one idea of how to save time. (Love my cheat sheet and keep thinking of more links/items I should have on there.)
Chelle from Tempting Persephone – You have some great content.  But can people find it?  Here’s showing off the best of the best. (I thought of a few posts that I spent a lot of time on and one's I thought might be useful to others - you can see them in my comment here and hopefully soon on my sidebar)
Jenn from Jenn’s Bookshelves – Got nothing to say (not likely – that’s why you’re blogging in the first place!) but here is an opportunity to brainstorm blogging topics. (I came up with some interesting and hopefully useful ideas for future blog posts, see them in my comment here.)

Here are the goals I set and what I accomplished from that list:

Update my reviews by title and author links I'm fully updated!
Update my goodreads account Everything's up-to-date!
Work on posts that have odd formatting (For the most part)
Write lots of review posts (I finished seven and prepared four more)
Organize my challenges (so few, and yet so many things to do)
Decide on weekly post ideas (yeah, not so much here)
Clean up sidebars (updated blog roll - leave me a commment if you're not on it!)
Possibly update my header and other pictures (What do you think of the new header?)
Think of good bookish topics to post about (Thanks to Jenn's mini-challenge from above!)

I also managed to comment on at least 10 new blogs and several of my old favorites.  It is always a blast to see new blogs and old blogs that are making new changes!

I definitely didn't make my goal of 18 hours :(  However, I did manage to get about 15 hours and 40 minutes worth of work on my blog!  Hooray for improvements (well, at least we hope they are improvements)!

I really liked having a variety of mini-challenges to choose from, especially ones that don't take too much extra time to do. Also, it was nice to have encouragement from other bloggers and to be able to provide encouragement in return!

I hope everyone got most of what they wanted done and that we can have another Bloggiesta in our future (cause I know I'll get behind again)!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage,
I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta - Still Beating My Blog Into Submission

I am still plugging away at my Bloggiesta goals.  Today is a new day, but it is also turning out to be a busy day.  Busy away from the computer.  I don't know that I'll reach my goal of 18 hours, but I can sure try.  Here are a few of the challenges I have participated in:

Old mini-challenges:

Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog – Getting out from underneath the feed reader. (and yet it still seems to overflow...)
Ruth from Bookish Ruth – Have you ever had your blog analyzed?  Now’s the chance! (I'm doing much better than last year!)

New mini-challenges:

Pam from MotherReader -  Blogging is about community, so check out this Comment Challenge (signed up, but have only done 3 of my 10 new blog comments...)
Pam from Bookalicio.us – There is nothing worse than seeing your post on somebody else’s blog.  Talking about blog copyright and what you need to be doing to protect yourself. (check out the copyright notice on my footer!)
Beth from Beth Fish Reads – Using categories & labels to find what you’re looking for.
 
Label Goals: Make new labels for a few specific challenges/events (Bloggiesta, BBAW, and read-a-thon) and delete any unspecific one-post labels

I now have labels for Bloggiesta, BBAW, and the read-a-thon and I dropped a very few of my one-post labels (decided to keep my series labels, even if I'd only read one book, in the hopes that I will eventually read more of them).

Jackie from Farm Lane Books – Do not lose it all!  How to back up your blog. (Yeah, now I won't lose everything!)
Rebecca from The Book Lady’s Blog – 2010 Resolutions.  You know you got them! 

Here are my 2010 reading/blogging goals:
-Do not let reading become a chore (sometimes I forget how much I love reading when I feel like it HAS to be done).
-Write better summaries (something I've been struggling with, I'm open to suggestions)
-Spend a little more time when writing reviews (sometimes I'll just write whatever because I feel like I need to get one posted)

I've got a few other mini-challenges I'm thinking about, so hopefully I'll get those done today!  And maybe cross a few more items off my goals for Bloggiesta!  

If you buy through my Amazon linkage,
I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta Goals are Better Than Resolutions

Well, at least I might actually accomplish some of these ideas for Bloggiesta.

Bloggiesta (hosted by the wonderful Natasha of Maw Books) starts today and I am aiming to spend at least 18 hours working on the ole blog.  Here are some of the ideas and hopes I have planned:

Update my reviews by title and author links
Update my goodreads account
Work on posts that have odd formatting (sorry about the odd posts) (sorta)
Write lots of review posts (yes, I am behind)
Organize my challenges (so few, and yet so many things to do)
Decide on weekly post ideas
Clean up sidebars (updated blog roll - leave me a commment if you're not on it!)
Possibly update my header and other pictures
Think of good bookish topics to post about

And whatever else I can think of!

Let the party begin!

If you buy through my Amazon linkage,
I will get a very small percentage

Bloggiesta: Too Bad It's Over...

Oh, I got some good things done this weekend. I'm actually really happy with how my new template worked out! I also managed to get at least a few posts ready for rainy days (like yesterday) and some of the other things on my to do list. I participated in some of the mini challenges as well and found them very helpful (and eye-opening), including:

• Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog - Getting out from underneath the feed reader.
• Beth from Beth Fish Reads - On lists and opinions.
• Deborah from Books, Movies, and Chinese Food - You have a blog? So tell me about it.
• Lynn from Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile - Get listed.
• Amy from My Friend Amy - I need a friend.
• Jen from Devourer of Books - Wow. I wrote that when? Let’s update.
• Michelle from GalleySmith - Anchor text. You mean there’s a way this *should* be done?
• Andrea from Book Blather - Authorities? What authorities?
• Ruth from Bookish Ruth - You’re going to analyze what?

Total time spent working: ~15 hours

Just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to Natasha at Maw Books Blog for getting this challenge going and doing all the work to organize it! I definitely want to meet her (and may get the chance at a Utah Blogger get together...yeah!)

Construction Demons

As you can probably tell, things are a bit crazy right now. New template = interesting new problems. Unfortunately, my eyes are about to pop out of my head and I must take some time to sleep now.

I haven't done that well on the bloggiesta list today, nor have I spent nearly enough time (total time right now about 6 hrs 45 min). Hopefully tomorrow will be rainy and I will not be lured outside by the blue skies, sunshine, or vegetables. Until then!