Uno, Dos, Tres, Hecho!

Bloggiesta is over, and I have to say I didn't get much done.  Woe is to me.  But!  I did get a new blog theme for 2010 up, and it is beautiful!!!  Thank you so much to Drea from Book Blather for helping me with the HTML for it.  So in case you visited today and said to yourself, "Wow!  It looks like someone knows what they're doing."  Yeah, that would be Drea. :)

Beth from Beth Fish Reads gave us all a mini-challenge to clean up our labels so they're more user-friendly.  I didn't really accomplish this for the whole blog, but I did add labels to my old posts here, so people can find them.  I kind of went label-crazy for a few months there, but people will just have to deal with it.

Chelle from Tempting Persephone (great name for a blog, by the way) challenged us to feature the best posts on our blog.  However we defined "best" was up to us.  This was pretty difficult, as you can probably imagine.  But I picked out several favorites: 

• One of my favorite reviews here is still Drood by Dan Simmons.  Not just because I was really proud of myself for finishing it, but I think it's one of my better reviews, even if the formatting is all screwed up. 
  
• I also enjoyed reviewing Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick for the sheer WTF value that is that book.
• Symbol or Fraud was another early post I did that was a response to a Booking Through Thursday meme.
• A Short History of Dante Alighieri and the Divine Comedy in Art is ironically titled, since it is an insanely long post.  In fact, it might the longest post I've written so far.  I'm quite proud of it, though, even though no one wants to read the whole thing.
• My post about the art history shout-out on True Blood still gets comments.
• And Why I Don't Rate My Reviews is basically a manifesto of what my goal is when writing reviews.

And finally, Jenn from Jenn's Bookshelves posted a great mini-challenge on a way to brain storm for post ideas!  Here is what you do:

1. Set-up:  Get a piece of paper and draw five
   circles vertically along the paper.   In the circles, write the titles
   of your last five blog posts.
2. Extend Your Posts: Take each post and brainstorm
   ways the post can be extended.  Answer a comment left on a previous
   post. Expand upon your answer. Expand upon an idea or opinion that you
   may have briefly mentioned in the previous post.  For each idea draw a
   line out from the circle, draw a square (or use a different color) and
   write the idea inside of it.
3. Extend Further: This step is optional.  Expand upon the topics you have come up with and you’ll end up with even more post ideas!

Sounds simple, right?  I tried this exercise and here's what I came up with:

Books--I Do Not Haz Them

• Giving books to non-readers
• Review of the Sharon Shinn book I got (after I read it, of course)
• Gift cards versus getting actual books: is one better than the other?

Two Classic Film Reviews

• Review of 500 Days of Summer
• The awesomeness that is Peter Lorre
• Read Maltese Falcon and compare it to the movie
• Women's roles in film (pretty broad, I know)

Harry Potter and the Kid Who Cried Wolf

• Review of the next Harry Potter book I read
• Is JK Rowling the 21st-century version of Dickens?
• Dumbledore: how evil is he?
• How long is too long for a book?

The Dickens With Love by Josh Lanyon

• The next m/m book I read reviewed
• DNFs from m/m month
• M/M books-romantic?

Art History Challenge Update

• Basically reviews of the books I'm planning to read for this, haha.
• Updates on other posts participants have written.

This was really fun!  I have to recommend this to all the bloggers out there--I really did get some promising post ideas.  Thanks, Jenn.


Thus ends another Bloggiesta.  I blogged for about 13 1/2 hours, completed three (ish--give me a break Beth, please?) mini-challenges, and retooled my blog.  I know I did a lot less than some people, but I'm very happy with what I accomplished.  I can't wait for the next Bloggiesta!  Thank you again to Natasha from Maw Books for hosting it.  Hasta la próxima, bloggers!

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Bloggiesta, Dias Dos

I think I am officially exhausting all my knowledge of Spanish during Bloggiesta.

Today is the second day of Bloggiesta, the blogging fiesta hosted by the wonderful Natasha of Maw Books. On day one I spent about four and a half hours (five and a half, if you count the count the hour after I said I was going to bed but stayed up going through the Bloggiesta RSS feed, instead) blogging. I didn't complete any of the minichallenges, although I got a start on the label challenge. Aaaaaaannd, I got a favicon! Wheeeee! I'm so proud of it. Isn't it bootiful?

My plans for today are once again pretty limited. I really do need to start going through my reader. And I would also like to finish up the label challenge and do the challenge where you highlight your best posts (that will fit in nicely with the label challenge).

I will also be DJ-ing Spanish music on twitter during the day. This is likely what will take up the majority of my time, as it is much more entertaining than going through labels.

Happy Bloggiesta, everyone!!!

Bloggiesta, Ole!

Okay, I am officially ready to start Bloggiesta now. Yay me!

For those of you who haven't read of Bloggiesta, it's a blogging party hosted by Natasha from Maw Books. My goals for this Bloggiesta are pretty modest, since I have to work this weekend and my brother is having his birthday today. Basically I want to give my blog a new look for 2010, and complete a few minichallenges. I also need to catch up on my reader--but then when don't I need to catch up on my reader?

If you want to participate, sign up on Maw Books, and follow #bloggiesta on Twitter. Go Bloggiesta!!!

Bloggiesta Wrap Up

The Bloggiesta, hosted by Natasha at Maw Books, is officially over!  To refresh your (and my) memory, here were my goals for the 48-hour blogfest:

• Catch up on the posts I have ideas for.  Done!  I wrote and posted one of my to-do entries on my personal blog (e-mail me if you want the link).
  
• Do my first author interview!  Done!  My interview with Simone Elkeles is finished and will publishes here soon.
  
• Try to make my blogspot site look nicer than it does now.  I made some changes to blogspot; not sure if it looks that much better, though.
  
• Write up reviews.  I wrote two reviews.
  
• Try to figure out who I'm following on twitter that I'm not following on GR, and vice versa.  This did not get done.
  
• Do an update for my blog challenges.  I wrote one challenge update.
  
• I might get adventurous and experiment with doing a vlog entry, but we'll have to see how it goes.  Nope, didn't happen.
  

I clocked in over 27 hours of blogging during the Bloggiesta.  During that time, I wrote a total of six posts (seven including this one) and completed 9 mini-challenges (I only half-completed 3 mini-challenges, for various reasons).  Here are the ones I managed to completely finish:

• Emily from Emily’s Reading Room - Are you talking about me?
• 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.
• Jen from Devourer of Books - Wow. I wrote that when?  Let’s update.
• Amy from My Friend Amy - I need a friend.
• 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?

Hmm, that's actually only eight, but I'm too tired to figure out where and why my counting is off at this point.  Anyway, the mini-challenges were great!  They were all about improving your blog, blog traffic, and connecting with other bloggers.  My favorite was probably Book Blather's challenge about reading blogging tips.  I not only learned about, but got an idea for a post!  I wanted to do all the challenges, but I simply ran out of time.

Overall the Bloggiesta was successful for me.  I didn't get everything done that I wanted to--there are still reviews to do, reading challenges to update, etc.--but I think I did pretty well overall.  Plus, it was just plain fun!  I loved learning from and talking with the bloggers who were part the challenge.  Thank you everyone for helping, chatting, and talking about ice cream. :)

And huge kudos and thanks to Natasha at Maw Books for hosting this challenge!  It was great experience and I can't wait for the next Bloggiesta!  If you get the chance, definitely join in.

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Bloggiesta!

¡Olé!  Natasha at Maw Books (not me ^_~) is hosting a Bloggiesta next weekend, and I will be joinging the party.  What is a Bloggiesta, you ask?  It's a 48-hour blogging marathon.  You can write posts, do site maintence, catch up on comments, etc.  The marathon runs for 48 hours, but the goal is to get 24 hours of work in during that period.  Here's how to play:

1. The date is Friday, June 19th beginning at 8am, Saturday the 20th and ending Sunday the 21st at 8am (8am your time, wherever you are).  That is a total of 48 hours, of which you should aim high for a total of 18-24 hours spent on the challenge. (I [re: Natasha Maw] chose both a weekday and a weekend to hopefully accommodate different needs and not take up your entire weekend.  And yes, that’s only a week away!)  The hours spent on the challenge do NOT need to be in a row. Use the entire 48 hour time frame and see what you can do with it.  I say aim for 24 hours but really if you can only do six, twelve or eighteen that’s fine too.
   
2. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it.  But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. 
3. When you start the challenge, come back to the “starting line” post and link to your specific post about beginning the challenge which is posted on your blog.
   
4. How many updates (if any) you want to do is up to you.  Make it work for you.  Personally, I plan on making a to do list and then crossing off items as I accomplish them.
5. If you are on Twitter, use the hashtag #bloggiesta to join the chatter.
6. Your final summary post needs to be posted no later than noon on Sunday, June 21st.
7. Sign the Mr. Linky on Maw Books if you intend to join the challenge. Don’t forget to subscribe to Maw Books so you’ll be notified of  future bloggiesta posts.

What I would like to accomplish during the Bloggiesta:

• Catch up on the posts I have wavering ideas for but haven't gotten around to writing yet.  Right now there's five in ScribeFire.
  
• Do my first author interview! (If you're a book blogger who's done an author interview before and you have any tips, feel free to share.  I'm still trying to line up an author and haven't even thought about how to conduct it yet--but one step at a time.)  I got this idea from Bookalicious when she interviewed LJ Smith.  I was like, "Oh, you can interview writers?"  Haha.  I am dense sometimes.
  
• Try to make my blogspot site look nicer than it does now.  It is terribly neglected and sad.
• Write up reviews.
• Try to figure out who I'm following on twitter that I'm not following on GR, and vice versa.
• Do an update for my blog challenges.
  
• I might get adventurous and experiment with doing a vlog entry, but we'll have to see how it goes.

So those are my plans for next weekend!  I hope everyone who can will join us for the Bloggiesta or take the time to cheer us on.  I apologize for your inbox or subscription list in advance. :)

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