My initial (short and kinda lame) list of things to accomplish:
Catch up on reviews on GoodreadsCatch up on reviews for AmazonComplete as many mini challenges as I canVisit and comment on participating blogs
The nice thing about a dinky little list? It was easy to get the items done and crossed off!
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| Everybody is doing it! It will make you feel good! |
But you bloggers foiled my easy-peasy plan! As I visited your starting line posts and saw your groovy plans my list kept growing! So thanks, ya big jerks.
Here are the extra little tweaks that you all inspired me to do:
- Created a specific blog email address (TheRelentlessReader@gmail.com)
- Updated my reading map
- Updated my About/Contact/Review Policy/Classic Club pages
- Learn how to schedule posts! For heaven’s sake. I don’t know why I struggled with this. Thank goodness for the internets!
There were the mini challenges as well. (Fun and informative!) What did I accomplish you ask? Read on…
I learned about new feed readers from Jenn. I wasn’t a user of Google Reader so I wasn’t in a panic like many of my fellow bloggers. But I was in the market for a new way to follow my fave blogs so I signed up for Bloglovin. So far, so good!
Allison from The Book Wheel challenged us to get involved with a bookish charity. (Love!) I’ve registered for LibriVox and Books for Soldiers. Also, I think it would be fantastic to read to seniors at one of my local nursing homes.
Donna from Book Wookie taught us how to become a Book Depository affiliate. My application is pending.
Amanda from On a Book Bender urged us to look at our blog through the eyes of a visitor. This was very helpful! This will be an ongoing project for me. I’d like to set up a review archive. I need to talk to Jennisa, my blog designer, about setting up a new page for me.
I love Suey’s challenge! She encouraged us to get to know our fellow bloggers. That is one of the best things about this weekend isn’t it? I met some new (to me) bloggers by hopping around. This community kicks ass.
Deb from Debz Bookshelf motivated me to declutter my sidebar. I removed a few things and I’m still considering the removal of others. Do I really need a list of post categories? I would appreciate some feedback on this! (Be honest, I can take it!)
April from Good Books & Good Wine helped me get going on Stumbleupon. I’ll be frank: I don’t know what I’m doing! I’d love to get a button on my blog but I can’t seem to figure it out. If anyone has a tip for me that’d be great.
Shanyn at Chick Loves Lit reminded us to cross post our book reviews here there and everywhere. I caught up with my reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. I’m considering doing the same on Barnes & Noble. Mostly because Rebecca is pestering gently encouraging me to do so.
There are some things that I still need to work on. I hope to find the time to get to them very soon.
- Label posts (Ugh)
- Update book blog board on Pinterest
- Make business cards/bookmarks/etc.
- Consider joining in with Top Ten Tuesdays
- Create feature graphics for memes, etc.
- I might change my Goodreads goal for 2013 because:
You have read 52 books toward your goal of 125 books.
Awesome, you’re 24 books (19%) ahead of schedule!
Thanks for reading my Bloggiesta babble. I hope you all had a fun and productive weekend!
Hey look, the Bloglovin’ button! I can get it into a post! (I’d rather not have to add it every time though. Hmm, I’ll keep working on this)
The Relentless Reader 
Woohoo! Way to go on the initial list! I have the same problem during Bloggiesta, though, where I start adding more tasks as I go. 🙂 And how awesome is it to be able to schedule posts now? I would never be able to blog if I couldn't do that!
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Nice job, you got a ton of stuff finished! I've never thought about posting reviews on Goodreads or Amazon, even though I suppose it would be a good idea. At this point it would be an epic project.
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Great job on kicking the list to the curb and hope you had a fantastic party tonight to celebrate!
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Oh my gosh, a reading map?! I want to do this, what a fun idea!
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Fantastic! You got a lot done. My weekend was too busy to participate but I'll have to check out some of the mini challenges.
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THAT reading map is awesome!!Congrats on completing so many challenges! I only did one, the Book Depository affiliate challenge. But that was the most important for me, so I'm all good :)<3 the GIFs
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Wow!!! This was a really awesome bloggiesta for you!! I love the Idea of a literary map and business cards have been on my to-do list for way too long.
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Thanks Logan! I'm super excited to schedule a post 🙂 I haven't actually done it yet, lol.
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Oh wow, how many years worth of reviews would you have to do? A LOT! 😉
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Thanks Tanya! It was a good time 🙂 Productive too!
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You got a TON accomplished! In answer to your question about post categories, I think that is entirely up to you! I actually went through and narrowed a lot of mine, stopped using a label cloud, and then hid some from the list. I also created buttons for the categories I thought others would find help (genre, etc.). That's just me, though! Congrats on a successful Bloggiesta!!
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Thanks Monika! It is super fun to do! It's great to see all of the places I've \”been\” 😉
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Thanks Laura! Definitely check out the challenges, there are some great little projects out there
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Thanks Cayce! You should make a map, it's super fun! 😀
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I'm not sure what I'm waiting for as far as the business cards, lol. I've played around with Vistaprint a little bit but I never really like how they turn out. I need to play around some more, obviously!
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I want to create a review archive, that will make a category cloud fairly obsolete. Also, I do have a search bar so if anyone wanted to find something they could. I feel like I don't need that category business on my sidebar. I don't know why I can't just delete the stupid thing, lol.
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Great post packed with so much valuable info. Thanks for sharing. Congrats on getting so much done.
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Yeah, I had a nice short list to begin with, too, and then that first twitter chat got me to add more to my list, too! Crazy people with all their great ideas! 😉 Great job with all your goals!
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That is an amazing list! You did so much, that must feel like a great achievement. An email especially for the blog is very handy. I also have one.
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It might not be long but that feeling of accomplishment is inspiration. Considering all those mini-challenges, you did a whole lot! Regarding the Stumbleupon and Blog Lovin' button – Bloglovin' can go in the sidsebar (as you've done), and with Stumble you want to find a plugin that adds it to each post. I know WordPress lets you do that, so I'm assuming Blogger would, too.
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You did such an awesome job! There is always more to do. Just relax and celebrate all of your accomplishments (which were many)!Awesome!
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I always start out with a small list, too, Jennifer…I figure it's easy to add things, and it's not as daunting. Nice going!
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Thanks Angela 🙂 I had a great time!
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Crazy people indeed! 😉 I learned a lot so I really shouldn't complain!
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Thanks! My head hurts from all of the learning and reading, lol 😉
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Sometimes I wish I had started with WordPress. I don't know of any cool Blogger plugins! I'm going to keep working on it though 🙂
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Thanks a bunch Lisa!
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Thanks Laurel 🙂 I'm pretty proud, if I do say so myself, lol.
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I wish my list would have been as short as yours…. 🙂 What's a reading map? *clicks link* Holy crap that is awesome. I want one!!I think post categories is one of the few things needed in a sidebar since it's navigation of your blog. You can have it as a dropdown menu if you don't want it taking up tons of room. LOL or you could just stay 24 books ahead and give yourself a big gold star :)Looks like a successful weekend!
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Dang gurrrrrl, you did a lot this weekend!! I think this post has inspired me to do a few new things myself. Nice work!
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Isn't that reading map the most fun? I heard about it from Meg at Writemeg.com 🙂 That's a good point about the post categories! LOL, maybe I will just keep my Goodreads challenge so I can SLAY it!
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It was a very productive weekend, no lie 🙂
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Wow! You did a lot! I need to make my business cards as well.
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Thanks Kami 🙂 I had a great weekend, hope you did too!
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Wow, good job accomplishing all that! I didn't participate in Bloggiesta (I was visiting the long-distance boyfriend for the weekend and didn't think I'd have the time), but reading people's posts about what they did/were planning to do gave me some great ideas for how to improve my blog!
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And hey, there isn't a time limit on these things so you can mess around with any of the challenges any time you want 🙂 Hope you had a good weekend with your boyfriend!
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I love reading about what everyone does during Bloggiesta. I never, never add to my list, but I do get lots of pie-in-the-sky ideas for the next Bloggiesta! I have a category list, but it needs revamping, and I don't think that anyone ever clicks on them!
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Cool that you got so much done — even things that weren't on your original list!Joy's Book Blog
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Awesome, way to go!
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For someone who had a 'dinky' list, you sure got a lot done! I'm so exited that you registered for Books for Soldiers and Livrobox. I know that Rebecca is really excited about that one, too!
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See, that's what I think about the categories list as well..does anyone bother? I know I don't, lol.
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I'm pretty happy with the things I accomplished! 😀
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Thanks!! It's always a work in progress but I got quite a lot done 😀
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Go big or go home, right? 😉 Thanks for your challenge girl, I love it. I'm going to keep exploring all of the options!
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Excellent Bloggiesta Chica! You really knocked it out!
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Thanks Alysia! I'm already looking forward to the next Bloggiesta 😉
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Looks like you have been crossing off you goals, thats great, good feeling. My biggest challenge was SPAM, found the plugin that worked to stop the crazies! Good luck with the rest!!
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Oh SPAM, yucko! Not long ago I had to disable anonymous comments. It was getting awful, dozens of spam comments every day. 😦 Boo! Thanks for visiting Karren!
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Ah, you used a gif from Choices!!! Stephen Merchant had me crying with laughter through that skit.
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I don't know what Choices is but I loved the hell out of that gif so I had to use it, lol.
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