First of all, I want to give a standing ovation to Natasha for hosting this wonderful event! I have had an absolute blast this weekend. Even though I never left my house, I feel like I accomplished so much. The need to clean and organize has even spread to the rest of my house, as I started cleaning out my files to do taxes next month. Thank you, Natasha, for organizing Bloggiesta! It was definitely a worthy and fun-filled event.
Last night, after our meal of tacos (in honor of the on-going fiesta), I wrote and scheduled some posts for this week. In addition, I have a couple rainy-day posts ready to go just in case I need them. I still need to start writing my reviews, but we had company over this afternoon and had to take a break. (BTW, to keep with the theme, I served enchiladas!) I completed my last mini-challenge and signed up for Pam from MotherReader‘s Comment Challenge. I need help remembering to leave comments as I tend to lurk more than respond, so I really like the idea of committing to commenting on five blogs a day. I have been leaving comments on new-to-me blogs all weekend, so I know I already hit my initial ten. The challenge will be to remember to keep track of how many comments I make each day.
This evening, I will finally get to at least one of those reviews I wanted to write, if not get started with the other. I confess I am slightly distracted at the moment with the Packers currently doing their darndest to lose their playoff game, so we shall see how far I get.
In all, I am completely satisfied with what I accomplished this weekend. I never kept track of how much time exactly I spent working on my blog, but I estimate it to be at least twelve hours, if not more. I also lost track of the number of comments I made, new blogs I visited, and so forth. I participated in eight out of the ten mini-challenges. I made changes I have been meaning to make for months now. I played with HTML and feel a bit more comfortable instituting changes in the code now. I added various disclosures and am thrilled with all of my changes. Bloggiesta is one of those events that was surprising not by how much I accomplished but by how much the entire community came together to share tips and techniques, code, and general support. I found a few new blogs to follow and in general feel like part of an absolutely wonderful online community. Thank you to everyone who left comments and cheered me on as I made my changes, gave feedback on those changes and in general were very supportive. This have been a fabulous weekend!
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Thanks, Erika! We all need those uber-productive weekends every now and then, don't we?
You got some good things done. I enjoyed my productivity as well.
Hi Hannah and welcome! Thank you very much! I don't keep books in the bathroom, but I do tend to carry one around with me everywhere I go in the house. I don't think I read a lot. All those challenges just means I'm REALLY ambitious this year! LOL!
Hi Stablegranny! Welcome! I am extremely honest in my opinions too, but I'm not trying to write a book. You are absolutely that we can only be who we are. I hope you like what you saw here!
I've not been to your blog before (got here through MR”s Comment Challenge) so I don't know if this is a Bloggiesta improvement, but I love — adore! — your header photo.
And, I can tell from your various challenges in the sidebar that wow, you read a LOT of books! You must keep some in the bathroom like I do. 🙂
I found you at Comment challenge. I write children books, read but not as much as I like, work full time for an accountant… tax season is here! and ride horses. I blog daily check it out http://www.writeronahorse. I give little reviews on what I'm reading and I'm always truthful which will come back to bite me when I sale my book. sigh but we can only be who we are.
Thanks, Barrie! And welcome! I hope you like what you find!
You have been productive! I've written a few rainy day posts, cleaned up a little portion of the side bar, but that's it. Found you through the Comment Challenge!
Thanks, Angela! That's a great idea. I tried to keep track of comments I left last night but lost count after about 30 minutes. I might have to borrow your idea!
I also was super impressed by how such a diverse blogging community came through for the Bloggiesta! It made all of that work really fun.
I'm doing the Comment Challenge as well (which is actually where I found the link to your blog) – to keep track of my comments, I have a Tasks list open in Gmail, where I make a new task each day to comment and then in the additional notes leave the URLs of where I commented.
Thanks, Aarti! I'll have to check them out (again) to see how they are inserted. I'm still a little fuzzy on what they are and what they do other than help with searching.
Michelle, just wanted to let you know I think the Meta tags DO help on Google. My site went up rankings on Google searches for “BookLust” and “Aarti” and is now on the first page for both. So I recommend putting them in!
Thanks, Jackie! We have such a great community lead by fabulous bloggers!
Stephanie – I like the idea of checking into a hotel. In fact, I like it a lot. Hmmm,I wonder how I can get Jim to buy into it…
I love having my own domain name. And while it isn't exactly the same as my blog name, I love not having to type “dot blogspot dot com” as my web address. I would suggest reconsidering, and it really does not take that long to accomplish. Hopefully, you can participate on the next Bloggiesta fiesta!
Julie – Thank you very much! At this point in time, I do not see myself stopping blogging. I love it too much!
Alexia561 – I know some of my friends will think I am crazy for spending so much time playing around with my blog, but I agree that it was definitely worth it!
April – Part of the fact that I didn't leave the house was because I didn't want to and because I convinced my husband to go out and do the errands for me. I'll admit, it was wonderful! And thank you! It was a great weekend!
I agree – Natasha did a fantastic job organising the bloggiesta. It looks as though you managed to get a lot done – congratulations!
Sounds like you got a lot accomplished!! I spent some time on the last Bloggiesta doing some re-formatting and stuff. I wish I had time this weekend. I need a change. I had wanted to set up my own domain, but someone is already using the name I wanted. So, now I'm wavering. Oh well….
I haven't yet been able to do a whole read-a-thon. My weekends are planned out so far in advance, it's hard to make that much time. One of these days I plan on doing it. (just need to check my self into a hotel to get away from everyone else!!) Hmmm…that's not such a bad idea!
You managed to accomplish a lot this weekend! Great job and continue to blog! You have some great posts! 🙂
Looks like you had a very productive weekend! I didn't keep track of the time I spent on Bloggiesta either, but I got so much done that it was worth it!
Great job! I'm jealous you didn't have to leave the house!
Congrats on accomplishing so much!
Sheila, I just want to be able to participate in a read-a-thon! It will be interesting to see what I come up with for a to-do list for the next one though!
LOL – I hear you! I wish I wouldn't have had to leave the house this weekend. I swear the one in June I am going to go to our cabin for the weekend so I have no other commitments. 🙂