Bloggiesta Wrap Up

Okay, posting this late, I know. By the end of the weekend, though, I was a bit blogged out!

SO I did about 14 hours.

• Got a new background.
• Lost my favicon. Where did that thing go?
• Improved the Website Grader score on this blog by at least 6 points.
• Added metatags and description and whatnot.
• Finished a book.
• Got the review written and ready for posting.
• Wrote a list post for a rainy day.
• Did a bunch of mini challenges.
• Spent a lot of time reading emails-- every time I comment on a blog, I try to remember to subscribe to receive emails of follow-up comments. As a result I had over 200 emails this weekend.
• Took the evil piece of metal out of my desk.

Mini Challenges Completed:

• Clean up your Feed reader!
• Google Alerts!
• Rainy Day Posts!
• Blogging Buddy!
• Favicons and Gravatars! Though now I have to redo my favicon.
• Elevator Pitch! It's short, but it works for me.
• Anchor Text Challenge!
• Website Grader Challenge!
• Tips and Tutorials Mini Challenge!
• Blog Directory Mini! I need to revisit this and do a couple more, though, I think.
• Blogging Buddy Mini! Hi Cari! (Go check out Bookscoops, they have a new look!)
• Update Posts! Added those pesky alt details to lots and lots and lots of pictures.

Hmm... I did a lot of minis. In fact, I think I only skipped one. Sorry, folks, I was just too overwhelmed by it all (and had toooooo low a connection speed) to look at everyone's blogs! Isn't that terrible? Bad Britt. Next time I will definitely do better about cheering on more people!

And I'm taking a poll-- Leave the header as is? Or give it some sort of graphic as a background? I can't decide....

Sorry, Natasha. I have not the foggiest clue how many comments I left. I think it's somewhere in the very sad realm of 15-20. Again, Bad Britt.

I'm not sure I can think of anything to add next time! I just know I need to be more organized next time!

New Look-- What do you think?

So. Here it is.

I CANNOT for the blasted life of me figure out how to make the text not look squished against the side. Any ideas?

What do you think??

I'm done for tonight. I can't think straight.

I think I got in about 14 hours of Bloggiesta. *Shrug* Not too shabby.

Signing Off For a While

Gotta go make Samosa filling!!

I've done just about 12 hours of Bloggiesta! Lots of stuff.

I have also finally decided on a new background, I just don't have time to put it up until AFTER the Father's Day dinner stuff. :D

AND I think I know what I'm going to do for a header. Maybe.

:D:D

(And I've gotten gifts wrapped, cards written in, 2 cardstock wallets made and filled with pictures and I've gotten a whole ton done on my grandpa's canvas!!)

Bloggiesta-- It's a New Day

9 am and all's.... well, I guess. Having to listen to Special Agent Oso knocks that down a bit, but whatever.

I got in about 9 hours or so yesterday. With surprisingly little to show for it. Stupid 11.0 MBPS internet connection.

And awaaaaaaay we go!

More Minis!!!

Clean up your Feed reader! You can add categories or folders and stuff. Who knew?


Google Alerts! Excellent tool.


Rainy Day Posts! Gotta love having posts ready in advance.

Blogging Buddy! Formalized and finalized and all that.


Favicons and Gravatars! Good things to have.

Elevator Pitch! "Confessions of a Book Habitue. Book reviews in a wide variety of genres!" Maybe more of a tagline, but hey. I like it.

Anchor Text Challenge! Good anchor text makes the world go round...

Website Grader Challenge! Always a good thing to do. And my score is UP! Woohoo! And with the added MetaData it's up again!!

So I haven't necessarily done anything actually ON my list, but I've done quite a bit, so I think I'll write a "what I got done" list instead of a "to do" list.

Past 2 and All is Well

So. Now we are 4 1/2 hours in and I think I've put in at least 3 1/2 hours.

Since my last update I have:

1. Finished the Tips and Tutorials Mini Challenge. I read How to Get Traffic, Grow Your Google Authority, 21 Tips to Earn Links and Retweets, Rethinking Blog Comments, 10 Reasons Readers Don't Leave Comments, and 43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid. Some of it's not overly applicable to my humble little book blog, but there were some good things. Like the idea that numbered lists make good content. :D


2. Fixed the blasted piece of metal on my desk that's always trying to kill me. This may not technically be blog-related, but it makes me very very happy. Look at that thing-- every time I shift it would stab my leg. Okay, so only part of it and it's blunt, but still. Evil I tell you. Part of the lock for the drawers.... which I don't have the key for anyway.



3. Decided that cleaning up my blogging environment could be a legitimate use of this challenge time also. I mean, really. What a disaster. Plus I've lost my calendar and I need it for scheduling Virtual Book Tour reviews and what not. Really, it may not look THAT bad from the pic, but it is, I promise. The pic is cropped in close.





4. Did some reading. Content is important. Trust me. Pretty much every one of those articles I read said so.



5. I also seem to have totally messed up the html of this post. Hmm. Oh wait, maybe not.

I also ate lunch, fed my kids (Can you believe they actually wanted me to leave the computer to feed them? How demanding is that?) and took them to the library for their June prizes for the Summer Reading Program.

And spent a half-hour or so writing this post. Sad.

Actually, given how slow my internet connection is today, that's not too shabby.

In other news, my screen saver suddenly works again. Go figure.

Update 1

It's been an hour and a half and I have been on here the whole time! Okay, most of the time. I've got kids that have been in time-out and are now making Father's Day cards.

Anyway.

I have completed one mini challenge: Blog Directory Mini. I added my blog to Blog Catalog.

I'm already on a couple of others, so I'm just doing the one for now.

I've also started the Blogging Buddy Mini and the Tips and Tutorials Mini.

How's everybody else doing?

Bloggiesta! Let the Party Begin!

Alright, only a little slow this morning.

I got to sleep late (we take turns hogtying getting breakfast for the monkeys or sleeping in-- it's a great system) so I haven't even had my morning chocolate milk yet. And I haven't checked in around the blog world to even see what the mini challenges are.

SO that's where I'm starting-- with catching up in my Google Reader!