I’d never heard of Bloggiesta before yesterday, but once I’d found out what it was, I was excited to participate! Bloggiesta, hosted by Natasha, is a weekend marathon during which bloggers focus on their blogs, creating goals or to-do lists ahead of time and then using the weekend to get things done. I have some things I’d like to accomplish with regards to Erin Reads, and I really enjoyed my first Readathon last October, so I’m looking forward to participating in Bloggiesta! It runs from today through Sunday.
I’ll post my regular weekend schedule (My Week in Books and the Sunday Salon), using this post as a place to keep track of my to-do list and mini-challenges instead of posting updates.
Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish over the Bloggiesta weekend:
- Reorganize blog-related folders on my hard drive
- Clean out blog photos I took but never used
- Play around with new widgets to see if I can find anything cool to add
- Clean out WordPress plug-ins and get rid of the ones I’m not using
- Explore new plug-in options
- Create a file for keeping frequently used links (like to readalongs and challenges) for easy reference
- Create files or find a plug-in to keep track of post templates
- Play with menu setup
- Finish revamping my Google Reader
- Write reviews for Leviathan, Behemoth, and The Interpreter of Maladies
- Brainstorm and plan new types of posts (midway through a book, monthly wrap-ups, etc.)
- Make buttons for new post types
- Tweak existing post types (add links to other reviews? etc.)
- Catch up on Google Reader and implement any further tips or tricks I can find
- Brainstorm Sunday Salon topics
- Update GoodReads and LibraryThing with reviews
- Organize my email inbox (This took HOURS, but I went from 3000+ total emails in my inbox to just 14! Learning about Gmail’s Archive feature was amazingly helpful!)
- Learn more about SEO
- Start collecting images with We Heart It
- Create Add a LibraryThing button? (I wasn’t able to create my own, but Rebecca from Rebecca Reads kindly shared hers!)
- Set up a contact form
I’m sure I’ll add others as I start working on these!
Hours spent Bloggiesta-ing:
Friday: 11
Saturday: 12
Sunday: 12
Mini Challenges Completed
- Setting Goals @ My Friend Amy
- Organize Thy Books @ Jenn’s Bookshelves
- Design Your Own Buttons/Banner @ SMS Book Reviews (New button is to the right)
- Best Practices on Organizing and Staying on Top of Your Email @ Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?
- It’s All About the Numbers @ There’s A Book
- Anchors Aweigh @ Galleysmith
- It’s Not Cheating @ There’s A Book
- Grade Your Blog @ Bookish Ruth
- Your Review Policy @ Girls Gone Reading
- Clean Up Your Feedreader! @ The Book Lady’s Blog
- Favicons and Gravatars @ Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?
- Footers @ Bookalicio.us
- Backing Up Your Blog @ Farm Lane Books
- Google Alerts @ Emily’s Reading Room
- Google Forms @ Devourer of Books
- 10 Things Bloggers Should Not Do @ Word Lily
- Update a Key Page or Post @ Devourer of Books
- Elevator Pitches @ Books, Movies, and Chinese Food
What About You?
Are you participating in Bloggiesta? What are some of your goals? Any suggestions for things you’d like to see on Erin Reads?
I should be participating in this, but just don’t have the time right now. Have fun!
I found out about it late, but luckily I didn’t have much planned for the weekend. It’s certainly taking a lot of time! We’ll catch you the next time around 🙂
I still need to look at the mini-challenges…I’m off to a slow start this morning! Glad you found Bloggiesta! I still haven’t had a chance to respond to yesterday’s comments…
No worries! I googled Bloggiesta pretty much right after I read your post. It would’ve been impressive if you’d responded to the comment before I’d looked it up 🙂
Good luck! I have quite a bit of work to get done over the weekend for school, but I’m hoping I can find sometime to write up a couple of posts and tinker with the layout of my blog a bit.
I hope you’re finding time! I’m looking forward to seeing the results of your tinkering.
Your button looks great! Thanks for taking the time to try out my mini-challenge. Good luck with your bloggiesta to do list!
Thanks, Callista! Your mini challenge gave me the push I needed to mess around with some new buttons.
Looks like you’re having an awesome Bloggiesta! My main goal for the weekend is to simply catch up on reviews. I have no idea how they got so backed up!
I hope your catching up is going well! I have a few to do as well, though I’ve been ignoring them thus far. Good think there’s a day left!
Nice button! Great list of goals — good luck with them.
Thanks! Good luck to you as well.
Great list … I might have to “borrow” some of your to do items. You gave me some good ideas.
Please do! I’ve been “borrowing” left and right 🙂
Hello! Just attempted a button for my blog, still not sure how to get the code below so viewers can grab it!
Any suggestions?
Sorry, Dee, I’ve never tried to create a button with grabbable code! I’d suggest maybe finding a blogger who has such a button and then asking them. Good luck!
Oooo! Good idea to have a list of things to accomplish! Next time I’ll be more organized. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment, isn’t it?
It is! The list helped a lot, even though it just about doubled as I added to it and accomplished things. It’s nice to have a record of what I did, too. I hope your Bloggiesta was productive!
I have a LT button on my site. Much small than your social media buttons. Someone made it for me when I was whining on twitter on how I couldn’t find any. Can’t remember who, and I feel bad about that. I can send you the files — have three colors — if you want it. send me an email.
Thanks, Rebecca! I just sent you an email.
I know–pitifully late. For some reason, even though I’ve never participated, I love reading through people’s lists. Curious how you’ve been making your buttons. I would like to figure out how to do this a little better. Where do you get your images, etc?
Also email is my downfall. I keep thinking my life will be so much better when I can get on top of email (personal and work!), but I always seem to run out of time.
All the lists are inspiring, aren’t they? My to-do list kept getting longer with every Bloggiesta post I read!
As for buttons: I take the photos myself, since I don’t like messing with copyright laws. They’re my own books arranged in different ways. I used to use a program called Paintbrush (for Mac) to do basic things like cropping and adding text, but I’ve recently started learning a very powerful, free image editing program called GIMP. The newer buttons (like Reading Buddies, and the slightly revised Classics Reclamation Project button that’s now in my sidebar) were all made using GIMP. I’m big on uniformity, which is why all my buttons are square, are the same size, and use the same font! Is that too much info? Or are there questions I haven’t answered? Feel free to ask others, either here or by email 🙂
I felt so accomplished when I got my inbox down to a single page! My husband and I watched a couple of movies during Bloggiesta, and I just sat on the couch with my laptop, weeding through email. It took forever, but man, does it feel good. It’s already starting to creep back up, though, so I’m going to have to be strict!