Bloggiesta: 10 things bloggers should not do mini-challenge

Word Lily is hosting the 10 things bloggers should not do mini-challenge.  So here is how I rate myself (ratings 1-5 with 5 being the best):


1. You Must Not Expect Results Overnight: 4/5 - I think I expected more results fast but as I approach my second year I am feeling much more patient.  I get review books, I have followers, I am enjoying what I do - this is what is most important to me.
2. You Must Not Ignore Your Readers: 3/5 - I probably need to work on this but I do try to find out what my readers like, so I don't think I am too bad.
3. You Must Not Scrape Another Bloggers Content: 5/5 - I don't do this at least to my knowledge - if I take an idea I credit and I never copy completely.
4. You Must Not Expect Success Without Promoting: 4/5 - I know this is true - the more I participate with other bloggers, the better my success and the more I enjoy blogging so I think getting out there on twitter, facebook or commenting on other blogs is essential, just don't comment only to get people to your blog.
5. You Must Not Be Another Blogger: 5/5 - There are some bloggers I would love to be, but I know I can't and don't need to - we all have our unique voice.
6. You Must Not Fail To Update Your Blog Regularly: 4/5 - I have down times, we all do, but I usually have at least one post per week.  After bloggiesta, I feel refreshed and hope to be back to posting most days of the week.
7. You Must Not Ignore SEO: 1/5 - I didn't know what SEO was until this Bloggiesta - but I know now and will begin to work on it.
8. You Must Not Ignore Networking: 3/5 - I know it's important, but I need to make more time to do it :)
9. You Must Not Have An Unreadable/Unnavigable Site: 4/5 - I think my site is pretty easy to get around, but I plan on making improvements as well in the next few weeks.
10. You Must Not Throw Mud Around: 5/5 - I was taught if you can't say something nice, don't say anything and I will stick by that :)

My score:  37/50 - definitely some room for improvement and what a fun exercise!

So how are you doing?  How do you feel I am doing, I'm always anxious for feedback.  Leave a comment or email me at crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com

Bloggiesta Update #1

It's Bloggiesta update time.  For those of you unfamiliar, Bloggiesta is hosted by Natasha at Maw Books Blog and is a weekend long event to help those of us who blog tidy up, spruce up and just do things in general to make our blogs a better place.  I have lots of goals and who knows what I will accomplish.  But here is what I have accomplished so far.

1. 1 review written to be posted next week to coincide with a blog tour
2. Lots of reading on twitter
3. participated in 3 mini-challenges so far (goals, organization and email)
4. Formatted 2 reviews that are to post in the near future - just waiting for the actual review
5. Made new Book Review and Book Feature templates
6. 1 Interview formatted for next week 
7. Minor changes to About Me and Review Policy pages
8. Cleaned up sidebar (thinking of further purging, but I'm doing it in stages)
9. 3  memes written & scheduled for next week (part of me becoming more of a member of the blogging community again)

More work to come - it looks like it may snow here this afternoon, so it will be a perfect time to curl up in my chair with my blanket, a warm beverage and my laptop warming my lap and do some more work.

Bloggiesta Time!

Bloggiesta, hosted by Natasha of Maw Books is a great event for bloggers. I participated some last year, but not enough.  This year I hope to participate more and it looks like I will be able to as my health has me slightly sidelined at the moment, so it looks like laundry will be my only chore this weekend and the rest of the time will be spent reading, working on my blog and watching playoff games :)  Go Bears and go Steelers :)  I would love to see a superbowl with my two favorite teams but first they have to beat two tough teams.


Here's some of what I hope to do this weekend:

• Catchup on reviews.
• Clean up my email inbox, make sure responded to review requests and file in appropriate mailbox, also make sure calendar is up-to-date, schedule reviews with no timeline
• Re-vamp my interview questions
• Start some posts that are rattling around in my head for rainy day posts
• Re-create my template posts for reviews, features, interviews, guest posts, giveaways, etc.  My posts have evolved over the past year, but my templates have not.
• Clean up my tags
• Clean up my sidebars
• Look over my about me page/review policy and update.
• Clean up and update your challenge lists.  Link up your posts with hosts.
• Participate in challenges and visit other participants to see what they are doing and get ideas :)

So are you participating? What are you planning on doing? I know there is more I want to do and I know I won't get through this list but it will give me something to think about in the weeks to come as well.

Bloggiesta Starting Post

Okay - this was supposed to post automatically this morning and it wasn't supposed to be blank. So this is the start of Bloggiesta for me. I had a pre-op appointment out-of-town this morning and that is why the post was automatic. But it's all for the better since I am officially starting now. I'm not sure I will make the prescribed amount of time, but I will be working on my blog a lot tomorrow and touring around the other participants.

I need to catch up on my reviews and create some scheduled posts for next week and I need to do some organizing and cosmetic work on the blog since I am really enjoying it and plan to keep it up. So you will see more of me in the next 36 hours. I look forward to hearing how everyone else is doing also!