Systematic Student:
Bloggiesta

This morning was very unproductive for me. I didn't get very much accomplished, at all. I watched Twitter update, compulsively checked my email, visited the bloggers who came to my site and started about 5 posts that I just saved for later because I couldn't concentrate. I can claim, 1, maybe 2 hours of productivity here.

However, after I got home from my grandmother's 85th birthday party, I was a lot more productive. I:

• created a flavicon for my blog (see me?! How cool is that!:) ) . (Hey Lady)
• copyrighted my blog (and seriously wished I had done it sooner, because I don't know a way to back track for my 2010 posts)
• graded my website and have started looking into ways to boost my rating (Bookish Ruth)
• updated my Review Policy, my About Me page, and my review listing. (Devourer of Books)
• re-signed up for Google Alerts (Emily's Reading Room)
• changed all my old post titles to Review: Name of Book, Author, which makes everything uniform and easier to find, and will make future posts easier to plan.
• updated GR. it now has all the reviews from my blog. (I wasn't missing that many... Yay!)
• visited 10 or so new Bloggiesta bloggers, read all their About Me pages (if they had them) and left comments! Both on reviews and their Bloggiesta posts!

• create a button for ME and for Memory Monday
• add a share bar to my posts
• look into the Other Posts You Might Like Widget (any suggestions?)
• convert my RSS feed.
• actually finish writing up some new posts and Memory Monday ideas. I probably won't get 9 reviews, but I'd like to write up at least 4 more reviews.
• finish visiting the blogs I follow
• visit new blogs, plan to visit even more
• clean out my email
• read...

Well, today was a bit of a crazy day. I'm staying with family (my Grandma's 85th birthday party is tomorrow) and there have been large amounts of people in and out of the house all day. Which means, I'm a bit easily distracted.:)

Anyway, I did manage to get two Memory Monday posts ready to go, as well as one review. I do plan to write up at least one more before I go to bed tonight, but I also want to visit a few more blogs, so we'll see what I actually end up doing.

I also visited several blogs and left encouragements and comments. I've found some new blogs I want to come back to, and I'm excited to find a few more.

I also took part in a few of the mini-challenges, and have saved a few more to work on over the next two days.

Oh, and I decided that whatever I'm doing for the SEO stuff is going to have to be enough, because I have no idea what I'm doing, and the articles I tried reading didn't make a whole lot of sense. This is probably a combination of not quite knowing exactly what the terms they used meant (although I did usually have a decently good idea) and being tired from working and then staring at a computer screen. So, I've kind of given up on the SEO stuff. I did Google variations of my blog name, and I do pop up right about the top, so right now, I'm good with that.

I plan to spend tomorrow working on my buttons and some more reviews, and well as visiting a bunch of the blogs I follow, as well as the Bloggiesta blogs. I know there are a lot of great blogs out there, and I'd like to add a few more to my 'follow' list, especially since I plan to clean up my list a little bit.

Although I spent a lot of time with the appropriate windows up and open, I probably only spent about 4 hours today actually working on Bloggiesta. But, I'm staying up a little later tonight than is wise to get a little more done, and I plan to be much more successful tomorrow. How did your first day go?

I'm really excited to be participating in Bloggiesta this year. The last Bloggiesta happened June of 2010, right after I started my blog. Although it looked like a lot of fun/really cool, it also seemed like it would be a little overwhelming to do Bloggiesta and be a brand new blogger. So, I hovered and stalked but didn't participate.

This year, however, I plan to participate fully! I have a lot of things that I would like to get done, more than I expect I will actually able to accomplish. However, I want to make it a priority to mark off at least half of my to-do list, something that I generally say I will do, but rarely, actually, do.

So, what do I want to do? Well, I'm glad you asked! I want to:

• Get caught up on reviews. I used to write reviews right after I finished the book. Now, I don't write the review until I'm ready to post it. Idealistically, I'd like to get completely caught up. Realistically, I'd like to write/schedule at least 9 reviews.
• Write up advance Memory Monday posts — at least 3.
• Memory Monday Guest Bloggers —
• Fairy Tale Fortnight! Work out reviews, button formatting, etc.
• A button for Memory Monday, and for my blog (finally...)
• Update all my pages, especially the Review Archive and Review Policy.
• Make sure my Goodreads reviews are up to date with my blog reviews.
• Clear out the blogs I follow — Meaning — Visit every blog I follow and read 5-7 posts well. Leave comments, interact etc. If I can't figure out why I'm following them — stop.
• Visit more blogs, and follow new blogs that I know I'm going to like better/more.
• Work out some ideas I've been having for discussion topics into actual posts.
• Explore the 'You might also like these posts' feature.
• Finish reading at least one of the three books I'm currently reading (so I don't feel guilty taking away blogging time by reading...)