3/30/12

Bloggiesta! (in which I share my Goals for the weekend, and also one of my major Failings)

So I've already posted my very own first ever mini-challenge, and now, as Bloggiesta gets going (here's the starting line), I'm going to set to work on my blog.

My goals:

1. graze through the various mini-challenges, both the old (at There's a Book) and the new (at It's All About Books). I'm especially intrigued by the Pinterest Challenge, and especially determined to intelligently follow April's SEO advice.

2. Tidy my links

3. Expand my fairy tale retelling page to include retellings of myths; possibly create one or two new pages (ghosts and fantastical schools come to mind).

4. Write four reviews to have on hand, of 1 overdue library book, 2 ARCs that came out in March, and 1 ARC I've promised to pass on to a friend (waves to Doret), and finish a portmanteau post on fantasy cats. I checked to make sure that portmanteau was a suitable word, and although I'm stretching it a bit, I think I have a case: from wikipedia--in linguistics, a portmanteau is defined as a single morph (aka post) which represents two or more morphemes (aka book reviewlets).

5. Find the unfinished book that I lost somewhere in the house (I hope--surely I wouldn't have left it in the Boston Children's Museum which is where I was reading it last...). Sigh.

6. Add a few more reviews to Amazon and goodreads (I hate giving stars, so I don't to this much, but there are some books I know are five stars that I can cheerfully add)

7. Make sure that I've emailed the publishers who have sent me books that I've reviewed. I find this challenging, in much the same way I found it challenging to hand papers in on time in college. Sometimes all goes well--I write a cogent, pithy gem of a post saying how much I love a book, and am so happy to have loved it that I whisk the link off to the publisher tout suite. This has happened at least once.

But other times, I am utterly loathe to email off that link, knowing there are probably typos and egregious errors (possibly including the name of the author or the main character), and that even if there aren't, it's clear I didn't really love the book as much as they maybe hoped I would and so it's not a nice thing to send. So I wait a bit, to see if I catch the typos, and then maybe I remember a few days later to send the link, but no-one has commented on the review, which might make the publisher sad, and at any event by then I've lost the piece of paper that came with the book, and possibly passed the ARC on to my local librarian, and my email address book lists three different people for the publisher, and I dunno which of them is still there, and all is just a disaster. (I'm exaggerating a bit, but still). Of course, when I've accepted an email request, I at least have that email, which solves one problem.

8. Create a domestic atmosphere more conducive for reading and blogging by thoroughly cleaning the house (see Goal 5) and getting the garden completely ready for spring. Build stone retaining wall and put up stockade fence to keep loud neighbors from bothering me while I try to read and blog.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, this is an impressive to-do list. Especially building that stone retaining wall. I hope three days is enough!

    :)

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  2. LOL I love number 8! Like Janice said, this is a pretty impressive list. I hope you get to accomplish everything this weekend. :P

    Happy Bloggiesta!

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  3. These are big goals! Good luck!

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  4. Your #7 sounds awfully familiar. Thankfully, most of my publisher interactions are through NetGalley. I don't feel quite as awkward sending in a potentially error-ridden thing with no comments when there's a nice buffer system in place.

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    1. NetGalley is the one thing that makes me maybe want an ereader...

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  5. I SO agree with a clean house is necessary for a clear blogging atmosphere! If the house is messy then my mind is messy. I hate cleaning more than anything, but it needs done to keep me sane. Good luck on your list!

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  6. I particularly like Goal 8. That's what's always on my list for the weekend, too.

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  7. I think this may be the most entertaining list I've read yet :)Have a wonderful weekend (even if it does involve a little cleaning)!

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  8. It's SNOWING today, so I'm re-evaluating the outdoor component of Goal 8...

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  9. These are admirable goals. I wish you good luck especially on creating the atmosphere you need! Always tricky!

    Buona fortuna!

    I'm Bloggista-ing all weekend! I love to have old and new blogging friends stop by and say hello!

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  10. Love your list! Especially love the "reading environment". When my desk is clean I'm always so much more productive. So I completely understand. Thanks for hosting your mini-challenge as well! Good luck and thanks for joining in Bloggiesta!

    Stumped or need more to-do for Bloggiesta? Check out the New Mini-Challenges and the Past Mini-Challenges to find more!

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  11. I worry about errors in my reviews as well! WOWZERS! :)

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  12. Great list, how are you doing with accomplishing your goals? I need to find a better way to organize my review requests follow-up log. I often find myself search my sent emails to see if I did email the publisher. Sometimes I just don't remember. I guess this is something else for me to add to my list! Have a great Sunday!

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  13. I love your list! Especially love that cleaning is on there ;) Happy last day of bloggiestaing!

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  14. I have, as yet, not sent emails with my review links unless I got an email from them. Trying to remedy this, but not having much luck :)

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