Mini Bloggiesta! ~ January 13th - 15th

Hey there! It's Bloggiesta time again! I think I might have missed the last one, but I'm back this round. 

I love Bloggiesta because it makes me sit down and do some blogging maintenance that I would normally put off doing. Okay, I'm a procrastinator. So, this is perfect! I've made a list of my goals below, and hope to update them as I finish each one. 

• Update my 2016 Reading Challenge Page. - Completed
• Remove my  2016 Reading Challenge Progress Bars on the sidebar. - Completed
• Figure out what my new challenge for 2017 will be, and make a new page and progress bars. - Completed
• Write a rough draft of a review.
• Participate in the Twitter chat. - Missed/Fail
• Visit other Bloggiesta participants and leave comments. - I've commented on more than half.
• Update List of Review page. - Completed
• Work on Guest Post. - Completed

Well, that's it so far. Sometimes I'll add to it when I get ideas from other participants. Plus, past Mini-Challenges are always a good place to learn and get new ideas! Check it out!

Sign-ups are here if you want to join!

Mini-Bloggiesta! ~ June 18-19

Hey, Everyone! Mini-Bloggiesta is happening this weekend! I really wanted to do this, and I was going to do a little prepping during the week to get ready, but unfortunately my dog got very sick. After two visits to the vet, she seems to be doing better. 

Here's what I hope to accomplish this weekend: 

• Update my reading challenge page and progress bars. - completed
• Update my 'List of Reviews' page. - completed
• Write two reviews. 
• Work on a guest post. - completed
• Clean off my desk. - not perfect, but much better! 
• Clean up my email. - completed! Whew! How does that build up sooo much? 

Unfortunately, I can't join the Twitter chat because that time slot doesn't work for me.

That's it for now. Fingers crossed I get through my list! 

It's not too late to join! It's a great way to get those jobs you've been procrastinating done!  Need some help or ideas? Check out this list of past Mini-Challenges.

Mini Bloggiesta ~ January 16 - 17

Yes! Bloggiesta is happening this weekend! I love this event! I'm a procrastinator, and Bloggiesta is a fantastic way to motivate me and keep me accountable! Plus, I always learn something new and have fun! 



It's the beginning of a new year, and I have some blogging housekeeping to do (some of which I've been putting off for a long time)! Here's a list of what I hope to accomplish:

• Clean out my blogging stuff and book cover folders
• Make a 2016 reading challenge page.
• Make some progress bars for my challenges.
• Clean up my sidebar.
• Visit other Bloggiesta participants and leave comments. I've visited about a dozen, and hope to visit more.
• Check out the new Mini-challenges! - I've checked out all the new mini-challenges and they all seem good. The one that spoke to me the most is Bullet Journaling by Emily Reads Everything. I'm going to get a blank journal and give it a try.
• Update "List of Review" page. 

So far that's it. If I get done with this list, I might work on a review. Sadly, the Twitter chat is happening at a time I can't attend. Those are always fun - you should go if you can! 

Are you doing the Bloggiesta?

Mini Bloggiesta ~ June 2015

Hey, Everyone! This weekend there's a Mini Bloggiesta going on! What's a Bloggiesta you ask?? It's a time set aside to work on your blog. Whatever that may be; general maintenance, adding a new gadget, learning a new technique, or just catching up on reviews. You get the added support of fellow bloggers who are there cheering you on and answering questions on twitter @Bloggiesta #Bloggista. To sign up click here. 

If you are new to blogging, or want to start a blog and don't know what to do, this is a great place to start! 

There are some great resources for bloggers at the Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge page. 


For this Mini Bloggiesta, I have a short list:

• Change links and button for Dystopia Reading Challenge. (A new host, Cornerfold, took over for Blog of Erised.) ~ Worked on this earlier this morning.
• Work on 2 reviews. ~ Finished one. :/
• put together guest post.  ~ Finished! 
• catch last half of Twitter chat. ~ Didn't make it home in time. :(
• cheer on fellow Bloggiesta participants! ~ commented on about 10 or more blog posts. :)

There it is! A short list for a short weekend! But I'll be happy if I get it all done! ;) I'll update this list as I complete a task. 

That's my plan for the weekend. Do you have any plans? 

Bloggiesta! ~ March 23 - 29, 2015

Hey! It's Bloggiesta time again! Woot! **throws confetti**

Bloggiesta is one of my favorite events to participate in. It motivates me to clean up my blog, get caught up, and learn new blogging techniques! 

I've been in such a reading/blogging slump the past couple of months I was really thinking about skipping the Bloggiesta this time. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought this could help pull me through and get me going again! My list is going to be on the lighter side, because my Spring Break doesn't start until next week, so I'm not going to have a lot of time to work on it.



Here's what I hope to get done:

• Write 2 reviews. ~ One down!
• Re-post reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. ~ Complete!
• Update my List of Reviews. ~ Complete!
• Organize my TBR list - I may not follow it, but I feel like I need a direction! :) ~ Complete! I have a direction now! =)
• Work on some new Mini-Challenges. - These new challenges look great! ~ I read through a few of these challenges, and I'm going to brainstorm, and try to create a list of blog post ideas with MsBookish. Simplify my blogging process with On a Book Bender.
• Comment on Bloggiesta posts. ~ I've commented on quite a few! 
• Hit a twitter chat if I can. ~ so far I've hit two twitter chats! 
• Change blog template. ~ Complete!
• Make new Blog Header. ~ Complete!

I will update this list as I complete it, and I will let you know what challenges I decide to do.

Wow! I feel great about all that I got accomplished this Bloggiesta! I did more than I thought I would, and I LOVE my new blog design! Happy Day! 

If you'd like to join the Bloggiesta, there's still time! Here's the link to the Bloggiesta Sign Ups!

Are you doing the Bloggiesta? What's on your list? If you're not doing Bloggiesta, is there anything you need to get organized?

Mini-Bloggiesta! ~ Jan 17-19, 2015

Yay! **throws confetti** It's Bloggiesta time again! Time to work on the blog with my fellow bloggers! 

What I like best about Bloggiesta is that I set aside time to do maintenance on my blog, get caught up on reviews, chat with other bloggers, and learn new things! The mini-challenges are always informative and fun!

If you would like to join us, please do! Sign-ups are here. You can also find a fantastic list of past mini-challenges here. If you don't find what you're looking for there, just ask - #bloggiesta on twitter!



Here what I hope to get done:

• Write a 2014 Reading Challenges Wrap-up post. ~ Completed!
• Start 2015 Reading Challenges page and write a post. ~ Completed!
• Write two book reviews.~ I completed 1 review.
• Clean up my sidebar. ~ Completed!
• Do at least one of the new mini-challenges. ~ Complete! check out the Piktochart I made by doing A Touch of Book Madness's mini-challenge! Thank you! 
• Check out other participants Bloggiesta posts. ~ I did comment on a few posts. :)

As I work through my list I will update on this page.

If I get all this done, it will feel great! =)

Are you participating in the Bloggiesta? If so, leave a comment, and I'll try to stop by to see what you're doing!   

Bloggiesta!

Hey Everyone! I'm late for the party, but I'm here! It's Bloggiesta time! (skip down to computer picture if you don't want to read about what's going on in my life. :))

I truly didn't intend on participating this time as I had other plans for the weekend, but after a busy and stressful week I decided to stay home! 

Since the beginning of the new school year, my reading time has fallen dramatically. I am only homeschooling one this year - the other has started going to school (high school). So, I've added a lot of driving to my schedule, which I do not like...well, if I were the only one on the road I wouldn't mind so much! ;) I've also come to realize, it's the getting up early that's cut into my reading time more than anything. I usually only read at night, and well, staying up late is a thing of the past! :( As a result my reading and blogging has slowed down.

But there's more... I've had this crazy desire to learn lately, and I'm doing quite a few online classes. Algebra with Khan Academy (to keep up with my high schooler), Code Academy (to learn code), and starting soon, a Shakespeare course and Writing Fiction course with FutureLearn. Oh, and I'm doing a Bible Study at church. 

Plus, I sew...or I used to. I've been itching to work on a couple of sewing projects. I have a really cute 1940s Retro shirt to make for myself, some flannel PJ bottoms for my kids, a messenger bag...

What does this have to do with the Bloggiesta, you ask? Well nothing, I just wanted to vent a little... and to say why my to-do list is so short.

Ready to start blogging! (pic staged, usually much messier!)

Back to the Bloggiesta!

Here is my short list:

• write at least one review. - Woot! Completed and scheduled! 
• combine my 2014 reading challenge pages into one. - Completed! 
• try to do one mini-challenge. - read through almost all of them. 
• twitter chats - jumped into one briefly yesterday. - I was only able to make the one on Friday, but just briefly.

As I get stuff completed, I will update on this page. :) 

How am I ever going to find time to do everything??  

Did I mention that I also joined a gym last month? Lol!

What about you? Do you have time for this?   (I'm hearing "Ain't nobody got time for that" playing in my mind! ;)) 

Click here to join us!! It's not too late! 

Oh, and blogger seems to be giving me problems today with the placement of my pictures!! Nice.

Mini Bloggiesta!!! ~ July 2014

 Hey! It's that time again! Bloggiesta!! Time to clean up your blog, and learn some new things! =)

So, this weekend, July 19 and 20th, it's happening! I've tried to keep my calendar cleared for this, but something always seems to come up. But for the most part, I will be working away on my To Do list all weekend! 



Here's what I hope to get done:

• Write at least 2 reviews. - I liked Work Lily's 2012 mini-challenge. Completed! Woot! They are scheduled and ready to go. 
•  Figure out how to use Evernote - past mini-challenge at Joy's Book Blog and Tif Talks Books.
• Comment on other Bloggiesta participant posts.
• Check out the new mini-challenges.
• I've already read through Stormy's Time Management mini-challenge at Book.Blog.Bake, and downloaded the Pomotodo app. I will use this over the weekend and see how it works! I like the idea of this, but after the first day I kept forgetting to use it. I will keep trying. :)
• Work on questions for a guest post on Austenesque Reviews. Answered questionnaire, ready to send off. 
• Twitter chat. Was able to participate in the first 30 minutes of chat!

What I have been working on since the last Bloggiesta:

• I finally put together a page listing all my reviews in alphabetical order.
• Figured out how to LinkWithin to work on my blog. I was going to ask questions about this during this Bloggiesta, but I figured it out by myself! :) The problem was with Safari. After I had updated to Maverick, I noticed I was having problems with a few things on blogger. I started using google chrome and now programs like LinkWithin will work! 

Shout out:

I want to do a shout out to Grammarly support! I love Grammarly and run most of my reviews through it. Recently I was having trouble getting into the editor page. I kept getting an error message. After waiting a day, I emailed customer support. I received a reply in 5 minutes! From a person!! She asked me some questions about my problem and asked for a screen shot of the page. I returned her email, and about 20 minutes later she replied back telling me others were getting the same message, and they were going to work on it. About an hour later, I checked and Grammarly was working again! The same tech emailed me the next day to make sure everything was working properly. I am extremely impressed! That never seems to happen now-a-days! 

Okay! That's it for now! If you would like to join us hop over to Bloggiesta, check out the mini-challenges and linkup your blog! 

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear from you!

  

Bloggiesta ~ March 27th - 30th

It's that time again! Bloggiesta time! Time to do some maintenance on my blog and learn a few new things! :)

For those of you who don't know, Bloggiesta is a time when bloggers come together (online, of course!), and work on their blogs. There are mini-challenges and tweet chats that you can participate in that will help you with some behind the scenes maintenance, or just encourage you to get those blog projects done that you have been procrastinating! For more details click here. 

My plan this weekend is to do the mini-challenge I wanted to do last time but didn't. Plus, get a few other things done. 

Here's my list:

• How to Create an Image Map by A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall (from the mini-Bloggiesta in January) Didn't do this. I couldn't get my mind to focus on it. (see below for full explanation)
• How to Tackle Google+  by Amanda Shofner (I totally need this!)
• Write two reviews.
• Check out the other mini-challenges - I'll let you know if I do any of them!
• Participate in two of the twitter chats. I only participated in one twitter chat.
• Comment on other Bloggiesta participants blogs. I don't have a count, but I did get to more than a few.
• Update my blog roll.
• Make social media icon buttons. I followed this youtube video by Blogaholic Designs

That's what I have so far. I'm not sure how much time I will actually have this weekend, but hopefully I can get a lot done!  I'll update my progress as I get done. 

Thank you to @SueySays and those who are hosting a mini-challenge! You are awesome!

Want to join us? Hop over to Bloggiesta and sign up! 

Here's an update to my weekend: Unfortunately, I didn't get as much done as I hoped. I had a few unexpected surprises that got in the way of the productive Bloggiesta that I had hope to have. 

Thursday started out well and I was able to attend Amanda's How to tackle Google + hangout video, which was very good. I also visited and commented on a few Bloggiesta participants blog posts.

Friday didn't go so well, after spending three hours at the hair salon where my hair-dresser put way too many highlights in and now my hair is too blond (not what I wanted), I came home, fixed dinner and started to work on my blog stuff. That's when I experienced my first earthquake. Ever. Starting with one foreshock, then an hour later with a nice 5.1 earthquake that lasted about 20 seconds, with many aftershocks that spread into Saturday night. (I also felt one Sunday morning.) Needless to say it was a nerve-racking weekend for me, and I spent more time watching the news and learning about earthquake preparedness than working on blog stuff. But I did manage to get a few things done (see list above)! I really like the social media buttons I added! 

I also had unexpected company when my daughter came for a visit. That's always nice!

I hope you all had a better weekend! 

Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: The B-Word: Branding

Hey Everyone! Okay, I've completed my first mini-challenge of the weekend. Hosted by Amanda at On a Book Bender this challenge is about The B-Word: Branding.

Here are my answers to the questions:

Your name:

1. How well does your blog name reflect what your blog is about? Ugh... that's another story. Needless to say, I didn't put much thought into it. That's something I'd like to change, but for now I'm sticking with it! 
2. Create a tagline. Because I knew I needed a better blog name, shortly after starting my blog I added "so much to read!" 
3. Look at the name you use to leave comments. Change it to reflect your brand. This is something I just change because of this mini-challenge. I changed to Candy @ So little time.... 

Your appearance:

1. Do you have the same profile picture on all social networks (including your blog)? I did, but I recently changed my twitter pic. So, now it's different. :/
2. Is the picture of you or an avatar? It’s of me. 

Your personality (or “feel”)

1. What do people expect from YOUR blog? I think, for the most part, they expect it to be about books. The interesting thing I have found is that most of my follower are Janeites and if I post anything not relating to Jane Austen I don’t get much traffic. This is something I want to change. I do read and review other types of books. 

Self-promotion:

1. Look at your Twitter timeline. What’s the ratio between interacting with people and self-promoting tweets? I try to keep it balanced, but I know sometimes it can be a little heavy with self-promoting. Something to work on.
2. Write a social media update about your latest post (or your latest FAVORITE post) that teases and gives people a reason to click through. This one I’m not good at and I really need to work on. Here's the one I did for this challenge: 

Soak in a hot tub & read a good book w/ this #GIVEAWAY pkg! So little time...: Snow Fence Road by @ PhyllisRing http://candy-m.blogspot.com/2014/01/snow-fence-road-by-phyllis-edgerly-ring.html?spref=tw …

There you have it! If you want to do this challenge, go to On a Book Bender and for the rest of the Mini-Challenges head to Bloggiesta! 

As always, any thoughts? I'd love to hear from you! 

It's Bloggiesta time!!!

YES! It's Bloggiesta time, and I'm actually going to be home this weekend so I can participate! Woot!

I love participating in the Bloggiesta. It's a fantastic time to spruce up your blog! If there is something you've always wanted to do on your blog, but don't know how, this is a great place to learn. Ask your question during the tweet chats using #Bloggiesta hash tag. 

Here is my to-do list:

• Write two book reviews. - √  completed  almost completed second. 
• Update my review policy. Looked it over and decided not to change anything. 
• Do at least two mini challenges. - completed The B-Word: Branding and Back to the Basics. Still want to do How to Create an Image Map and I wouldn't mind learning more about Facing Your Edelweiss Fears! 
• Participate in at least one Twitter chat. √ completed
• Look through past mini challenge list for inspiration. 
• Comment on other Bloggiesta participants blogs. I've commented on more than a few blogs, but not all, because, WOW, there are so many! Fantastic!

That's my list for now. I'll be updating it during the weekend as I accomplish my tasks! 

Update: It's late Sunday night and I'm calling it quits. I thought I was finished with my second review, but it still needs some work. Other than that, and looking through past mini-challenge list, I feel good about my Bloggiesta weekend! 

Thank you to @SueySays and the #Bloggiesta crew! 

Hop over to Bloggiesta and sign up!  

Bloggiesta!

Hi everyone! This weekend I've been participating in the Bloggiesta! 

This is the first time I've joined in on the fun, and I'm late posting my list. So, instead of posting what I hope to get done, I'll post what I have accomplished.

1. I found my "follow me on twitter" button wasn't working. I fixed that.

2. I made a blog button for my blog. I made two actually. I have one up. 

 
Which one do you like?









Update! I wrote a code to grab my button with the help of Snap! Creativity at Your fingertips. VERY clear instructions!


3. I wrote a couple of blog posts.

4. I moved my google reader to bloglovin. So far I'm lovin it!! I was able to move my WP blog list over, too. Now I have all the blogs I follow in one spot! Yippee! Thanks to The Picky Girl's Mini-Challenge.


Still need to finish:

• Work on an About Me page.
• Possibly work on a new banner.
• Thinking about making a "Blogs I Love" page.
• Posting a "My Star Rating System" page.

I think that's it! I've learned a lot, and I've had fun doing it!