29 March 2012

It's Bloggiesta! Ole!

Bloggiesta is hosted at It's All About Books
When I first started hearing about Bloggiesta on Twitter, I was intrigued, but ultimately decided, "My blog is pretty much brand new.  How much work could it possibly need?"  But the more I read other people's lists of things they wanted to do with their sites, the more I realized I should get a jump on those things now, before they're massively uncontrollable.  And so RRHS and I will be Bloggiesta-ing along with the best of them, and here is what we are I am hoping to accomplish:
  • Navigation: I spent a good hour-ish trying to get a pretty navigation bar up there *points up* above the header, and failed miserably at every attempt.  Eventually I just put a couple links over there *points over there* in the sidebar, but I didn't particularly like them there, so now they are gone.  But I am determined to whip that navigation bar into submission this weekend.  Or something less creepy. Did you see my pretty new navigation bar up there? *points up*  Did you, did you, did you?!?!
  • Review Archive: I didn't think this was something I would ever need or feature here on RRHS, but the more I visit other blogs that have one, the more thankful I am that it's there.  If I want someone's opinion on one particular book, it's so much easier to click a link and find all of their reviews sorted by title or author, versus having to search through pages of content or clouds full of labels to find what I'm looking for.
  • Challenges: Along with the review archive, I also want to make a page to keep progress of the challenges I have entered.  They are currently in the sidebar, but I feel like the space there could be better utilised if these things had their own page.
  • Fix Link Targets: My links kind of target randomly based on what kind of mood I was in when I wrote them.  Some sort of uniformity might be good, yeah?
  • Pimp my Profiles: I hate writing profiles and "about me" sections.  My profiles on the blog, Twitter, Goodreads, Netgalley, etc. need some work.
  • Finish Reviews: There are 3 or 4 reviews sitting half-written on my computer that I've been avoiding for a while because I don't want to think hard enough to finish them.  This weekend, I must think (what a bummer) and just finish them already.
  • Sort Through Sidebar: If there's one thing that bothers me, it's out of control sidebars.  I want to make sure that what needs to be there, is there, and what doesn't, well...isn't.
  • Write a Review Policy: I got my first review request recently, and it made me think it's time for one of these puppies to become part of the blog.
  • Pinterest For RRHS: I have a well-used Pinterest account for personal things, and after reading the mini-challenge for Bloggiesta, I want to Pinterest-ize the blog, too.
  • Update Old Reviews: As I was pinning my reviews, I noticed the older ones from my blogging stint last year are formatted differently than the new ones.  I like the new format better, so I want to update those old ones to match.
  • A Button. Or Something: Pretty buttons are fun.  Pretty custom button-somethings for weekly meme posts are even funner more fun.  Thus, I should maybe make some.  This one isn't really a priority, but if for some reason I finish everything else (ha!), this will keep me busy.
So now that I have this long list of things I need to get done, I'm going to bed!  Tomorrow, the ole-ing begins!  Good luck everyone!

**I apologize to anyone who is trying to comment and getting stuck/angry with word verification. Blogger apparently thinks it is important enough to keep turning it back on after I turn it off.  Hopefully it will stop doing this soon!**

16 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you decided to join us for Bloggiesta! My first bloggiesta event happened only two months after I started blogging and it was the best thing ever. I met a ton of new bloggers and had a blast! I hope you enjoy it and are able to get a lot done!

    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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  2. Good luck on getting it all done!! Pretty buttons are indeed fun, I have been playing with the social media icon buttons this afternoon.

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  3. Hello Michelle, we've been blogging for nearly two years now and I still think that this would be particularly useful on so many counts. I am pretty sure that this would be a great learning experience for all of us despite our different learning curves and level of participation. Looks like you've already made progress! Congratulations!

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  4. LOVE your list!! Everything you've got is going to really help your blog since your new-ish. You are totally on track.

    Love the pimp my profile! Ha! I spent some time on mine and I like it. It's easy to read and I like to formatting. I love About Me pages. I always want to know the blogger behind the blog. One of my favorite pages to check out.

    I'm also a sidebar fanatic! I have to keep it simple and clean or I get OCD about it all. I don't like clutter on the blog.

    Good luck with your list, you're going to do great!

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  5. Great goals! It took me awhile to get my About Me page under control. This is my second year participating in Bloggiesta and I found that it really helped me figure out what I needed to update on my blog. Best of luck!

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  6. I totally agree with you on the archives thing. I never thought I would need one, but with the amount of books I am reviewing - I think it might be essential.

    And I didn't think to update the profiles for all my social networking sites. *sigh* Looks like I have a lot more to do than I thought, lol. Thanks for the idea!

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  7. Wow, that is quite the to-do list! I am also planning on upgrading my Pinterest to use it for my blog as well, and to finish up some reviews. Good luck on your goals!:)

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  8. I'm toying with the idea of the button, too. It appeals to my creative side :) Have a great weekend!

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  9. It doesn't matter if you're "new", it's more that you have a good time and make some friends along the way. And you're right - definitely get on top of some of those things before it gets out of control!

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  10. You've done TONS already! YAY! I look in review archives all of the time. Especially if I'm wanting to link to another blogger's review in a review of mine :)

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  11. Isn't joining bloggiesta officially myself this time, but I am doing some of these hehe Have a good one!

    P/S I'm your new follower
    When She Reads

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  12. Now you have challenged me to try to organize my reviews a little more. Perhaps at the next Bloggiesta?

    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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  13. I think your blog is very cute! I love the colors and it has a nice 'feeling' to it :) Good luck with completing your last goals! I'm almost done with all my goals :D

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  14. Good luck on your Bloggiesta goals! It looks like you've already crossed a decent amount off your list. Love your new navigation bar. I also love your blog title and banner. Super cute!

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  15. You had a very awesome and detailed list! Go you! It also looks like you made some pretty good progress.

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  16. Looks like you're making great progress! It's such a good list. I feel like mine has gotten longer since I started reading the challenge posts.

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