Bloggiesta Starting Line!

IT'S TIME TO FIESTA!

Welcome to the starting line for Bloggiesta... the blogging party led by our fearless mascot PEDRO (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize.) and created several years ago by Natasha from Maw Books Blog (who is enjoying a brand new baby girl at her house!) The idea behind Bloggiesta is to keep Pedro happy by spending these next three days working on perfecting your blog and connecting with other bloggers doing the same thing.

HOW TO PARTY

• Bloggiesta begins now and runs through Sunday night... wherever you are. We don't have specific starting and ending times.... just Friday March 30 through Sunday April 1... wherever and whenever you are in the world!

• Plan to spend as much time as you can working on your to do list and completing mini challenges. Don't worry about having the entire three days to devout to this, but do challenge yourself to put in some good hours to the project.

• To let us know you are here and officially participating please sign the Mr. Linky below with a link to your BLOGGIESTA TO DO LIST which you should post on your blog. If you have already done this post... just link to it now. If you have yet to write up your list... do it today and link to it. Please, do not use a link to your blog in general... but to your specific TO DO LIST post! We want people to be able to easily find your Bloggiesta plans.

• We would also like it if you would add your Twitter handle to your link so we can all easily find you there!

• We have two grand prize packs from Walden Pond Press and Candlwick Press which you will be eligible for by just participating. We will pick random winners from the wrap up/summary links once the weekend is over.

Prizes:

Candlewick Judy Moody Prize Pack (Includes all of the following):

An extra-large Judy Moody T-shirt

A pink boa

Pink sunglasses

1 copy of Judy Moody: Twice as Moody (which includes book 1 & 2 in the Judy Moody series) 

1 copy of book #9: Judy Moody Detective

Candlewick on Twitter, Facebook and Website

Walden Pond Press prize pack (Includes all of the following):

Neversink by Barry Wolverton hardcover

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander hardcover

The Fourth Stall, Part II by Chris Rylander hardcover

Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky hardcover

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu hardcover

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy ARC

Walden Pond Press on Twitter, Facebook, Blog

• Late comers are welcome to join in the fun! Just sign up below with your Bloggiesta post!

• Feel free to update your progress any way you see fit. You can just cross things off your list, or write a couple of update posts. We will have a Finish Line Post link up here on Sunday for anyone wishing to link up their summary posts (or crossed off lists.) We will pick two random winners from this list for the above mentioned prizes.

HOW TO CONNECT

• Much of our connection with each other will be happening on Twitter. Be sure to follow @Bloggiesta and the hashtag #bloggiesta.

• For fellow participants who are on Twitter, we've created this Twitter list. If you are participating but aren't on here... that means I was unable to find your Twitter handle on your blog! So let us know by commenting here, or sending me (@SueySays ) or @Bloggiesta or @the1stdaughter a message and we'll get you on the list. If you subscribe to the list, you'll easily be able to see what all the participants are tweeting.

• Also, plan to do lots of blog hopping by clicking on participants links found below on the Mr. Linky. Send lots of encouragement everyone's way and help out with your expertise on all bloggish things!

• A new addition this year will be three different scheduled Twitter parties! Be sure to attend a least one of them... but better yet, come to all three! Use TweetChat.com to follow the conversation (and it puts the hashtag in for you automatically!) and see what everyone is up to. Those times are:

Friday night at 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)

Saturday afternoon at 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)

Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)

• Be sure to participate in as many mini challenges as you can! The new ones are listed on this post here on my blog, and the flashback challenges are listed on this post over at There's a Book. Give our awesome challenge hosts lots of link love and ask them lots of questions!

I think that's it! It's time to go ahead and link up your starting Bloggiesta posts below like this:

"Your Name" from "Your Blog Name" (your Twitter name)

For example, mine would look like: Suey from It's All About Books (@SueySays). And remember, plug in the URL that links up to your to do list, whether you've already posted it, or are just posting it today.

Now... GET TO WORK!!! (And don't forget to break out the salsa and blast some music!)

Bloggiesta: A Master List of New Mini Challenges

One of the best things about Bloggiesta are those awesome bloggers who are willing to put together a post teaching us about something that either they are experts in or feel passionate about. So in addition to your own To Do List plans, please check out these Bloggiesta Mini Challenges and let's show them love by doing a bunch of their challenges and commenting and asking them questions! Many of them will be hosting their own prize giveaways, and rules for entering those will be on their own blogs.

I know they've all work extremely hard on these posts, so go and do!  And learn a ton from them!

Bloggiesta Mini Challenges

• Have you ever thought about making a Facebook page for your blog? Liza from Sockets and Lightbulbs (@brightcdns) has a challenge on How to Promote Your Blog Using Facebook. Now's the time!

• Does Mr. Linky make you scratch your head in confusion? Kelly from The Book Butcher (@TheBookButcher) will solve all those mysteries in her post:  A Mr. Linky Tutorial. No more excuses on staying away from this cool feature.

• Do you have any idea what HTML even means? Would you love to learn a little about this computer code? Then be sure to check out The Top Ten of HTML Basics brought to you by Pam at Bookalicio.us. (@BookaliciousPam)

• You know when you embed a YouTube video and it hangs over your sidebar, or your blog post? It's too darn big! Now you can learn how to fix that in this post How To Embed a YouTube Video from Yiota from Splash of Our Worlds (@SplashOOWorlds)

• It's time to get organized and draw more readers to your blog with Charlotte from Charotte's Library (@charlotteslib) as she teaches us how to make Themed Pages on our blogs.

• My guess is that by now, everyone's heard of Pinterest. But did you know it can be for more than just recipes and craft projects?  Joy from Joy's Book Blog (@joyweesemoll) tells you all about how to use Pinterest to Promote Your Blog in this fun post. 

• We can never talk enough about commenting. Let's learn more about it... specifically How to Build Readers for Your Blog Through Commenting, a mini challenge found over at Sheila's from Book Journey (@bookjourney). 

• To Twitter or not to Twitter... that is the question. Katie from Katie's Book Blog (@katiesbookblog) has the answer in this Twitter and Your Blog mini challenge.

• How about those reviews? Can we make them even better? In this post, Jessica from The Bluestocking Society (@thebluestocking) teaches us Five Ways to Make Your Reviews Stand Out. 

• Need a new way to actually compose your posts? How about giving Windows Live Writer a try. Jacinda of The Reading Housewives of Indiana (@ReadingWifeJac) will show you what that's all about in this mini challenge: What is Windows Live Writer and How Can it Help You?

• The time has come for you to learn all about SEO! Check out this mini challenge Get Noticed by Search Engines brought to you by April from Good Books and Good Wine (@booksandwine)

• How are your sidebars looking? Are they too cluttered? Are they too boring? Head on over to visit Penelope at The Reading Fever (@ReadingFever) for answers in this challenge: Sidebar Help: What DoYou Really Need!

• Are you spending too much time on reviews? In this challenge, Melanie from Melanie's Musings (@MelanieFoust) gives you Five Tips to Write Reviews Faster

• Are you feeling in a bit of a blog fog? Well, languish no longer! Emily from Emily's Reading Room (@emsreadingroom) has Eight Ways to Freshen Up Your Content!

• It's a perfect time during this Bloggiesta to get mobile! Learn how to do that with Florinda from The 3 R's Blog (@florinda_3rs) and her challenge: Mobilize!

• Make sure people can connect with you at all your online places. A fun way to do that is to add those cute social media icons to your page. Lisa from Adventures of 2.0 (@TwoPointOhMy) has a Social Media Icon Tutorial going on for her Bloggiesta challenge.

• If you have a WordPress blog and you need to learn more about plug-ins and widgets, then Jenni from Jenni Elyse (@Jenni_Elyse) and her challenge Plug-ins for WordPress Sites is where you'll want to be.

• Here's a challenge by Janicu from Janicu's Book Blog (@janicu) that will have you getting your Goodreads account in perfect shape... or getting started there if you've been pondering it and just haven't jumped in quite yet: Goodreads Challenge.

• There's a brand new (at least to me!) tool out there that makes giveaways really easy.  If you want to learn more about this feature, be sure to check out this challenge What is Rafflecopter?  by Julie from The Competitive Bibliomaniac. (@bambbles)

• Kai from Fiction State of Mind (@YogiKai) has a mini challenge about some different blog events and challenges you can find around the book blogosphere. It's time to get involved and meet people!

• What about review and contest policies? Do you have them? If not, Enna Isilee from Squeaky Books (@Enna_Isilee) will teach you all about how to write them over at her challenge: Policies.

• The Book Vixen (@TheBookVixen) as added one more mini challenge to the list with a refresher course on how to back up your blog. Check it out here: Mini Challenge: Back Up Your Blog.

We still have a few more challenges that will be posted a little later today, so be sure to come back for updates! Remember, Bloggiesta doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but feel free to look over all these wonderful challenge posts and decide what you'd like to do and how you plan to get organized. As mentioned above, these bloggers have put in  A LOT of time on these posts, so show them lots of love!

And don't forget, there's still much to learn from past Bloggiesta challenges too! Danielle from There's a Book has all those listed on her blog today too. Be sure to check them out!

A starting line post will be here on this blog tomorrow where you can link up with your To Do List posts and let us know you are here and participating. So be sure to come back and link up!

Also, don't forget to add these scheduled Twitter Chats to your Bloggiesta calendar:


Friday night at 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)

Saturday afternoon at 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)

Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)




That's it for now! Have fun planning and we'll see you back here tomorrow for the official start to this crazy fun Bloggiesta event!

My Bloggiesta To Do List

Since I'll be posting other things once the actual Bloggiesta starts (the mini challenge list tomorrow, and the starting line link up on Friday!) I thought I'd go ahead and get my to do list down right here right now before things get too crazy and I forget what I wanted to do!

First of all, in case you missed it, Bloggiesta starts this Friday (first thing in the morning whenever that is for you!) and runs all weekend through Sunday night. It's an event where bloggers of all sorts get together and work on their blogs, talking and helping each other out along the way. (Through blog hopping and Twitter.... follow @bloggiesta and #bloggiesta to keep up with the conversations! If you are participating and have a Twitter account... be sure you are on the list here.) You can still sign up here... or you can just post your to do list, and sign up with that link here on Friday when the event starts.

So anyway, here's what I hope to work on during the Bloggiesta weekend:

1. Catch up on review links for Reviews by Title and Reviews by Author pages
2. Clean up labels... again. (Ugh, I think the worst blog task ever!)
3. Ponder my sidebar and what should stay and what should go.
4. Add social media icons. I don't know how! There's a challenge that will help I hope!
5. Figure out if there's something wrong with my LinkedWithin (ask an expert out there!) I think it works.. it just days it days to figure out like things to link to, so I'm not going to worry about it!
6. Clean up Google Reader... again (this is second to the labels in the yuck factor!)
7. Clean up email (is this a blog task? I say yes... close enough.)
8. Make sure all page tabs have up to date links.
9. Comment a lot and make new friends.
10. Complete several challenges and learn something new.
      -- Added my blog to be automatically updated to Twitter.
      -- Experimenting with Windows Live Writer.
      -- Learned about General Status Updates on Goodreads
       ---  I can make stars now for my reviews!
       -- I have commented 20 times... at least (actually much more) for the comment challenge!
11. Update the blog roll.

....and I'm sure there's tons more, but that's a start.

Remember... come back Thursday for a list of Bloggiesta Mini Challenges... the new ones. The past challenges will be listed over at There's a Book. Use them both to learn new things and get a pep talk on the things you may even already know how to do!

Then, come back on Friday to kick off Bloggiesta by linking to your To Do List to let us know you are here and playing.

Also, plan now to participate in at least one of our Twitter Parties! We'll be holding scheduled Bloggiesta Twitter chats during these three times:

Friday night at 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)
Saturday afternoon at 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)
Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern time (EDT)

Hopefully this allows most of you to have a chance to join us on Twitter at some point during Bloggiesta. Of course, Twitter connections will be ongoing, but we thought it would be fun to have some scheduled gatherings too.

Break out the chips and salsa! Let's do this thing!

Review: Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Book: Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: ****
For: Fun
From: The Library

I think it just has to be said right here that I need to read a Robin Hood rendition at least once a year. I guess this one can be it for this year! (Though I may need more than one!) I loved this take on the story, and was captivated from the get go. Awesome fun story.

So I think it's no spoiler that the twist  for this particular Robin Hood retelling is that Will Scarlet is actually a girl. Yes, and the whole merry band knows this and yes, they all seem to have a crush on her. But the REAL question is, who does she like the best? Robin or John? :)

Her past is a bit mysterious but is slowly revealed to us as the story goes on. And that's where the really interesting stuff starts happening. Ah, so fun! What is it about this story that gets me every time? The adventure? The romance? The swashbuckle? The boys? The villains? You know, of course, that it's all of it, and this story had all that.

In fact, it had a really familiar feeling to it because was much like the BBC show that I loved/love.  But then again, I probably just made it be that way in my head. These characters, however, were much younger. So that was interesting and different. But there was a Guy of Gisborne, and not all Robin Hood stories have him. And of course you know what I made him look like in my head:

But he was a real bad dude, and I'm not sure he's going to show any good side at all like the above one does now and then. And I say going to... because I'm quite certain there's more to come, and we haven't seen the last of any of them yet.

Well...so.... there's not much more to add besides the fact that this was a Robin Hood story and...

Bottom Line: I loved it!

Other Reviews:

Proud Book Nerd
The Story Girl
Emily's Reading Room

Top Ten Tuesday: Hooky Books

Today's prompt over at The Broke and the Bookish is... what books would you like to play hooky with? So, for me, this means what books suck me in so much that I don't want to do anything that I HAVE to do, those books that when I do go about my day, I can't stop thinking about, and I want to get back to them in a desperate way, those books that, while maybe don't have a high literary value (whatever that means) have a really awesome story value. (Sounds like a post subject for another day! Whew. Deep.) So, let's see what comes to mind!

Top Ten Books I Have or Would Play Hooky With
(in other words, some I've read and would have, some I haven't read and want to... and if that doesn't make sense to you, it's okay, we'll let it go for now!)

1.The Passage by Justin Cronin
2. The Twelve by Justin Cronin (coming out in October)
3. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
4. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (I know you are all getting sick of me listing this book and are thinking.... would you just read it ALREADY! Let me play hooky and I will!)
5. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins (of course!)
6. The Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer (you know you did and/or want to!)
7. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy (I've mentioned many times how when I read this book, I was totally absorbed. So much fun!)
8. The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye (I want so bad to read this one again to see if it consumes me now the way it did back then.)
9. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (I couldn't step away from this one!)
10. Anything by ______________ (you fill in the blank!)

So what books would you like to skip out on life for?

Review and Book Club Report: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks

Book: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
Genre: NF
Rating: **
For: Book Club
From: The Library

I think the book club, when deciding what books to choose from the book club set last year, was intrigued by the strange and funky title of this one... and so we voted it in! We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into!

This is a compilation of clinical stories about this particular doctor's experience helping neurological patients. The first story is about this music professor who suddenly can't see properly, in fact, things just seem to have disappeared for him, though he wasn't quite blind either. Anyway, one time, he thought his wife was his hat and tried to grab her head and put it on. Funny and sad. But he compensated for this loss by using his ears, and since he was so musical, he used music to also make it possible to see and function nearly normally. Interesting.

And so it goes from there, with several other stories about interesting cases where people have suffered really terrible brain problems and yet seem to overcome them and continue with life.

I found it to be okay reading, but got frustrated with the medical terms and yearned just for the stories. I kept thinking... if only he would have just written it like a story so it would "read like a novel"... but he didn't. We think that maybe they were never meant to be a book for the masses in the first place. I  have no idea.

Anyway, I managed to get through half of the book before deciding I'd had enough and needed to move onto other things... plus it was book club day and why keep reading it after book club was over?

I have nothing much to add from our book club discussion, which was actually really short. Everyone was on the same page with their thoughts which were basically these:

• too many medical terms, not enough story
• out dated, with way too many derogatory references to patients (the use of the words "retarded" and "defective" for instance)
• out dated as far as treatment options, we wondered what these patients would have for help today
• confusing all around, the terms and references to patients we hadn't met yet. 

However, as I said, it was quite interesting too!  And so...

Bottom line: I liked it okay.

Other Reviews from a couple of book clubbers:

Alternate Readality

The Bluestocking Society

The Sunday Salon: Exciting Week!

It's been a crazy fun week! And this next week promises to be the same! I love having tons to do and lots of stuff happening, don't you?

Outside my window: Nice out there today. Very nice. I should be out there breathing that air!

I am listening to: My Classic Rock Pandora station.. currently playing Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress.

Song of the week: This song keeps coming up on my Pandora and I really enjoy it. What do you think?








TV Talk: Oh my gosh, the people on Survivor are awful this go around! And I can't tell you how glad I am to see that Colton kid go! I mean, it was sad, and all, but still. However, I loved, LOVED, the Colton on American Idol this week, singing Piano Man. LOVED! 

READING REPORT:
Books Finished:  The Hollow City by Dan Wells (loved this one! But it doesn't come out until July so I'm going to have to wait a bit to tell you all about it!) and Promises by Carolyn Twede Frank ( also really enjoyed this one... review as part of a blog tour coming up next weekend!)
Books Started: Return to Exile by E.J. Patten

Books Up Next: Gosh, I have no idea what's going to win the battle of book stack! I'll let you know next week!

I am thinking: man, I have a lot to do!

I'm grateful for: music, family, books, movie premiers, chocolate, computers, blogging friends, and sleeping.

Around the house: nothing to report in this category. I need to sweep the floor, let's just say that!

Recipe of the Week: The Pinterest recipe of the week are these ginger/chocolate cookies, which actually were not as good as I expected... the look better in the picture! Then again, I could have just royally messed it up perhaps!

Source: marthastewart.com via Suey on Pinterest

Favorite things of the week: Hungers Games tops the week for sure! Beauty and the Beast the night before that was pretty fun too. Hanging out with my sister who was here for several days was also quite fun, though we got too tired, slept too much and ate too much! Another favorite thing was when Jenny come over and we talked Dan Wells, among other things, for an hour. :)

Family Matters: My two oldest kids went to the color festival this weekend. I saw picture on Facebook that sums it up:

Only I heard there were WAY more people there... more like 50,000. So far, I have yet to experience this phenomenon... maybe some day. 

Hunger Games was very fun with my family... two sisters pictured here in Jenni Elyse's photo

... and also with my daughter and my dad. Daughter pictured here with me and Jenni Elyse:

The coming week: BLOGGIESTA! Yes, it starts this week Friday through Sunday. Come and work on your bloggish business with us as much as you can those three days. Sign ups here. Be sure to follow @bloggiesta on Twitter and use the #bloggiesta hashtag to stay informed of what's going on. I plan to post New Bloggiesta Mini Challenges on Thursday, then the starting line up post with links to your to do lists on Friday.

Also this week I'll be participating on my first ever panel discussions... one at a BYU writing class about how blogging can help authors (on Wed)... and one at the library about how to get a blog going and find a community and get readers (on Thurs.) Fun, yes? Scary? For sure yes! I'll be freaking out, but I'll also be having a ton of fun talking to people about blogging and I can't wait!


Oh, and then there's cake decorating on Tuesday with the young girls in my church class. Maybe I'll take a picture for you all.


So basically I'd say the only day with something NOT happening will be tomorrow. Here's hoping for reading time at least on Monday! ETA: Scratch that.. I just remembered there's an orchestra concert tomorrow! So yep... every evening this week. Argh.

Blog Report: Weird, I reviewed two movies this week! John Carter and The Hunger Games. That was fun, I think I'll do official reviews of movies more often. Okay? Okay. I also reviewed some books... The Savage Grace as part of a blog tour (including the Author Picks Five post too!) and a couple of recent award winners: Where Things Come Back and Why We Broke Up.

Lots of stuff besides Bloggiesta coming up this week, I have to catch up on reviews and wow, so many things going on this week! Will you be sticking with me to see how it all shakes down? I hope so!

P.S. Did you notice a little change in my blog this weekend? It's a small thing, but it felt huge for me to change it! Two points goes to whoever can tell me what it is!!!