Bloggiesta Update (1)

Day 2 of Bloggiesta! 

Last night was amazing. I must've opened hundreds of tabs checking out new blogs, completing challenges, reading about new blog updates and software, writing reviews, etc. Such an invigorating senstation, and I love the feeling of being more organized and in control of my blog. This couldn't have come a better time in my blog "life". 


Onwards to the updating! 

          1. Finish my current novel / type the review
               I started reading Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper on Thursday and had planned on finishing it on Sunday but I couldn't seem to put it down. Such a wonderful novel about cerebral palsy. I'll write a review and post it on Monday once Bloggiesta is over. 


          2. Move my winter Waiting on Wednesday from my email to drafts
              Done! Earlier this week I planned out my Waiting on Wednesday novels from this most recent Wednesday till the end of March. Yesterday I made an individual blog post for each of them and saved them in my drafts. It feels great knowing I can just hit "send" every Wednesday!


          3. Post my Impulse review tomorrow
               Done! Scroll to the post below this update to find the review. I also sat down and planned that most of my reviews will be posted on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I really need to start getting into a routine with posting. 


          4. Make and upload a proper In My Mailbox video (ask for help this time)
               Not done. I'll tape this and upload it later this evening. I'm going to try on Photobucket instead of Youtube and see if the uploading doesn't eat up as much of my bandwidth. 


          5. Enter all the teen Goodreads ARC giveaways
Happily completed! I regularly check on the Goodreads Giveaway Page to check for new teen novels. Yesterday I entered for 15 YA novels. Fingers crossed I win one! 


          6. Start my Challenge update post for January
Not done. The last day of January I'd like to post an update on the challenges I've joined this year. I also want to join 2 new challenges so I might wait on making this post till after Bloggiesta is done. 


          7. Make my Goodreads profile public so followers can add me
               Done.....not really. I updated my profile but because I'm still under 18, Goodreads won't open up my profile for people to see my profile. However, if you'd like to add me as a friend, send me a message and say you're a follower of my blog. 


          8. Encourage voters on my book lists / ask for suggestion
              Not done. Planned for next week though! I'll be making a "list post" for one of the Bloggiesta challenges and will mention all my Goodreads lists. Stay tuned for this post probably on Thursday. 


          9. Find out if my Followers Map is counting repeat visits (eek!)
              Done! I checked my Followers Map (see sidebar) and my Blogger stats and made sure neither of them were counting repeat visits or myself. 


          10. Join at least one Bloggiesta / book blog forum
                 Done! I'm following the Bloggiesta hashtag on twitter, follow me to track my updates. I also joined 2 book blog forums: YA Blogosphere and Book Blogs Ning.


          11. Post about doing a "Q&A" asking for questions
                Not done. I've decided to save my "Q&A" segment for mid-February once Bloggiesta is done and I *hopefully* have more followers. 


          12. New poll in the sidebar
                Not done. Need a good idea for this one. I might save this one for Monday.


6.5/12 on the first night! Not bad! I also participated in a few mini-challenges from Bloggiesta headquarters:


          1. Set up an account with a StatsReader (Challenge Link)
               Done! I added The Zealous Reader to my Google Analytics account but am still waiting on the report. I also read the Blogger Stats and found out that most of my readers are from the USA and Canada, but I have a few from Europe and Asia as well. 


           2. Create a Gravatar (Challenge Link)

               Done! I had no idea what a Gravatar was and hadn't even really noticed that other people used them. After reading the post on how important they are for site advertising, I made one right away. Hopefully people will enjoy my bedazzled red antlers and head on over here!

           3. Grade Your Blog (Challenge Link)

               Done! I used a website grader to grade my blog and find out ways to improve. My grade was 23% but as new blogger after only 2 weeks of posting, I'm not that discouraged. It's better than nothing, and I can always improve. I'm looking forward to re-grading my website in 6 months to see how far I've come.

          4. Brainstorm Blogging Posts (Challenge Link)

               Done! This one was one of my favourite challenges. Sitting down to figure out where I want this blog to go, figure out the best options for blog posts, researching what other bloggers have done to entice readers, etc. was definitely an eye opener. I created a list of my ideas:

Woot! What a fantastic afternoon/night/morning so far! I'll post another update on Sunday afternoon with the next 24 hour's progress. Look for that post and my In My Mailbox post around noon!