Bloggiesta - Finish Line

Yes, I've made it! We've all made it to the finish line!

Before we start to sum up what we've done, I got some work done earlier. Hooray!

Start time: 4:32
End time: 6:50
Total time: 2 hours and 18 minutes

What I got done:

• Twitter & Goodread buttons
• Comment
• Wrote the Beautiful Creatures review
  

Plus...
5 hours and 25 minutes..

With a total of: 7 hours and 43 minutes!

Hooray! That may not seem like a lot, but for a first timer (whose weekend was actually very busy), it's not so bad! I'm actually proud of myself. :D

I ended up participating in only 1 mini-challenge, the one by Rebecca, in which I had to post up some Resolutions for 2010. And remember my list in the very beginning? Well, halfway through the weekend, Steff and I decided not to do any of them because we've technically got them already. At least I made progress on the base posts (the ones you see underneath the header when you click on them), which I spent most of my Bloggiesta time doing. Of course, I didn't get to do some other things, like Awards. I'm going to suffer because of that one...I still have a lot to post up. I'll make sure to do it some other time. I also commented a lot in other blogs, though maybe most of them don't participate in Bloggiesta...Still, it felt like a lot. Most of all, I got to visit new blogs!

I had fun doing Bloggiesta while listening to music, which was the idea that came from Kristen. I honestly don't know why that never came to me. And Kristen cheered me on, too! If you're reading this, Kristen, you're the best. :)

I'm looking forward for another one in June (yesss! Summer!) so I could get even more things done.

That's all...I'm so exhausted now. Back to homework and studying!

Update - Bloggiesta & Comment Challenge

Bloggiesta:

Start time: 2:13
End time: 4:17
Total: 2 hours and 4 minutes.

What I got done:

• A list of author blogs
• Set up templates
• Scheduled my remaining reviews

Other short working periods:
23 minutes. 9 minutes.
Total: 32 minutes.

So in total, so far, my Bloggiesta hours: 5 hours and 25 minutes.
It's not so bad, but at least I'm making progress!

Comment Challenge:

For this challenge, I list down the posts in which I commented for the day. I do it on paper...so, I'll just count the number of comments I did.

Saturday: 10 comments.
(I had to catch up since the challenge started on Friday.)

So far, so good. If you'd like to participate in this challenge, head on over to Comment Challenge 2010 and sign up here. It'll be fun!

And one more thing!
We are so close to 100 followers...that I can feel it already. Steff and I are (still) planning on a contest, but no doubt there will be one. We would just have to take a trip at the bookstore and list down some books. Hehe.

Anyway, thank you all so much! We appreciate you visiting us and taking the time to follow. You are all so very wonderful. Have a great day! :D

Bloggiesta - Mini Update

Starting Time: 1:35
End Time: 4:56
Total: 3 hours and 21 mins.

Consider that whole period for Friday.

The new and updated list:

• Schedule more posts*
• Set up templates
  
• Start getting ready for the upcoming contest (for 100 followers) *hint*
• Insert signatures in old posts*
• Post about awards given (there's around 4 bookmarked links)
• Start transferring reviews on Goodreads
• 2010 Resolutions (mini-challenge)
  
• Copyright (?)
• Top Commenters Widgets (?)
• Begin to approach authors (*deep breath*) Or, you know, just prepare...
  
• Base posts for series, challenges, awards, Steff's Blurbs, Justine's thoughts *
  
• About us page (?)
• List some interview questions *
• Make Goodreads and Twitter buttons*
• Enter more mini-challenges
• Create a motto (?)

Bloggiesta - New Years Resolutions

Let's start with creating resolutions for 2010 with the help of Rebecca.

• Reach a number of 100 books to read this year. So far, I'm doing terrible, with only one book finished. That doesn't mean I won't be catching up this summer. ;)
• Try to review each and every book I read, good or bad.
• Post more often. Maybe 4-5 a week. (Look out for more posts in the very near future. They're for Bloggiesta.)
• Interact with other bloggers by doing guest posts.
• Expand more in reviews and bring readers into the story and how I felt as I read through it.
• Have a pad of sticky-notes near when reading so I could take notes. That way, it'll be easier when it comes to reviewing.
• Include more about authors. Right now, I barely have anything on authors...except for the list of authors' sites in the sidebar. That's about it.

I'm hoping to stick to these resolutions. Some of it seem achievable, but some also require some guts to do...but I'll definitely give it a try.

Bloggiesta - My List

The following are the things I hope to get done during Bloggiesta...

• Schedule more posts*
• Set up templates*
  
• Start getting read for the upcoming contest (for 100 followers) *hint*
• Insert signatures in old posts
• Post about awards given (there's around 4 bookmarked links)
• Start transferring reviews on Goodreads
• 2010 Resolutions (mini-challenge)
  
• Copyright (?)
• Top Commenters Widgets (?)
• Begin to approach authors (*deep breath*)
• Base posts for series, challenges, awards, Steff's Blurbs, Justine's thoughts *
  
• About us page (?)
• Think of interview questions *

Added:

• Make Goodreads and Twitter buttons*
• Enter more challenges
• Create a motto (?)
  

* - Important
(?) - Maybe/maybe not

May add more :)

It's more calm and less stressful to listen to music while doing these things. I got the idea from Kristen at Bookworming in the 21st Century. Yay!

3...2...1... Bloggiesta!

Welcome to the 2nd Edition of Bloggiesta in which I, Justine, will be participating in while Steff chillaxes... Anyway, this is my very first time so we'll see how this goes.

First of all, if you don't know what Bloggiesta is, click here for the details. To participate, all you have to do is sign up here using Mr. Linky.

And this weekend will be focused on doing blog-related stuff such as:

• Write reviews.
• Write backup posts for a rainy day.
• Write that great post idea from three months back.
• Work on series posts.
• Write guest posts.
• Put out invitations for guest posts.
• Conduct and edit author interviews.
• Create template posts for your future reads (ie: title, images, linking, tags, etc,) so you can open up, write review and post without being bogged down with technicalities
• Clean up your tags, archives, books reviewed list, etc.
• Create a text file (or Google Doc) of cheat sheets (html codes, post url’s, etc)
• Improve your blog template, clean up sidebars, add a favicon, install those plugins that you’ve been meaning to do.
• Add or edit your about me page, review policy, disclosure policy, privacy policy, create landing pages (for example – an about me for Twitter readers page) or any other pages you might have.
• Any bloggy type housekeeping that you’ve been neglecting.
• Clean up and update your challenge lists. Link up your posts with hosts.
• Make sure all of your social network profiles are up to date. Brand yourself through those profiles with color scheme, images, etc.
• Go get a gravatar.
• Visit the Blogging Tips group on the Book Blogs Ning and find ways to improve your blog.
• Work on any specialized projects that you may have going.
• Clean out and organize your feed reader and blog subscriptions.
• Create an elevator pitch.
• Make business cards.
• Find a blogging buddy.
• The sky’s the limit!

There's a lot to do for me. (I've yet to create my list today...*sigh*) But I'm quite excited to get going! So off I start.... OLE!