BLOGGIESTA WRAP UP!

An annual event hosted by Natasha at Maw Books Blog, Bloggiesta was this past weekend where a group of bloggers were dedicated to doing all things blog-like and trying improve our blogs in the process. It was our first and it was fun! Here are some of our goals, accomplishments in RED. 

• Write Reviews - (Did 5 - not a bunch but at least it was something)
• Finish Updating and setting Up Blog Pages -Policies, DAC, etc. Contest and Privacy policies done.  
• Send interview questions to authors requesting questions for upcoming interviews (Finished all but one author. Already got one set of questions back and interview goes up this Thurs - Alexandra Monir author of TIMELESS. She's a riot - be sure to look for it!) 
• Clean up/answer emails (Maybe three-fourths done)
• Film In My Mailbox vlog _Did this and Jake did a fantastic job of editing. Unfortunately we couldn't put it up because the program wouldn't "render" it. So we'll put it up another day.)
• Film vlog for Movie Review of BLACK SWAN and THE KINGS SPEECH - This wasn't on our to-do list but it was a fun spontaneous addition that came out great!  
• Back up Blog - Done
• Clean out/organize reader and blog subscriptions (Maybe half finished but at least we made progress) 
• Pick up books at the library before the holds expire (Grabbed six awesome looking books! Had to pay a few dollars in late fees - yeah, we're bad - but still cheaper than buying!)
• Get Gregory past his shyness, out from the background work and putting more reviews on the site - for people to actually read and comment on - scary stuff! (This is ongoing but he made a video with us and actually spoke so we counting this as accomplished)
• Create upcoming WoW posts - Set up next weeks - okay only one but it's something
• Check out other Bloggiesta participants' cool ideas (Yes - it was fun!) 
• Read Bloggiesta participants tips (Yes - great ideas!) 
• Check out mini challenges and do at least one  (Done: 3)

         - Organize Thy Books! by Jenn @ Jenn's Bookshelf

             (This is a fantastic post!)

         - Best Email Practices

              - Google Forms by Jenn @ Devourer of Books

Plan to go back and do the others later. 

• Explore discussion post topics (Came up with 2 firm ideas and several others discussed) 
• Check out new features to add - (Found one for sure and will continue to check on others)
• Find new awesome bloggers! (Ongoing and having a amazing time!)
• Visit and support Bloggiesta bloggers! (Did this but wish we could have done more! Everyone was so inspiring!)
• Something Extra - Since we saw several bloggers talk about changing to a custom domain, which we have on Teens Read and Write, and which Jake changed this weekend for Alyssa's writing blog, we thought it would be helpful to post about. Jake put together a post with Step-by-Step instructions and it went up on Monday. It's very informative but also very funny. 

We still have much to accomplish but it's a great start. Thanks to Natasha at Maw Books Blog, for hosting and to all the other bloggers who helped and participated.  Can't wait for next year!