January 11, 2010 • randomness •

Bloggiesta Wrap-up: Missions accomplished

Bloggiesta: Pedro

I didn’t create an overly-ambitious to-do list for Bloggiesta, and it was just as well! I didn’t have much time to work on it either Friday (did the work I get paid to do instead, except during lunch) or Saturday (out most of the day – coffee with my sister, errands, and buying a new car). I did spend most of my available time on Sunday working on blog-related tasks, but after spending most of six straight hours on this stuff, I actually did get kind of tired of it! (Blasphemy, I know…)

Across the three days, I probably spent about 12 hours on Bloggiesta projects. Here’s my original to-do list, updated to reflect what I actually did:

  • Complete drafts of two posts for the LA Moms Blog to meet my commitment for January 1/10/10, about 2.5 hours.
I finished a post I started last week and uploaded it to the blog to be placed in the publication queue, and prepared a draft of a second post for editing and uploading later this week.
  • Create templates for my upcoming book-review posts (including 3 blog tours and a couple of challenge books)
Didn’t get done – as time started to get away from me, it became a lower-priority item!
  • Trim my Google Reader subscriptions, checking the Trends for rarely-read, dormant, and duplicate feeds 1/9/10, about 1.5 hours.
I won’t tell you how many subscriptions I had when I started, but I’m down to under 500 now. I doubt it will stay below that threshold for long, though. Duplicate and dormant or rarely updated feeds went first, and then came the tougher “Do I read this one much at all? Why is it here?” calls.

Related: Effective immediately, new subscriptions will be put into a “trial/probationary” folder instead of the applicable topic folder for the first month or so, as I’ve seen other bloggers suggest. Therefore, I won’t mention and link to them in the “New in My Google Reader” section of my Week-End Review until I’ve decided to keep and properly classify them.

  • Review my blog widgets for items to be updated About 1 hour, but since this was done a bit at a time over Saturday and Sunday I’m not sure of the exact total time spent on it.
This task involved rearranging widgets, updating the blogrolls (which are pulled from my Google Reader feeds, so they needed to be tweaked after the changes I made there), removing some widgets and adding others.
  • Organize my book review listing alphabetically (thanks to Molly for reminding me I’ve been meaning to do this!) started on 1/8/10, finished 1/9/10, about 2 hours total.
Books are listed alphabetically by title, and I have added the author’s name (to avoid possible confusion when books exist with the same title). I’ve also added the designation “*nf” if a book is non-fiction of any kind – any book without it is a novel, which I still don’t classify by sub-genre. This is consistent with my book-review labeling, where I just use “fiction” and “nonfiction” without breaking it down further.

The Book Review Master List post, which was formerly in order based on year reviewed, has been replaced by the new alpha version of the review list. It’s linked in the tabs above the blog title. The post contains links to all of the individual reviews.

  • Draft announcements and create buttons for upcoming reading projects 1/10/10, About 3 hours for buttons for three projects (one isn’t mine), 1.5 hours for drafts of 2 posts.

I didn’t get around to any of the mini-challenges – except for backing up my blog (thanks, Jackie)  – this time, but given the time I had available this weekend, I’m not too disappointed with myself and what I accomplished. Thanks to Natasha for hosting Bloggiesta again, and I hope she’s got plans for a third edition (and that it will fall on a weekend when I’m not quite as busy!)

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8 comments

  3. Wow, you got tons accomplished and you bought a new car? You had a very productive weekend! I really need to do a Bloggiesta or have my own. I have so much I want to do with my blog and so little time…I know we can ALL say that! Have a great week.

  4. Kathleen – I may have to do my own Bloggiesta the next time. Natasha is planning to host it again in June, and practically every weekend in June is bad for me – but Bloggiesta projects are GOOD.

  8. Lisa (OnlinePublicist) – Thanks! I would have liked not to squeeze so much of it into the last day, but I'm glad I accomplished whatever I did.