Olympics and Reading

It is hard to get away from the Olympics isn't it?
On the TV every night, and almost all day on the weekends. Those who like particular sports are complaining at having to watch all the others, but, I enjoy the lot.
There can be no doubt though that it has had an impact on my reading.
As most of the blogs I read are related to crime fiction, only a few have references to the Olympics.

Here are a couple to check out:

• Criminal Brief: The Whys of the Prize talks about the equivalents of gold medals in writing.
• In Reference to Murder: Crime Fiction of Olympic Proportions lists some crime fiction books to look for.

Here is another title I've found:
AN OLYMPIC DEATH by Manuel Vazquez Montalban.
The Barcelona detective Pepe Carvalho has been hired by a beautiful French woman and a mysterious man involved in the planning of the 1992 Olympic Games. Into his life comes danger and puzzling clues in the form of murdered Greeks, Arab criminals and a sadistic, anonymous killer.

Something else I ran across that I haven't seen on the news here:
Two weeks ago in Beijing two family members of the U.S. Olympic volleyball coach were stabbed, one fatally.

Writing a Better Blog

Improving my blog, learning how to do it better, has been one of the things I've focussed on this year. I've found many great blogs to follow (see them listed in Blogs I'm Watching) , met many new friends through blogging, and learnt a lot by just watching what others do, and following their tips. I've llearnt also that to get most out of blogging, you need to leave comments on the blogs of others.

Many thanks to Petrona for the link to the 2008 31 Day Comment Challenge.

Challenges are very popular with bloggers of all walks of life. By taking on a challenge you challenge yourself to learn or do something new. The 31 Day Comment Challenge is running from May 1-31 2008, but don’t let that put you off. There is a list of activities, one for every day of the month

• Day 1: Do a Commenting Self-Audit
• Day 2: Comment on a blog you’ve never commented on before
• Day 3: Sign up for a Comment Tracking Service
• Day 4: Ask a Question in a Blog Comment
• Day 5: Comment on a Blog Post You Don’t agree with
• Day 6: Engage another commenter in a conversation
• Day 7: Reflect on What you’ve learned so far
• Day 8: Comment on a blog outside your niche

There's more on the site :-)

The second site I found today was Sue Waters’ blog Mobile Technology in TAFE. Sue’s recent posts have been related to blog cleaning, layout, and what she calls the weight problem. Sue is one of those behind the 31 day Comment Challenge.

I'm not sure that I am actually going to sign up for the challenge, but certainly, if you are looking to learn more about blogging, the advice is worth taking. I was so taken with some of the ideas that I have also blogged about it on my work blog. Over there I've listed some of things I think I've learnt about blogging this year.