Australian Book Blogger Directory

Marg @ Adventures of an Intrepid Reader has embarked on a venture to identify Australian book bloggers.

Enter the URL and details about your blog on Tell Us About Your Blog and then consult the A-Z index to find new-to-you blogs.

Marg has used labels to help you find book bloggers in the same state as you, and also labels for genres.

It's a great idea!

Are novels designed to be read, not heard?

I came to this article in The Guardian in which Mark Lawson says The audiobook boom risks infantilising literature via Meg Gardner's blog posting titled Audiobooks - a modern form of thumb sucking.

You might like to read the comments on Mark's original posting and on Meg's blog.

My response to Meg's posting (which has provoked a great deal of discussion via comments) was:
I listen to audio books in the car to and from work. I HATE the abridged ones though, and avoid them as much as I can.
Another element comes in though when you are listening to the book through the reader’s voice, and one or two have turned me off totally. On the other hand sometimes you end up getting through a book that might otherwise have been a struggle.
When it comes to reviewing (and I always review all the books I read whether with the eyes or with the ears) audio books raise another problem. You can’t turn back the pages easily to check something. You may not even get character names correct because the narrator doesn’t spell them for you, and minor details disappear into memory ether. If the narrator has won you over, then you may give the book a higher rating than if you had actually read it in a print version.

My library has long had a hear-a-book scheme, with books available as audio in a number of formats: those read by volunteers on to tape, commercial readings on tape, commercial readings on CD, and recently, commercial readings on mp3 CDs.
I get annoyed sometimes that they are still buying the books recorded onto tape, which really is obsolete technology, but I guess many of the older members of our community don't have CD players. My car doesn't have a tape deck though.

One of the most interesting experiences is listening to the author read his own books.
Simon Brett does that with the Fethering series.

I invite you to leave a comment here too, and to take this week's poll.
The poll asks Do you ever listen to a novel?
You can choose multiple options

• No, never
• Yes (choose below)
• often
• sometimes
• rarely
• How (choose below)
  
• tapes
• CDs
• mp3
• computer
  
• radio
• other
  

You might like to make a comment to explain the vote you chose.

Audio on my blog:
Have you noticed that that my blog has an audio feature? - look for the Odiogo link just under the title of each posting.
Have you tried listening to them?
If I forget to put full stops in then the sentences tend to run together, which can be annoying.
The voice is also a bit mechanised and has some very strange pronunciations.
You can actually subscribe to my blog as a podcast download if you want to. The podcast site lists the last 30 posts I think, but they are all available if you click on the link in a particular blog post.

I have no idea of how many people are subscribed. If you are actually a subscriber you might like to come into my blog and comment too, particularly if you are listening to, rather than reading, this post.

I originally added this feature to accommodate those who come to my blog who are visually impaired. (Actually I have no idea of how to remove it either, but it seems a good widget to offer).

Headphones photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/penmachine/

Scene of the Blog

Cathy at Kittling:Books is running a fascinating series called Scene of the Blog.

So far we get a glimpse of where three bloggers create their posts, but this is a weekly series worth book marking. Cathy says she already has over 35 volunteers who've sent photos to her and written a little about themselves. If you'd like to participate, then all you need to do is contact her.

Summing Up my blogging year 2008

I set this blog up on the 2nd January 2008 with Best Reads of 2007 as my first post.
During the year I wrote 456 posts, read and reviewed 110 books, and at some time on New Year's Eve hit the 25,000 visitors mark (according to the big counter on the top right). There have been over 1100 comments on those posts, admittedly probably one third of those are me responding to comments by others.

I've been monitoring the site with various instruments including Sitemeter for the last 5 months.

and ClustrMaps for nearly 12 months.


I found 90 other crime fiction blogs to follow and created Crime Fiction Journeys when displaying them all became too much for the main page of MYSTERIES IN PARADISE.
By following these blogs I feel I have become a contributor in a wider crime fiction reading community. I've certainly got to know a large number of other readers and reviewers and have joined other communities such as Crime and Mystery Fiction on FriendFeed.

I started participating in The Sunday Salon at the end of March and posted 37 times there during the year. From August I have participated in Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books and have contributed 17 times.
I created my own Agatha Christie Reading Challenge and to date have managed 6 books and a collection of short stories.

I was the host of the Carnival of Criminal Minds#18, participated in A Blog Advent Tour, and was featured in December on Matilda's Australian LitBlog Snapshots.

I've written a set of book review and blogging guidelines.

I created a list of favourite authors when I realised that there are some authors I would always read:

• Alexander McCall Smith
• Donna Leon
• Gabrielle Lord
• Jane Goodall
• Karin Fossum
• Michael Robotham
• PD Martin
• Peter James
• Peter Lovesey
• Peter Robinson
• Reginald Hill
• Robert Goddard
• Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine
• Simon Brett
• Susan Hill

I've modified my blog quite a lot during the year, adding widgets and counters as it's grown, and even creating 2 separate blogs to accommodate a list of my reviews and my blog roll.

I've added a number of features:

• a reader (Odiogo) that will read my posts to you or allow you to store them as an mp3 file,
• A Library Thing widget that shows the covers of recently read books on my Review site,
• I've registered my blog with a number of sites like BlogBurst,
• I added a rating system at the end of each post but so far very few people use it
• I added a SnapShots feature so that you can hover over a link and see a snapshot of the site. It aggravated me so much, I turned it off for myself, and suspect many of my readers may also.
• I have run a number of polls, particularly during the last 3 months, mainly to give people more to do when they get to the blog.
  

The most successful activity by far has been What were your Best Crime Fiction reads for 2008? which will close in about 30 hours. So far there have been nearly 40 participants who've suggested nearly 400 titles. I'm putting them all on a spreadsheet and then going to come up with a list sorted according to how many times times they have been mentioned.

So, in summary, it has been a great year. Very eventful. Lots to keep me occupied. I never seem to run out of things to write about and other things to do.

Sources of widgets and ideas for Blogger blogs

Today I have added a widget to my blog that allows visitors to rate postings.
This is supposed to not only generate a rating for each post (if your visitors bother to do it) but also to eventually show a list of most highly rated posts in a block on the side.

I like playing around with widgets to see if they add information for me, or interactivity for those who drop in. Some I've installed and then discarded, particularly if they seemed to slow my blog down.

So I thought I'd tell you about some of the "how to" blogs that I watch/read as well as where some of the widgets I use come from. So far I haven't done anything that involves altering the code of my Blogger template.

Blogs I watch for ideas:
Blogging Basics 101.
Blogger Buster.
Blog to Great.

I find these more than enough as they usually grab their ideas from other sites.

The widgets
The rating widget is from Yellow Turnip.
I'm still in two minds about Snapshots (the widget that gives you a preview of linked sites).
The podiocast comes from Odiogo.
The Christmas countdown is from Widgetbox.
I think I got the code for the Recent Comments widget from Blogger Buster
They have a list of available widgets here and that's where I think I got the Search box code too.
My Free Counter up in the menu bar comes from Easy Counter.
I have Sitemeter installed on all of my blogs.
I also use ClustrMaps to graphically show where visitors come from, and Feedjit for similar functions but this displays as a list and you can watch it "live".
You can get my blog posts as a daily email digests through FeedMyInbox, and Feedburner provides both RSS and email subscription.

Here is a video about how to access even more gadgets/widgets through Blogger/Google.

How do you know what to read next?

I'm really never at a loss for what to read next.
In fact I've always got too many books lying around, just waiting for their chance to hop into my hands.

Part of the secret is to monitor the blogs of people like me who review books.
This morning for example, I read blog postings from Poisoned Fiction Review, Do You Write Under Your Own Name, and Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books, and they all sent me off to the online catalogue of my local library to see if I could find the books were referring to. The library is my first port of call, because it saves me money and I'm not precious about having to keep the books I read.

If you are not sure about what blogs to follow, have a look at the list I have on my blog roll. There's a link up at the top of the page called Blogs I'm watching. They are all generally there because they talk about books, and nearly all of them get me several good titles to follow up every week. They are also on there because they talk about crime fiction, murder mysteries and the like, which is the genre that I read almost exclusively.

You might also like to browse my books reviews which is a ranked list of books I have written about on this blog this year. They are listed as Smik's Reviews, and you will find that link also at the top of the page. Smik's Reviews has an RSS feed that you can add to your PageFlakes or whatever so that when I add a new book you get an alert.

Apart from the books I review, I also sometime write, as I did yesterday about books that are selling well in Australia, or if you are looking for crime fiction by Australian authors, you could check the postings that are marked Australian author, or go back to the Carnival of Criminal Minds posting where I was the host site.

Of course you could always choose to get the postings of MYSTERIES IN PARADISE by email or RSS. There are also links to them in the top menu bar. The one I particularly like is FeedMyInbox which sends out a daily digest of postings on this blog.

I do read a lot of recently published crime fiction, but you'll note that occasionally an older book crops up. For example I write about Forgotten books, and I am reading for my own Agatha Christie Reading Challenge. You'll find references to them in the blocks in the right hand margin.

I'm a happy little blogger!

Earlier this week somebody at Blogger made my day.
A couple of months ago a robot decided that my blog was a spam blog.
I was never sure what the criteria being used was, but then Blogger told me that I had been wrongly identified and someone would look at my blog and restore my "rights".
Ironically other blogs that I wrote, Smik's Reviews, and Smik's Learning Space, were unaffected.

Anyway it had 2 major effects on me as a blogger

• every time I wanted to save a post I had to jump a word verification hurdle. I frequently failed it because not only did it change font and style but also the letters were often run into each other.
• along with that was the fact that autosave was turned off. I lived in constant fear that my computer or browser would crash and my posting would be lost.

The only court of appeal that I discovered was that each week I could complete a special word verification that sent a message to Blogger that I was not a spam blogger. So every Monday for about 8 weeks I dutifully sent off the special message. Meanwhile I had discovered that while there is a forum you can lodge a posting in, and discover that many others have the same problem, seemingly unanswered, and there are messages that come from Blogger with the names of people as the signatory, there is no human you can actually email. Funny that.

Then on Monday night this week I noticed that my purgatory was over. Perhaps the fact that I had created yet another related blog Crime Fiction Journeys had bumped me up the priority list, or perhaps there really was a person, poor thing, wading through a visual verification list.
Anyway I'm back to normal! Just for the record, it began on 3 August. Since then I've written 96 posts.

Further to my 'good blogging' guidelines

Earlier this week I posted 10 blogging guidelines.
Check the blog post itself for an explanation of these.

1. Decide what the focus of your blog is.
   
2. How often to blog?
   
3. Watch the layout of your posting.
   
4. Use links in your posting.
   
5. Proof read your posting carefully before publishing.
   
6. Don't make your readers jump hurdles to leave comments.
   
7. Get copies of your own postings.
   
8. Feel free to add gadgets to make your blog more interesting.
   
9. Use labels and tags.
   
10. Set up some sort of counter.
    

I'd like to acknowledge some comments left on that post.

1. Mack, Mack Pitches Up and The Listening Librarian, suggested tracking who refers to your blog and registering with Technorati.
2. Janet Rudolph at Mystery Fanfare and Mystery Readers thought she would try to add a sitemeter and make her postings a bit more concise.
3. Maxine (Petrona and Maxine's Book Reviews) said that in relation to the focus of the blog, the personality of the writer is really important.
   

Among the blogs that I watch there is one called Blogging Basics 101. It is a daily blog that often comes up with terrific tips on how to do things. I've learnt lots there. Often they simply link to other blog posts.
Today's tips:

• State of the Blogosphere 2008 via Technorati.
• 3 Easy Ways to Get More Mileage from Your Blog Posts via Findable Blogs.
  
  e.g.
  * Help readers find related information.
  * Share the love with other bloggers.
  * Highlight your best posts - I have to do that manually, but you'll see a little block on the right.
  * Repurpose your blog posts (that's what I am doing here).
  
  
• 21 Ways to Make Your Blog or Website Sticky via Problogger.
• 7 More Techniques to Make Your Blog Sticky via Problogger.

  A sticky website is one where a first time reader arrives and finds it difficult to leave. Not because the site owner captures them in a ‘RickRoll’ or a series of windows asking them if they REALLY want to leave - but because something about the site motivates them to explore it further - and more importantly to make a decision to (and takes some steps to ensure that they) return again to it.
  
  e.g.
  * make invitations to subscribe prominent (did you notice mine on the right?)
  * good blog design.
  * make your blog personal (someone said I write 'conversational' book reviews)
  * get interactive (did you see my poll to the right?)
  * monitor your stats.
  * create a debate.
  

• 50 Ways to Take Your Blog to the Next Level via Chris Brogan
  
  * make the purpose and audience of your blog crystal clear.
  * consider the design elements.
  * grow quality blog posts.
  * promote your blog.
  

So what do you think of those? It is worth reading those links to get some of the detail.
Not everything applies to "amateur" blogs like this one, but there's lots of good advice there.

One of the things that worries me is that my blog is tending to get a bit cluttered. I have lots of gadgets running, and that blog roll now lists 75 blogs. But I think pointing people to what others are saying is important too. And there are things about my blog that I want to highlight. I'm not sure what to do apart from create yet another blog with a lot of the static stuff on it. Blogger doesn't have a "new page" function.
I have already created a new blog that exists only to list my book reviews at Smik's Reviews simply to get the full list off this blog page.
I could try creating my own menu bar across the top of the page I suppose. That might solve the problem.

Kerrie's blogging guidelines

I came across a set of "Eight Blogging Guidelines" over on Type M for Murder today.
While I agree with most of them, there are some that I don't, so I thought it was time that I published my own, that is, those that I try myself to abide by.

This won't really be a definitive list. I'm sure that I will omit things that you, my fellow bloggers, think are really important. Let me know what I have left out.
Nor will the points be in strict order of importance. I'll try though.
I've settled on 10.

1. Decide what the focus of your blog is.
   The focus of mine is crime fiction, and I try to stick to that. I have other blogs where I do other things.
   If your blog is basically about books, stick to that. If you need to talk about your family, the cats or the dogs, then create another blog for that. Some people have as many as 6 different blogs. Your readers will stick with you because of your focussed content.
   Think about who you are trying to write for.
   Your blog doesn't have to be the final authority either.
   
   
2. How often to blog?
   This is where I depart from the guidelines referred to above. Blog regularly. Many of the blogs I read have a new posting daily. I can cope with that. Sometimes I worry when I write more than one posting - hoping I don't offend with over-blogging. But really, you are the writer of your blog. So do what suits you. I avoid extra posts with some of the links I have in the area around my blog, like the blog roll on the right, and the Breaking News at the top. But sometimes there is something I want to pass on, so I post a second or even third time for the day.
   
   
3. Watch the layout of your posting.
   Give it plenty of white space. I'm not the only person I'm sure who has trouble with reading chunks of text. Play around with the blog templates available to you until you find one that suits you. Don't feel held back from changing your layout or images. My friend Petrona delights by refreshing hers on a seemingly regular basis.
   Whether to include images or not is up to you, but they do help with layout and to make it look interesting. You might want to get something like XnView to help you with image management.
   
   
4. Use links in your posting.
   If you are writing a book review, do a little bit of research about the author and point to their website if you can. Hyperlink rather than just post in the URL.
   
   
5. Proof read your posting carefully before publishing.
   If I am following your blog by RSS feed, then I don't want to get 5 copies of the same posting with minute changes. I know I'm guilty of this sometimes, but believe me I try not to publish until I am sure there are no changes to be made.
   
   
6. Don't make your readers jump hurdles to leave comments.
   At the beginning of this year I resolved to change my lurking behaviour, and, where possible to make a comment when the blog posting interested me. Nothing is more annoying though than those blogs where you have to be "a member" to post.
   You'll notice too, if you go to comment here, that I have turned "word verification" off - this is a trial - under the influence of a couple of fellow bloggers who are leading a movement against the practice. If I get spammed, then I will turn it back on. But perhaps a blog like mine so far down the blogging tree doesn't need such protection.
   And when comments are left, try to reply to them.
   
   
7. Get copies of your own postings.
   That might seem to be a bit narcissistic, but it is important that you get to see your blog postings as your readers see them. I'm subscribed to my blog by RSS feed and by email.
   Check what the RSS feed of your blog is delivering. Some are set so that all you get is the headlines. It is an extra click and upload for me then to read your actual posting, and I am likely not to bother.
   Make sure also that you get copies of the comments by email.
   
   
8. Feel free to add gadgets to make your blog more interesting. For example I find that visitors to my site, whom I monitor via Feedjit often go off on one of the links in my blogroll. Have a look also at the Clustr Map
   I've been using polls in my blog to give people something to do when they get here.
   I've also included blocks on the side that show particular things that I am doing such as the Forgotten Books links, and the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge.
   Have a look at what other people do on their blogs for ideas.
   
   
9. Use labels and tags.
   I've seen anti-tagging movements that I just don't understand. Tags will help people search your blog for similar entries to the one they are reading. I don't display all the tags on mass though, it made my blog page far too long.
   
   
10. Set up some sort of counter.
    This will help you monitor how many people come to your blog. You'll see that I have Sitemeter, Feedjit, and Free Counter running.
    I like Sitemeter because it gives me a weekly report and through it I know that I have about 58 visitors a day, and that they are spending about 2 minutes on average on my blog. Feedjit tells me what postings people are finding and how they are getting there (their Google searches etc).
    I find the counters are an incentive for me to do better, and in some ways a re-assurance that there are people out there who read my blog.
    

So, please, what have I left off the list, that you think is important? Tell me also if you disagree/agree with individual guidelines.

So now, Im off to read. If I don't do any of that, then I won't have anything to write about!

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Nominations Open

Nominations for Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards 2008 are now open! You only have until August 31st to do it!

Listed below are the categories of awards. There are many. You may not have a nomination for each award. It doesn’t matter. Nominate up to two blogs per category and send an email to BbawawardsATgmailDOTcom with your choices. You DO NOT have to have a blog to make nominations. Comments left on this post will NOT be accepted as nominations. Each category will be narrowed to the top five blogs by number of nominations received, so don’t be shy!!! Support your favorite blogs and bloggers! Nominations will close on August 31st.

And the categories for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards 2008 are:

Best General Book Blog
Best Kidlit Blog
Best Christian/Inspirational Fiction Blog
Best Literary Fiction Blog
Best Book Club Blog
Best Romance Blog
Best Thrillers/Mystery/Suspense Blog
Best Non-fiction Blog
Best Young Adult Lit Blog
Best Book/Publishing Industry Blog
Best Challenge Host
Best Community Builder
Best Cookbook Blog
Best History/Historical Fiction Blog
Best Design
Most Chatty
Most Concise
Most Eclectic Taste
Best Name for a Blog
Best Published Author Blog
Best Book published in 2008
Best Meme/Carnival/Event
Most Extravagant Giveaways
Best Book Community site
Most Altruistic Blog
Funniest/Most Humorous Blog
Best Sci-fi/fantasy/horror/spec-fic blog
Best Commenter/commentator

Write In–think we missed something? Write in your category and nomination and if there are enough other write-ins of the same category it will be added!

Sunday Salon #23 - 24 August 2008

I've probably over-blogged this week. To my dismay I see that I've posted 10 times in the last week. I hope it is not losing me friends. Perhaps it is a symptom of my addiction to blogging, or do I just have too much time on my hands?

This week's posts:

• Around the Traps, Sunday 24 August
  I'm not sure whether I will do this regularly or not. It's a summary of some of the posts that have come into my RSS reader.
• Review: LITTLE GIRL LOST, Susan Kelly
  My review of #3 in Susan Hill's Gregory Summers series. police procedurals with a difference.
• Backs, Covers, and Tattoos
  What's the fascination with backs and tattoos that have recently been seen on book covers? More seriously, are there some infringements of copyright or intellectual property going on in the book publishing world? If nothing else, have a look at the covers themselves.
• Reading the ending first? No way!
  I came across a posting where someone claimed she always read the ending of a mystery novel first so she can focus on the unfolding story. My question is whether this person is serious about their reading anyway.
• Melbourne, UNESCO City of Literature
  On the eve of the Melbourne Writers Festival, UNESCO has granted the city the status of City of Literature, and the Victorian government is contributing $millions to a cultural venture!
• It's all Enid's fault
  Were you brought up on a diet of Enid Blyton? A new Costa Book Awards survey has revealed that she is the top of the poll as far as 2000 surveyed adults are concerned. She is obviously the cause of my crime fiction addiction, or at least the fact that my day feels incomplete if I don't read for pleasure.
  
• Olympics and Reading
  Some crime fiction titles connected to the Olympics.
• Drop in, chat about books
  This morning I'm trying out a new web 2.0 tool where live chat people are moderated but don't have to log in.
• Book Blogger Appreciation week 15-19 Sept
  Do you appreciate Book Bloggers? Of course you do! You are one aren't you? Spread the word.
• SHATTER on ITV3 Shortlist
  Michael Robotham makes the shortlist with 11 others for ITV3's inaugural Crime Thriller Awards. The competition is stiff though.
  

Miscellaneous

• I've been playing around with my blog layout again and now have Breaking News featured at the top of every page.
• I found a site that tells me what my blog is worth. It is on the top right of the page.
• I've begun participating in Pattinase's forgotten books and so there is a button and link now in the right hand column to my postings. Look for the lovely Creative Commons picture of some library shelves.
• I've added a block that shows what books I have available through BookMooch.
• I'm now watching 66 Blogs in my blog roll available on the right. This is a Blogger gadget.
  
• Through the Books Alive scheme Michael Robotham is coming to my library next Wednesday. He must be worn out - he has been travelling around Oz for the last 3 weeks meeting and greeting as part of his role as Books Alive Ambassador.
  
• Melbourne Writers Festival has started. Unfortunately I won't get there until next Friday night, but my "coven" of friends Karen Sally, Helen, Sunnie, and Fiona are attending this weekend. I'll arrive mid-way through the Ned Kelly Awards night next Friday night and then am able to attend a couple of things next Saturday and Sunday.
  Stop me and say hello if you spot me there.
  
• OzMysteryReaders discussion programme for the next 6 weeks:
  September
  8-14 Chat to Michael Robotham, author of THE SUSPECT, LOST (THE DROWNING MAN), THE NIGHT FERRY and SHATTER, published April 2008.
  16-26, discussion of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson.
  October 1-10, discussion of SUCKED IN by Shane Maloney.
  

Currently reading:

• now - THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN, Kate Morton
• next - BOMBPROOF, Michael Robotham
• audio book - BENEATH THE BLEEDING, Val McDermid (nearly finished) and then it will be MY LADY JUDGE by Cora Harrison- a historical mystery.
  

Happy reading folks.

The Power of Blogging

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights, May 15

Bloggers Unite is an initiative designed to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries.

It is an interesting perception of the power of blogging, and reminds me a bit of Howard Rheingold’s concept of Smart Mobs.

Bloggers Unite For Human Rights challenges bloggers everywhere to help elevate human rights by drawing attention to the challenges and successes of human rights issues on May 15. What those topics may include — the wrongful imprisonment of journalists covering assemblies, governments that ignore the plight of citizens, and censorship of the Internet. What is important is that on one day, thousands of bloggers unite and share their unified support of human rights everywhere.

Previous campaigns were

• 17 Dec 2007 - Acts of Kindness
• 7 Sept 2007 - Bloggers against Abuse
• 18 July 2007 - Organ Donor Awareness Campaign

The site contains information from Amnesty International about human rights.

Closer to home, people might look at information to be found on Australia’s Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC). They have some excellent education pages, providing resources and information for teachers, students, media, legal services, and business groups. Their focus is what human rights are, where they come from and how they are protected in international and Australian law. Most importantly the resources encourage people to explore the relevance of human rights in their own communities.

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.

Weekly Geek: Week 1

Weekly Geek's first week's task is to visit 5 blogs I haven't been to before. That's pretty easy - I'm always exploring other blogs. I make things a bit harder for myself because I always look for crime fiction leanings.
It was harder than I imagined it would be. I trawled about a hundred Sunday Salon blogs looking for new crime fiction ones - not much joy - so I had to go further afield.
I decided not to include any seemingly "un-loved" ones whose authors seem to rarely, and not recently, update.

So here is where I've been

• Melody's Reading Corner. I'm not sure what a sticky post is but Mel has one. She's giving away some books
• Ex Libris: the blog has a huge list of other blogs, and great list of challenges too
• My Journey through Reading: We share a common interest in listening to Ken Follett's WORLD WITHOUT END. Richard E. Grant's reading was magical.
• Material Witness- a blog for the criminally inclined. We shared opinions on the last Donna Leon novel
• Welcome to Planet Tess: nothing to do with crime fiction, but has a lot of wonderful recipes.