5 Tips for Being a Friendly Blogger

Because I've seen various conversations around the blogosphere lately, I thought I'd offer my own personal five tips for being a friendly blogger on this here Friday. If you do these things, we most likely will be friends in the universe de Blog.

1) Join the Conversation and Leave Comments.
In this day and age of Google Reader it seems that comments are becoming fewer and fewer. I know that it's not possible to leave comments on every post you read. I have blogs in my reader that I never visit. But encourage the bloggers who encourage you, who give you ideas, who are sitting down at the keyboard and sharing the bits and pieces of their life with you. Comments make a blogger's day.

2) Respond when people leave comments.
Okay, I am not always the best at this (though I try!), so if you are really interested in me responding to you, make sure that I can see your email address when you leave a comment (this is done by selecting show email address in your profile). I will occasionally respond in comments, but in this day and age of google reader, I've found that most commenters never check back.

3) Be Generous with Your Linkage.
If you see something on someone else's blog and decide to write about it, be sure to acknowledge them. Point out posts that move or inspire or teach you. Blogging is all about reciprocity. If people are linking to you, find a way to thank them. Don't hoard your linkage! (I know, I know too many outbound links and you leak search engine placement) Support what other bloggers are doing especially in your niche. It builds community and will also build your own readership.

4) Enable Full Feed.
The truth is, there are some big time bloggers whose feed I subscribe to, but I rarely click through to read their whole post. If you are doing this, you better have the best titles and first few sentences. You are sacrificing some of your readership if you do not enable full feed. So you really have to weigh what's the most important to you...

5) Don't be a Lone Ranger Blogger. Participate in the blogging community.
Yes, that means memes and carnivals. Maybe not every day. :) But sometimes. This can be such a fun way to get to know other bloggers. It supports what other bloggers are doing and it's a great way to learn.
Some of my favorites are:
Booking Through Thursday
Music Monday
Thursday Thirteen
But there are about 14 million others.

So there you have it. What are your tips for being a friendly blogger?

Comments Working?

I tried out the new blogger embedded comments feature and have been told there's a problem leaving comments...Can you all check it out for me? If you try to leave a comment and are unable to can you email me?

Thanks!

Taking Care of Business

My sidebars are driving me a bit nutty, and I've been trying to figure out how best to reorganize them.

I split my blogroll into my absolute favorite blogs and then other blogs I read, love, and link to. I changed my favorite blogs into the new blogger blog list which will show the most recent post and have the most recently updated on top. But it sort of takes up a lot of space, so I have it only showing 5 at a time.

I'm thinking that's not actually helpful to my favorite bloggers, since they might not even be shown at times. So...dear bloggers that I link to, (all of you) can you please tell me which way you would prefer for your blog to be displayed?

Dear readers, can you tell me what you'd prefer to look at?

Everyone can you please tell me which way is most likely to get you to click on through to another blog?

And finally, if you have me on your blogroll, and I don't have you on mine, please let me know! I want to link back to you.

Thanks everyone!

Sharing the Love

Krista at Welcomed to Married Life gave me this fantastic bloggy award! It's fantastic because it's all about love! In short, it was created to help raise awareness about organ donation. Read the original post here.

She gave the award to some of her commenters, and I want to do the same. Those of you who comment (who also have a blog) make the hobby of blogging so much fun. It's nice to hear your thoughts. So a big fat thank to you those of you who take the time to comment! Consider yourself loved!
Christel
Jen
Thomas
Heather
J. Kaye
Texas in Africa
Angie

Here are the official rules:
The rules of this award are: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**

Camp: Sites

Sorry about the title, couldn't resist. Anyway, since this is a blogging camp, we are talking about websites or blogs that we like.

So here are some of my favorites that I might not have talked about a lot before:

The Compassion Blog This is a really excellent blog, written from many different Compassion staff. It has given me a behind the scenes feel to my sponsorships through Compassion. It's like the DVD extras to my sponsorships. Seriously, though, I'm reminded to pray for my own kids and also made more aware of the needs Compassion works to meet. If you sponsor through Compassion, it's a must read. If you don't, it's still highly recommended.

Televisionary: Some of the best recaps of TV shows (like LOST). Thoughtful and well written. You know I love my TV!

Romancing the Blog: Written by more romance writers (Christian and General Market) and others involved with the industry than I could name. It's always interesting and covers a wide variety of topics since it has such a wellspring of writers to draw from. Check it out!

Freebies 4 Mom: So I'm not a mom, but I've found out about some great deals through reading this blog.

So those are just some sites I read regularly that I enjoy.

Got one to recommend? What are some of your favorite sites?

Major Upcoming Events in Blogland!

I really thought blogland would quiet down during the summer months, but the truth is it must be too hot to be out and about and it's really heating up around here. The next few weeks are going to be seriously busy. And that's not even counting all of the real life stuff I have to do! :)

So here's the scoop on the cool stuff coming up....

First of all, Strange Culture is hosting a very cool blogathon this weekend that I'll be participating in if I can get my act together. Let's celebrate Father's Day!

Next week, The Secret Life of Kat is hosting Summer Camp which is basically one long carnival week, capped off by a camp out that you can participate in via twitter. I don't know if I'll be able to do that (if I had a backyard maybe!) but it's cool that she is.

The Second Annual 40 Day Fast is going to start June 23rd and though it's going to be a little tweaked this year, it should be good. Definitely look forward to that.

Also starting June 23rd and running through June 27th we're hosting the Summer Reading Extravaganza at the Friendly Book Nook. Don't feel like you have to be a book-a-holic like me to participate, it will also be a carnival style week of all the best summer reading tips for you and your kids. There will be prizes to be had as well.

Then June 28th-30th we're hosting a group read discussion at the Friendly Book Nook of The Girl Who Stopped Swimming. I can't wait to get other's opinions on this book. Elizabeth, for example, didn't like it.

Also June 28th-29th is a Read-a-thon hosted by Dewey of the Hidden Side of a Leaf. I'm also thinking about hitting the ALA that weekend, it all depends on whether or not gas has gone up to 20 dollars a gallon.

On July 1st, Jen of Daily Mish Mash is having the second Movie Madness Carnival.

So hopefully out of all of that you were able to find something that you like and can participate in!

A Simple Roll Call

The problem with using google reader is that I read a ton of more blogs than I used to and often can't remember where I read something.

So on someone's blog somewhere, I read something about (do you like my overuse of the word some?) how singles blog more.

That is so weird to me, because I'm one of the few single bloggers I know.

So roll call, y'all....who out there is single and who's married? Declare yourself!

Ok, this is the best one ever

I've seen many bloggers talk about the searches that lead to their blog, but mine are not usually that interesting. A lot of people end up here looking for American Idol stuff, my friend (seriously? who searches for just "my friend"?), various book and film reviews, and also by searching for news items.

But I saw this one and thought maybe we could come up with some good advice for this poor soul.

My friend Amy has a big head, what do I do?

Of course, I also found one that says "Amy smells" Hmm, maybe I need to invest in some new deodorant. ;)

Link Loved

Brody is all about sharing the love in the blogosphere and is suggesting we highlight the blogs that send us the most traffic each month.

I'm all over this sort of thing, except that I use a free statcounter so it's more likely to be the blogs that have sent the most traffic my way in the last couple of days. In any case, here goes in in particular order!

Rocks in my Dryer: Thank you LOST recaps! :) Seriously, I'm pretty sure you all know about Shannon's mega blog, which is a beautiful blog and also very well written. I have to admit I can't say I read it everyday due to partial feed, but her posts from Compassion were some of the best.

Daily Mish Mash: I love Jen's blog and her super fabulous writing style. I even read her Tackle it Tuesday posts. Her Movie Madness Carnival was also loads of fun, and I hope we do it again!

The Secret Life of Kat: I love Kat! This should be obvious from reading this blog, she was one of my first blogging buddies and even though I've never met her in person, she feels like an old friend.

Euphrony: The place to go to learn everything you ever wanted to know about rheology. Another longtime blogging buddy, who maintains a very interesting personal blog.

A Note from Lisa: Lisa is one of my dear college friends, the one who left me stranded in Mongolia, and who is also getting married soon.

Many thanks you all, love you much!

Some Newsy Stuff

Hey guess what? I have internet again! I have tons of stuff to blog about! I also have about 14 million emails to read and it might take me a very long while to catch up on everyone else's blogs. So if this blog is hopping this week, um enjoy! :)

First, I'd like to mention that Jen of Daily Mish Mash is hosting a Movie Madness Carnival tomorrow, and even having a very fun and cool giveaway! I would like the Snack Gift Basket Premium Deluxe. I mean really, I wouldn't have to buy snacks again for a long time! Or maybe The Country Inn Breakfast Gift Basket would be a nice choice. I do enjoy indulging in an unhealthy breakfast. So you should check out the giveaway for yourself and also participate in the carnival...looks like fun.

Secondly, I'd like to point out that Alison Kent is having a very cool giveaway as well. I have never read one of her books, but I've been reading her blog for awhile now, and just won a book last week. So as soon as it shows up in the mail, I'll be reading away, and very happy. She wants you to be reading her books as well, though, so if you head over to her blog look through her backlist of published titles and tell her which one you'd like to read, she'll enter you into her very cool contest for a 50 dollar gift card to Amazon or Barnes and Noble. By the way, she is a romance writer, so um, bear that in mind.

Thirdly, I have so many little bits and pieces I want to share about BEA. I'll probably do that over the week. I will also be blogging about the big stuff at The Friendly Book Nook. I'm so behind on blogging!

Fourthly, I am having a giveaway as well, with a measly six entries. And I'm giving away a book by Rene Gutteridge! Please enter! Don't delay!

Ok, I think that's it for the moment. Look for many more posts this week. :)

Hello Friends

I won't have internet at my new place until Friday, so if I don't answer your email right away or if the blogging seems slow, that's why. Most of it will probably be pre-scheduled posts.

I'm hoping to be at Book Expo America this weekend to blog it for The Friendly Book Nook. I'm really looking forward to that, that's how much of a nerd I am! :)

As planned, I slept a lot this weekend. I mean, a lot. And just relaxed in general. I love relaxing. Unfortunately, there's still more unpacking and settling in to do, because I relaxed a little too much.

Last night, I watched the movie The Lives of Others. I highly recommend this film. I think the previews made it look like it was a movie about voyeurism, but I read some positive reviews, and it's not about that at all. There is a little bit of naughty stuff in it, but that's really not at all the point of the movie. So if you are in a subtitle reading serious movie watching mood, than I recommend this one.

Ok, that's all for now..maybe more later!

My First Blogging Award!

I have been blogging for three years (I know, I can't believe it either--I wanted to do some sort of big blog bash like other people but I struggle to come up with creative new iniatives in blogland) but this is my first ever blog award! I'm so excited because it comes from one of my new favorite bloggers Jen at Daily Mish Mash. Jen is a great writer, lover of all things Ryan Gosling, and funny in a way I could only wish to be. (by the way I discovered Jen through American Idol recaps at Boomama so participating in those sorts of things really can help you find new bloggers/readers)

So like all things in life, this award comes with the condition that I pass it on. This is actually sort of difficult for me (I love every blog I read), but here goes! (by the way, blogging awards like this are a girly thing, right? Euphrony?)

I chose two I'd like to acknowledge because they have great blogs. I didn't choose any males which actually made this task surprisingly difficult.

First I pass it on to Julie of Booking Mama. Julie writes the best kind of book reviews...a lot of gut reaction and not so much nit-picking the technical. She's honest but always manages to say something upbeat as well. I've added about a million books to my TBR pile from her blog.

Secondly, Texas in Africa who manages to find and share all the absurd news in the world. But some of her longer more heartfelt posts have really touched me.

By the way there are two new polls up for you LOST and American Idol fans so pop over for a visit and cast your vote.

In Which I Whine and then Point You to Other Places

My week has felt so long and even now I'm exhausted and wishing I could just go to sleep. But LOST is on tonight. So obviously I can't do that. (and Grey's!)

I have had so many things I wished I had time to blog about, tons of thoughts spurred on by the books I've read as well as how caring for the earth is also caring for the poor,malaria day, and so much more. So maybe next week the blog will be hopping with these types of topics. One can only hope.

Until then, this is my favorite new blog. She is seriously funny.

And I couldn't agree more with this. This has been a case where I have seriously needed to separate the work of Harry Potter from the creator.

And that's all for now.

Blogger Appreciation Day!

Pro-blogger made it a bit of an unofficial blogger appreciation day and in light of recent news, I thought I'd join in!

On the blog of course.

As I've sort of mentioned, I read loads of blogs. I read all sorts of blogs, from television blogs to book blogs to singer/songwriter's blogs to author blogs to political blogs to theology blogs to random people I found on other blogs I read.

It all started one place, the first blog I ever really read consistently. Shlog. I started a blog because of shlog way back when. So thanks Shaun, for still blogging, for challenging me about hard things and inspiring me to be better and making me scratch my head in wonder these many years later. I appreciate you. Four Compassion kids do, too.

And I learned a lot about blogging from Kat. Kat is taking the week off to write a book. Yes, I said a week. NaNoWriWe, I guess. Kat is funny and succinct and mostly what I appreciate about her blog is that she is not content to live an ordinary life. She wants to live it for God and others. I appreciate you loads, Kat.

And Brant Hansen may well be the most talented blogger I read, he's funny and has a very unique way of pointing things out but I do believe he wants what's best for God's people. He always manages to stir up controversy and make people think he's saying something he's not. Which lends itself to more entertainment.

And let's not forget the other bloggers I've been reading for awhile (though, ahem, not always updating) Euphrony, Chaotic Hammer, Kristin, Brody, Brian, Fancy Pants, Thomas,Stephen, andSeth, ....and if I'm forgetting someone it's not because I'm not reading, my mind is just very limited in the memory capacity. I love all of your blogs and look for your updates first.

There are also some bloggers I've discovered recently but look forward to reading eagerly Julie, Megan, Boomama, Vader's Mom, Katrina, Rabbit Room and more.

So, dear bloggers, thanks for putting your fingers to the keyboard and writing about the things you do, thanks for creating a little extension of yourself here in cyberspace so I can "know" you even when we've never really met. I appreciate it when you're funny, vulnerable, mindless, and sincere. Some of you make me jealous with your writing skill and some of you make me jealous with your tech skill. But I'm always happy when you've updated!

So, um, wow

I came back from what was essentially 48 hours away from the computer to have 709 posts in my Google reader.

Facebook Stresses Me Out

When I first signed up for Facebook, I loved it. I got caught up with so many friends and I no longer had to hunt down their email addresses! It was super fab! I could keep up with everyone and barely have to talk to them!

Now it's become a bit like an overflowing email inbox. I have something like 200 requests to add applications which are just sitting there. There are at least three different walls which is highly irritating! I have a pet that I've ignored for days and when I go to feed him or pet him there's always something wrong with the application so he just keeps getting ignored. (can I tell you how ridiculous I feel to be stressed out about ignoring a fake pet?) And they added more options to the pet's scenery and food store. Choices, choices, choices!

Choices and options stress me out. I now basically use facebook to play scrabulous which I love but am terrible at. If we are playing a game of scrabulous together, I will chat with you there.

But dear world, if you want to keep up with me, this is the best place. Yes, this place, my blog. This is my online presence. And if you have a blog...even better.

And if you want to talk about something besides American Idol, let's do it the old fashioned way, you know, email.

Yay!

Blogger has this blogger in draft thing where you can try out new features before they get integrated into regular blogger or whatever.

Guess what's there? Scheduled post publishing! This has always been my biggest complaint about blogger! How awesome is that! :) (I just see it really coming in handy)

Some Blogging Questions

I'm not particularly obsessed with Technorati, but I did register the blog there and do check it to see who's linking to me, so you I can visit them in kind.

Only, I've discovered it's not all that accurate.

I get a better idea from checking my stats and seeing where people came from.

So why do we bother with Technorati again? Someone please help me understand.

Also, when you comment on a blog, do you like for the blogger to email a response to you?

I usually reply in comments but I've noticed recently that a lot of bloggers email me. So I was just wondering what you all prefer. I think replying in comments cultivates more of a group discussion, unless, of course it's a sensitive matter.

Those are my blogging questions for the day, help me out, oh wise ones.

Bits'n'pieces Around the Web

First of all, congratulations to Julie for winning A Soldier's Family. Hop on over to her blog, it's a winner for the book lover! I have another contest going on now for the book The Next Level by the author of Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, please enter!

Well, here's a good way to get grossed out and freaked out at the same time.

Brant Hansen truly has the best stories.
But Michelle at Scribbit comes in a close second.

Brody tackles the issue of the somewhat offensive rotating blogroll. I found the ensuing discussion somewhat humorous...the only people who really didn't have a problem with it were the BIG TIME bloggers.

Doug Van Pelt blogged about this, which I totally agree with and have thought, but no one else had agreed with me on this obviously very important observation.

I was very excited to read this as Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles are two of my favorite characters in the booking world. What I'd love even more would be a major motion picture of the splendid Bone Garden.

And last, but not least in any way shape or form AT ALL, check out this podcast to hear some new songs from the ridiculously talented Andrew Peterson. I'm reading his book right now, which is a treat, and want you to know that next week will be Andrew Peterson week here. I'll be giving away copies of his book as well some of his music, and hopefully there will be a few other goodies in there as well. I LOVE that third song on the podcast, what are you still doing here? Go listen to it now!

Just Some Housekeeping Stuff....

First of all, the winner of the Build A Bear ecard is Windy Cindy! I've emailed you!

I have another giveaway next Monday so please stay tuned.

Secondly, I'm pretty sure that I link to everyone who links here, but if I don't, please leave me a comment or use the contact form so that I can add you to my blogroll. If you don't link to me but would be so gracious as to do that, I'll add you as well. In short, if you are reading me, I'd like to be reading you. :)

Also, if you have a book related blog and would like to be linked to The Friendly Book Nook or would be so kind as to please link to The Friendly Book Nook, I would appreciate it so much. If you haven't checked it out, please do! I also have a button you can use on your sidebar to either blog.

Have a great day!