Bloggiesta has come to a close. I have accomplished what I set out to do plus some. When I first started on Friday, I had only six to-do list items. They soon grew and I ended up with 11.

The major thing I wanted to accomplish was to get my new theme in place. It has been a work in progress since before Christmas. My old theme was buggy and caused some problems with commenting for some of my readers, among other things. I’m glad that it’s finally implemented and ready to go. I love it!

I’m the type of blogger that continuously works on my blog. If I see something I don’t like, I change it or fix it right then and there. That’s probably why my Bloggiesta to do list was only six items long at first. I also think that’s one of the main reasons I’ve never participated before. But, as I took part in this weekend of blogging fun, I soon realized that Bloggiesta was more than just improving my blog, it was about community. I enjoyed going to other people’s blogs and cheering them on, participating in the awesome mini-challenges, and helping out those I could. I also enjoyed receiving help from those more knowledgeable than I. I learned quite a bit!

I loved socializing with my existing blogging buddies and meeting new ones! It never ceases to amaze me how vast this blogging community is, whether you’re a book blogger or not. I just love the sense of camaraderie you get from knowing that you share blogging in common.

It has been a fun weekend. I’m glad I took the time to participate and I look forward to the next one in six months. I already have a mini-challenge in mind and some tasks that I’d like to accomplish then too.

Thanks, Suey (It’s All About Books) and Danielle (There’s a Book), for all your hard work in putting Bloggiesta together and making it as fun as it was! You guys are great! And, thank you, Natasha (Maw Books), for dreaming up Bloggiesta in the first place!

Discussion

For those of you that didn’t participate, what do you think of the changes I made to my blog? And, for those of you that did, what are you most proud of accomplishing this weekend?

Today is the first day of Bloggiesta! I’m excited to be participating. In the next three days, I hope to accomplish the following:

For My Blog

1. Work on the backend of my blog. I’m upgrading my theme because the current one has some bugs.
2. Figure out a better solution for my sidebar widgets. I like sidebars that are clean and minimal and mine is getting too clunky.
3. Add a button for Pinterest and Tumblr.
4. Figure out how to get my cover photo for my Facebook fan page to look right.
5. Figure out a plan for the next year of what I want to blog about. I’ve had a hard time blogging this past year as just a book blogger and I want to decide what I want to blog about once and for all.
6. Reorganize my Google Reader. I feel bogged down with all the blogs I follow. I can’t possibly read them all and subsequently, I don’t read many of them. I want to make it more worth my time so I can be more social yet still have time for other things as well.
7. Read all the mini-challenges and participate in the ones that are pertinent to me.

Bloggiesta Socializing

1. Participate in all the Twitter chats.
2. Visit at least 10 new blogs.
3. Visit at least 15 To Do List posts.
4. Respond to and visit all the bloggers that comment on my Bloggiesta posts.

PS–If you want to participate in my mini-challenge, you can read it here.

Welcome to Bloggiesta! For those of you who don’t know what Blogiesta is, it’s a short blogging marathon hosted by Suey from It’s All About Books and Danielle from There’s a Book. This year, it takes place March 30 – April 2. The purpose of Bloggiesta is to cross off your blogging to-do items, improve your blog, make goals for the next year, and interact with other participating bloggers.

I get to talk to you about plugins for WordPress blogs. From the inception of my blog, nearly five years ago, I’ve had a WordPress platform, so I know a lot about WordPress and how it works. I was around before plugins and widgets. Boy, was it hard to update your sidebar unless you knew how to change the code! Now, it’s easy with plugins and widgets. (Heck, you can even make your own sidebar element by using the Text widget. You just need to know a little HTML to do it.)

Widgets and plugins allow you to spiff up your sidebar by adding interactivity between other sites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads) or just by including extra info you want your readers to see (e.g. blog button, archived posts, subscription buttons).

To use widgets and plugins, you first need to know how to install a plugin. To install plugins, do the following:

1. In the Dashboard (Admin panel), click Plugins | Add New.
2. Search for the plugin you want, like Twitter Tools (to integrate your Twitter feed with your blog).
3. In the results list, click Install Now next to the plugin you want to install.
4. Once it has installed, click Activate Plugin.

Most plugins will require you to select the settings you want so that the plugin appears/acts the way you want it to. Those settings will either be created as a brand new menu option in your Dashboard (Admin panel) or in the Settings menu. Just follow the instructions to select the settings for the plugin. Once you’ve done that, you need to add the plugin as a widget so it will show on your sidebar. To add the plugin as a widget, do the following:

1. In the Dashboard (Admin panel), click Appearance | Widgets.
2. Find the name of the plugin you installed and drag it to the Sidebar panel and place it where you want it to show on your sidebar.

Once you have your plugin on your sidebar, you may have to select some more settings. Again, just follow the instructions.

Be aware that all plugins don’t work as widgets for your sidebar. For example, Akismet, the best plugin you could have on your blog (in my opinion), is used to catch SPAM from posting as comments on your blog. Once it’s installed and activated, it’s ready to go.

If you’d like to participate in this mini-challenge, I need you to do the following:

• Install the plugins that you’ve been wanting to install for a while. (Check the comments for good plugin recommendations.)
• Make a comment about the types of plugins you use on your blog, what types of plugins you’d like to use on your blog, or any questions you may have about this post. (If you want to know how to make your own widget, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to help in any way I can.)

Update

I have recently discovered that plugins are only available for self-hosted WordPress blogs. If you have a blog through wordpress.com, unfortunately, this post won’t pertain to you. But, you still have a whole host of widgets available to you, including the Text widget! I’d still check those out as they may be very helpful to you and your blog. Let me know if you have any questions.

I’ve decided to participate in Bloggiesta 2012, which takes place March 30 — April 1. I’ve wanted to participate for the last few years, but I haven’t had the chance. Bloggiesta is hosted by Suey at It’s All About Books and Danielle at There’s a Book.

If you decide to participate, you can expect:

• to spend time that weekend (as much or as little as your schedule allows) working on your blog;
• to create a to do list to share on your blog and link up with other participants;
• to hopefully participate in several mini challenges and learn something new;
• to connect with other participants through blog hopping or twitter;
• to make new blogging friends;
• and, to come away at the end of the three days with a spiffed up blog!

You can sign up here.

I’ve decided to do it. While I’ll still post book reviews and about books I love because they’re an integral part of my life, they won’t be the only thing I post about anymore. I want to share all of myself, not just my reader self.

And, as part of this change, I’ll no longer be blogging at my Getting Healthy blog. All my posts from there as well as any new information will be moved/posted here from now on, and I have some updates to post in the next few days regarding my journey to becoming a better, healthier me.

Miscellaneous entries from Getting Healthy Blog

There may be a few changes to this blog in the near future. I’ll let you know when I make my decision. And, I feel like I’m in a better state emotionally now and I feel like I can start getting back into the swing of things on my journey to becoming healthier. After hearing Grandma Bea’s life story at her funeral, I feel inspired to get out of this funk. She was active until the end and passed away at 94. I want to be like her.

*****

As far as progress since my last post, I’m finally back on track. I’ve started watching what I’m eating again. And, while I gained my 11 lbs. back plus two more after the loss of Cassie by not watching anything I ate, binging, and eating only crap for the most part, I’ve lost 5.8 lbs. in the last four days.

I’m going strong and I intend to keep it up. I know it’s hard to believe me because I’ve lost weight before and then gained it all back (the 13 lbs. in the last month is a pittance to a couple of years ago), I’m determined to see this through and change my lifestyle. I’m sick of always feeling bad. I’m sick of having no energy. I’m sick of being sick. And, the only way those things are going to change is by me taking the reins and being responsible for how I treat my body. Wish me luck and I’ll see you at my new home!

I love to blog. It’s one of my favorite pastimes. But, I’ve felt a little blogged out lately because sometimes I feel like it’s just too much work to keep up with the book blogging world. Don’t get me wrong, I love book bloggers and blogging about books. I miss, however, blogging just to blog, blogging about anything that suits my fancy. I also feel like with my crazy schedule that I don’t post enough interesting posts about books because I just don’t have the time to devote to reading like I’d like to.

For the last few months, I’ve been contemplating whether to turn my blog back into a personal one. I’d still post bookish posts (reviews, author events, etc.), but I wouldn’t post about that exclusively anymore.

If I did this, would you still read my blog? Please answer the poll in the sidebar. If you have more to say than the poll options allow, please leave a comment on this post. Thanks!

Update: Poll closed.

I’ve decided to start doing movie reviews. My husband and I love to watch movies and it’d be fun to talk about them as well as books. For now, I’m only going to review the ones I see in the theater. I’ve created an index for my movie reviews just as I did for my book reviews. Hopefully, that’ll make it easier to browse.

I’ve just started a second blog called Getting Healthy. (It only has two posts so far.) I decided to create this blog because I need to make some major changes in my life. By focusing on my overall health–emotional, physical, and spiritual–I hope my life will improve. I’ve finally decided to start following my blog motto: “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” JK Rowling is a wise woman and I need to do exactly that–live rather than just survive!

This blog is mostly for me to document my progress and remember the things that have inspired and helped me become healthier. But, I hope it can help anyone else who may be feeling or going through the same things I am.

Check it out if you’d like to follow my progress.

Update: I have combined the blogs together. So, now all the posts that were on my Getting Healthy blog are on this blog.

This may be old news to some, but for those of you who don’t know yet, in March 2012 Google will be disconnecting Google Friend Connect (GFC) from all non-Blogger blogs (e.g. WordPress, LiveJournal, Joomla). Here’s a link to the article if you’d like to read it.

Unfortunately, my blog falls into the category of non-Blogger blogs and will be affected by this change. Instead of dealing with the ramifications of this change when it happens, I’ve decided to be proactive to hopefully minimize loss of readership, work out the kinks, and help you during the transition.

What does this mean for my followers? If you follow my blog through GFC, meaning if you get updates in your RSS reader because you followed my blog through GFC, then those updates won’t continue to be included in your reader as of March 2012. (If you’re not sure what a reader is, check out my friend Debbie’s explanation and instructions on how to use Google Reader.)

I’ve also removed GFC from my sidebar because I don’t want to get new followers that will just have to subscribe another way in a few months. (Removing GFC from my sidebar won’t affect anyone that has subscribed through GFC; new readers just won’t be able to follow my blog through that method anymore.)

What do my followers need to do to keep receiving updates from Jenni Elyse? Following my blog posts will basically be the same as before; it just won’t be automatic through GFC. You can easily follow my blog by subscribing via email or RSS (instructions below). I’ve also added a few new ways to follow my blog if you’d rather subscribe that way.

If you’d still like to receive updates from my blog, you can do any or all of the following:

• Sign up to receive updates through email using the Subscribe via Email feature in my sidebar, or by clicking here.
• Subscribe via RSS from the links in my sidebar to receive updates through a reader. (This option works the same as if you subscribed through GFC.) Or, you can click the options below:
• Receive updates on all my posts, bookish and personal ones.
• Receive updates for only my bookish posts.
• Receive updates for only my personal posts.
• Like my Facebook page to receive updates via Facebook.
• Add my Google+ page to your circles to receive updates via Google+.
• Follow me on Twitter to receive updates via Twitter.

If you don’t like to receive updates in the form of email, posts in a reader, etc., you can always just check my blog every once in a while too. I do try to post consistently so that helps.

If you have any questions or concerns about these changes, please ask in the comments.

PS–If you’re worried about losing other blogs in your reader, you can easily add them manually to your reader by clicking Subscribe and pasting their URL as the link. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to know if a blog without a blogspot address is Blogger or not. You’ll either need to wait for the blogger to tell you or be proactive and add them manually, just in case, before March 2012.

Guess what? This is the 1000th post on my blog! Can you believe it? I can’t! I remember thinking that I’d never reach this number. It’s kind of surreal (and exciting) that I have!

The last 1000 posts have been a whirlwind of fun! While I don’t think every post I’ve posted has been quality, I’ve tried my best to do quality over quantity. I think that’s why it’s taken me a little over four years to reach this number.

To celebrate, I’m doing a giveaway to say thank you to all those who read my blog and have helped make this achievement possible. Even though I blog for myself, I wouldn’t have continued to blog without my readers’ encouragement. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading and commenting!

What am I giving away? Take a look!

That’s right! One lucky person will win a copy of both Matched and Crossed by Ally Condie. But, that’s not all! Both books are signed by Ally.

Please Note the Following

This giveaway is being administered using the Rafflecopter entry form. Here are a few things about the form:

• There’s only one mandatory entry and other additional entry options. The mandatory entry requires you to make a very specific comment on this post. Be sure to read the full instructions.
• The name the form asks for is viewable by the public. You do not need to use your real name if you don’t want to.
• The email address the form asks for is not viewable by the public. I can only see it and this is how I’ll contact you if you win. Please use your preferred email because if you don’t respond to my email within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen! Do not put your email address in your comment.
• If you’re confused on how to use the form, please watch this!

Terms and Conditions

• To enter, fill out the form below.
• I’ll use random.org to pick a winner.
• Entrants must be 13 years old or older.
• The giveaway is open to the US only.
• The giveaway runs until 12:01 am EST on Thursday, November 24. Basically, you have until (and not including) Thanksgiving to enter.
• The winner will be announced on Saturday, November 26. The winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to reply or a new winner will be chosen.