There are four announcements regarding JK Rowling that I wanted to share in this post. Some of you are probably aware of one of them, but I doubt every one of my blog readers is.

1. Pottermore is finally available to the masses! If you decide to join, friend me. My username is BatRose161. Let me know your username, so I can add a nickname to you and know who I’m interacting with. If you want to know more about it before you join, you can read about my experience to help you decide.
2. With the global opening of Pottermore, the Harry Potter series is finally available on ebook. You can purchase them at the Pottermore Shop. I hope multiple languages of the ebooks will be available soon because I have my eye on the Spanish ones.
3. According to MTV News, she has started that long awaited Harry Potter Encyclopedia. Much of the content will be used for Pottermore, but it will also be released in book form, with all of its proceeds going to charity.
4. JK Rowling is also publishing another book that is completely unrelated to Harry Potter. Its publication date is September 27, 2012 and will be released by Little, Brown. And, instead of being YA (young adult), it will be published for adults. The title is The Casual Vacancy and here is the synopsis released by Little, Brown:
   

   When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils … Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

   I’m extremely excited that she is publishing another book. I’ve said in the past that I’ll read anything she publishes. And, while this story doesn’t seem quite up my alley as much as other books do, I’ll still read it simply because it’s written by her.

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 told myself I’d never go to another midnight showing because I’m too old and tired. But, getting the chance to see The Hunger Games on opening night with a bunch of my blogging buddies was too good to pass up!

Penelope from The Reading Fever coordinated the whole thing. She bought tickets at a theater with reserved seating, so we could all sit by each other and not have to be there until right before the movie started.

Before the movie, we went to a late dinner at Chili’s. (I was very careful with my calories that day, so I could enjoy a nice cup of soup. It was so yummy!) While we were there, Penelope had a reaping in which we won prizes. We definitely got a better deal in the reaping than the Tributes. I won an awesome Mockingjay pin, which I wore to the movie! She also gave all of us Team Katniss bracelets.

While at dinner, I met a fun new book blogger, Kami from Kami’s Library Thoughts. She’s really good friends with Emily from Emily’s Reading Room and decided to take the plunge and start a new book blog on March 1.

I wasn’t able to interact with everyone there, but I did get to see some of my favorite bloggers: Suey from It’s All About Books, Emily, Penelope, and Enna Isilee from Squeaky Books. I actually carpooled with Suey, two of her sisters, and her daughter and sat by her in the theater too.

It was a lot of fun and Penelope did an awesome job putting everything together! I’ll definitely be up for this when Catching Fire comes out in a couple of years! Thanks, Penelope, for your hard work!

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.

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Last Thursday, I had the chance to meet Marissa Meyer, the author of Cinder, at the Provo Library. I’ve wanted to read Cinder ever since I saw the cover. (I know I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but I love it!) When I found out Marissa Meyer was coming to my library, I was really excited. Unfortunately, with everything going on, I haven’t had a chance to read Cinder yet, but I do plan to read it soon.

Before the actual event hosted by the library, Utah book bloggers were invited to a meet-n-greet with Marissa Meyer. We got to sit down with her in a more personable setting and chat. We talked about our favorite books from last year, how she came up with the idea of Cinder, and a little about her writing history and routines. She’s been writing since she was 14 when she started to write fan fiction for Sailor Moon. She’s from Tacoma, Washington and just got married in October. Her husband and her publisher accompanied her on tour. It was a lot of fun to sit down before hand and get to know her a little bit in a more intimate setting.

At the actual event, she talked about Cinder and the future sequels. Each of them are based on futuristic retellings of a fairy tale. Cinder is based on Cinderella. Scarlet, the second book in the series, will be based on Little Red Ridinghood. Crest will be based on Rapunzel. And, Winter will be based on Snow White. Each book takes place in a different area of the world in which the stories are set, and Cinder will be the main character in each book, but she’ll encounter Scarlet, Crest, and Winter as she continues through her journey to overpower the Lunars.

Meyer said she pitched Cinder as a series because it was always meant to be four books. Even though a lot of fellow writers told her to just pitch it as one book and let agents and publishers decide, she didn’t want to deceive them by giving them Cinder, with its cliffhanger ending of sorts, and then be all like, “Oh yeah, it’s supposed to be four books.” Luckily, her agent and publisher saw the potential of the story and signed a deal for all four books.

She said she came up with the story as part of a contest. She wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo and noticed a contest with a prize of a walk-on role on Star Trek for the person who wrote the most words during NaNoWriMo. She wrote just over 150,000 words but still came in third place. But, a very early version of Cinder was the fruits of her labor so it wasn’t a total loss.

I’m excited to read Cinder. It sounds like something I’ll enjoy a lot and I look forward to the sequels as well. I really enjoyed meeting Marissa Meyer and getting to know her a little bit. All in all, it was a great evening with her and friends.

This year, I decided to sign up for the Book Blogger Holiday Swap. I thought it would be fun to participate.

My Secret Santa was Steph from Steph the Bookworm. I was so excited when I received my gift. Honestly, I had forgotten about it because I didn’t get an email about who my Santee was and thought that for whatever reason I may not have qualified. When my gift came, I started to panic and tracked down my Santee just in time to get something sent to them.

When I received my package, I didn’t realize it was for the Book Blogger Holiday Swap. So, I went right ahead and opened it. It wasn’t until I read the thoughtful card from Steph that I realized why I had received this anonymous package with awesome books in it. I wish I had realized so I could open it on Christmas. But, I’m still excited even though I opened it early.

My cat Dax decided she wanted to be in the picture with my gifts. I thought I should oblige so she didn’t take it out on my books. As you can see, Steph gave me five books, a cat bookmark, and a lovely card. The three books in the top of the picture were on my wishlist and the two in the bottom were books she added because she saw that I love historical fiction and romance. Really sweet of her, isn’t it? Thank you so much, Steph! I really appreciate the gift and the thought that went into it.

I’m excited to participate in the holiday swap next year. And, I can’t wait to see what my Santee thought of her gift.

I’m a guest blogger on my dear friend’s blog today–There’s a Book. I talk about my two favorite Christmas books. Hop on over and say hi!