January Sign-ups

Please sign-up here if you wish to be apart of the January mentee group. Please leave your name, email address, blog url, and how long you have been blogging. Additionally, if you have specific goals that you hope to accomplish by entering the program, please include those as well since this will help us best match you with a mentor. Thank you for your interest and we will be in touch!

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Please keep conversations limited to only your sign-up. While we love that you are getting to know your fellow bloggers, extra conversations that are not regarding sign-ups will be deleted. This is to help us be as efficient as possible. In addition, we have created a chat area for you to get to know your fellow mentees better. Thank you for your understanding.

Aloha!!!

I am a newbie blogger. Well, my blog is old from 2007, I think. Recently, I have 2 projects that I am interested in. HEre is what I posted in the "all about me" forum:

I have 2 projects underway.
1. My personal blog. The one I use now: http://chas-n-kai.blogspot.com/ is not the one I want to use in the long run. I have another blog that I secured the URL but I have not touched it yet. I dont know where to begin. This blog is titled "Books, Beaches, & Babies" or BBB. The blog will be all about my life. I love book, I love the beach, and I am a mother of a 3 and 5 yo. http://booksbeachesbabies.blogspot.com/

2. Book Blog. I am an officer for a Hawaii Twilight Fan Club: http://www.808twilighters.com/ we are the "808 Twilighters" pronounce eight- letter "o"-eight.
808 is Hawaii's area code. Anyhow, I want to head up the book club for our new group. Thus, I will be starting a blog for it. Right now, I am in the planning stages and stuck at 'What to name it?' I am hoping for a name close to our group name. Maybe "808 Pages."
If anyone has any blog name ideas.... please do share. I want to get as many ideas to present at the next meeting.





I hope I am posting in the right forum.

Chasity
honu_369@yahoo.com
http://chas-n-kai.blogspot.com/
http://booksbeachesbabies.blogspot.com/

I am semi-new. Like I said my chas-n-kai blog is old. I have been an author for the 808 Twilighters blog for over 6 months, but only recently have I been interested in more of the backdoor stuff... codes to make my blog more attractive and interactive (personal as well as future book blog one).




Mahalo!!!

Hopefully I'm posting this correctly.

I would love to have a blog mentor as my goal for 2010 is to make my blog better!

My name is Marie and my blog is Kids, Cats, Books and Chaos.

http://vmlay.wordpress.com/

I started the blog back in 2008 but ended up very sick for most of that year and spent a lot of time in the hospital -- and then again in early 2009 as well. Then I lost my job and, well, 2009 was a tough year all around. So I have not had the time to really work on my blog -- to figure out if I should stay where I'm at or move to a personal domain (not sure I can afford that but maybe), figure out where my blog fits among all the many blogs already out there, etc. You know, those big questions :-) Plus I need help in figuring out some of the small stuff -- like how on earth do I get a book cover to show up in my posts and how do I make my blog look better (although I do like the header since I'm a cat person :-)

Thanks!

Hi! My name is Patti and I'd love to be involved! I've been book blogging for about 6 months and I feel like I'm stuck. I could use some direction on reviewing and networking. I've tried a few things on my own in the past few days (joining twitter, facebook, and goodreads) but think I need some direction or pointers.

My book blog is: Book Addict: http://sleeplessinneworleans2.blogspot.com/

This is a brilliant idea, wishing you both much success,
Patti

Thanks Chas!

I really like your blog too, I love the darker background and the great header (and I really need to read Girl in the Arena, it's sitting in my TBR pile!)

I have no idea how to let people follow or subscribe to my blog -- that's one of those questions that I can't figure out even though it is probably obvious. I don't know if Wordpress will even let me unless I have my own domain -- I think that might be the problem -- sigh.

But I agree that it's nice to know that there are others who need some direction too. Sometimes it seems like every blog I look at is so well put together and has a place all figured out and I don't have a clue :-)

It would be awesome if you could have a follower thingie.
I have seen blog with the blogger following thing but it was not a blogspot account... so I hope there is something you can do w/o having to purchase your domain.

I love blogs with email subscription... all the other ones I have no clue how to use!=)

Thanks for the compliment.... I am actually planning to close that one soon and switch over to a different one. In fact, I may just create another user account because I dont want some of the blogs to link to one another....**still not sure what I'll do!

If you read Girl in the Arena before me shoot me a quick thumbs up or down.... I should be getting it on hold from the library soon!!=)

My blog addy is:
http://onemorefoggynotion.blogspot.com/

Email addy:
novasea@gmail.com

I started this blog a couple of days ago.

My goal is to create and maintain a blog about books and to do book reviews.

I would love to have a mentor.

I have two blogs (http://readingwithmomma.blogspot.com and http://madebymomma.blogspot.com).
For my book blog, I'd like to learn how to write better reviews and increase my readership. Perhaps, I could ideas on how to write interesting posts besides reviews.

Hi,

I started my blog, MandyCanRead, back in July, but after just a few posts, I stopped. Then back in October I think, I started it back up again. So because of this, I'm not sure if I'll qualify, but I figured, why not at least try.

One thing I'm looking to accomplish with this is more meaningful posts. Going by comments, my Waiting, Wanting, Wishing posts are my only really successful posts. I want to beable to walk away from this with the ability to post things that people would read and enjoy.

Also, I have a pretty basic knowledge of HTML and stuff. But sometimes, I just feel so lost and wish to have someone I can turn to to answer my questions.

Mostly, what I want is for someone to help motivate me. I have a problem with procrastinating, and might go a week or more without posting anything. And I'll have a bunch of books that I finshed, but never actually post a review, which makes me disappointed in myself.

Thanks,
Mandy

Hi! I'm Natalie from This Purple Crayon. My blog is about 6 months old, but I haven't been posting with very much regularity. I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to do with it.

I want the majority of the blog to be about what I'm reading, and I suppose "reviews" - but I don't know how formal I want to be with those. Mostly, I want to focus on personal reflection, but I don't know if that will appeal to readers. As for other content, I just don't know. I don't really do memes, so maybe I should pick some of those up. And I mostly just post whatever book-related things are on my mind. Do I need more structure? Something to keep readers coming back?

About me: I'm an aspiring middle/high school librarian, meaning I'm currently jobless but have high hopes for the 2010-2011 school year. I'm currently obsessed with all things faerie - so much that I should maybe include that somewhere on my blog. Harold and the Purple Crayon inspired my blog title because it's my favorite children's book - so much imagination in such a little boy! Of course, that's just one side of me - but probably all I want to share with the blogging community.

Thanks for stopping by, Chas. I'm not quite sure how or where to put a "Follow Me" link thing - part of the reason I need a mentor, I suppose!

Natalie- Oh, this one I know how to do. Go to blogger.com Click "layout". (its under your blog title, next to your picture) Scroll down a little and there will be a dashed out line of a box that says "add a gadget" inside, Click it, and a window pops up. In that window, click the little plus sign next to the "followers" option. Hope this helps. =)

Chas- Thank you, I'm going to go check your blog out right now. =)

Hi, I'm Kris. My new blog is Intetextual Chronicles.

I'd like to get this blog to be more book based, more reviews. Actually any reviews. I'd like to start reviewing books, learn how to review books properly.

I'd like for the blog to be at least semi-professional looking and sounding. Guess I'd like to work more on my writing as well.

Thanks, Mandy! I think I added the right one.

Hi! I just started my blog a week ago, Rantings of a Book Worm Couch Potato.

I'm looking for help navigating the blogosphere, finding readership for my blog, and figuring out ways to feature unique content. Also advice on writing useful book reviews would be helpful. Since I just started a week ago, now is the perfect time to get some guidance

Thanks!

I am very new to book blogging (only 1 week) so any help or suggestions to liven up my blog and teach me all the tricks would be very much appreciated.

Angie
By Book or By Crook http://bybookorbycrook.blogspot.com/

Hello my blog is Chocolate and Croissants-I have been blogging consistently for a year. I desperately need help with the technical aspects-coding, tags, gravatar-this is beyong GREEK to me. I am clueless.

I think I have the blogging part down okay-with respect to content and ideas-although new suggestions are always appreciated-but the technical part-you might as well put me back in high school calculus-no matter how hard I try it never makes sense.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Elisabeth. I have a library/book-related blog at http://www.ysprincess.blogspot.com
I started my blog last January, but have only recently (November) started keeping it updated.
I would like a mentor for basic advice on how to make my blog better, and to offer constructive criticism on my reviews.
If I need to do anything else, please let me know.

*My e-mail is soccer64@bellsouth.net

Hello. I have been writing reviews for a little bit now on a book club website. I just started my own blog with posting those reviews and book contests across the web. I really want to improve on my reviewing skills and also making my site look unique.

http://kpic724.wordpress.com
katlynpicard@yahoo.com

Hi,

Kathy B. here. I am with forwordsbooks at
http://forwordsbooks.com/

I started this blog back in September. It is based on a business I had about ten years ago. I am mostly looking for help in how to get people to my blog.

Thanks,

Kathy B.

Hey! I'm The1stdaughter (aka Danielle) from There's A Book. I'm a stay at home mom of two kiddos who both love to read and so do. My site has been up and going now for about 3 months. Though I may seem to look like I know what I'm doing, it's all an act, most of the time I'm just playing it by ear.

What I'm looking for:

• I'd love to have someone who could give me feedback on anything they think needs improving (reviews, broken links, about page, site look, etc.)
  
• I'd also love to have someone who could help me improve my Website Grade, which is currently only a 78, believe it or not.
  
• And just generally someone to give me advice and that I could do the same for in return.
  

If you think you can help, that would be beyond wonderful and I'd love you forever! Thanks so much! the1stdaughter at gmail dot com

Kate wrote:

Please leave your name, email address, blog url, and how long you have been blogging. Additionally, if you have specific goals that you hope to accomplish by entering the program, please include those as well since this will help us best match you with a mentor.

Moonbeam
rwjx2kahaj@juno.com
http://moonbeamamusings.blogspot.com/
started on January 1, 2010
finding a niche for my blog

Hi - I just started blogging in October......I do not have a lot of content yet though because I work ALOT in a non- book profession - so my time can be tight. But I read alot I am pretty technical - but not super knowledgeable of the blogosphere. Im really getting started with content, trying to figure out what makes a good, readable review, etiquette, getting readers, and just learning the ins and outs of this world. So I would love a 'mentor'

my site is www.plottings.net

my email is (hopefully assuming I set this up right ) admin@plottings.net

my name is Erin

Thanks

Hi! I'm Caitie

I've been blogging more consistently since October.

My blog is http://caitieflum.wordpress.com

My email is pubwrites@gmail.com

My goals are to make my site look better - it is also kind of blah right now. I also would like help on how to get more traffic and general feedback! Thanks!

So, it's been a couple weeks since the Bloggiesta, and I'm happy to say that I've worked pretty darn hard on improving my blog. What I'd like to focus on now is how to get people to read it!

My blog is not the typical kid/YA lit blog because I don't review ARCs, hold contests, do author interviews, etc. I feel like enough people do that well, and I'm not really interested in doing it myself. My focus, instead, is simply reflecting on what I'm reading (which just about always comes from my local library) and promoting the library in various ways. I've also joined a few challenges, which is totally new to me and seems to be taking up a lot of my time. I'm interested in some memes but haven't yet taken the plunge (I don't think). Is this enough to keep people coming back?

I'd also like some feedback on the look of my blog. My computer struggles to load pages with multiple sidebars and tons of pictures, so I really try to tone mine down.

Oh, and this is a bit minor, but I'd love to learn how to get my blogroll into a scrollable box instead of a ginormous list like it is now.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. My priority is developing an audience and keeping them happy.

http://thispurplecrayon.blogspot.com