Friday, December 30, 2011

Follow My Book Blog Friday Hop #17




Happy Follow Friday!!

And Happy New Year!!



This weekly feature is hosted by
Rachel at Parajunkee's View 
and 
Alison at Alison Can Read

Rachel not only has fabulous features,
but is a web designer
'par excellence'!!
Alison has a beautiful and very
interesting blog!


You can find the rules at the links above.
Join in the fun and make new blogging friends!!




This week's featured blogs are:







and


Kristin Can Read!!!!







This week's question is:


The New Year is here — and everyone
wants to know your New Year's
Blogging Resolution!
What are you going to try
to revise, revamp and redo
for 2012 on your blog?


Interesting question!  This is an issue that's been on my back burner for a while now...

I have learned a lot since I first started blogging, which obviously meant some risk-taking on my part, and it's been pretty exciting. However, I don't want to drastically revamp things at this point in time.  That's because I'm no computer geek!  True, I've managed to get this far without major mishaps, but I'm still too scared I might make a huge mistake during "a revamping session", and then all my hard work would go down the drain!  (Hey, I think being honest always pays off in the end, so I'm being very upfront here.)  Therefore, I won't be making any dramatic changes to my blog, such as switching to a new template, or completely re-designing the whole blog.  Besides, I happen to love the current template, with its cosmic blue background!  (And I love the color blue, period.  I'm not contemplating changing my color scheme at all, either.) 

I have been changing my header from time to time, as well as rearranging things in my sidebar.  I'll continue to do that.  I love to change book widgets occasionally, for instance.

One thing I've been mulling over, though, is the possibility of hosting book tours.  I'm researching a couple of tour sites, to see if I'll be able to do this.  Tours would add more variety to my blog, and I know that readers love to hear about new authors, especially if an interview/giveaway package is included!  However, time is a very important factor for me, since I hold down two jobs.  Blogging is so time-consuming!  I do love it, of course, but it does take a lot of time to keep up a blog.  Along with that comes promotion of one's blog, as well as commenting on and following other blogs, etc.  But I am seriously considering the possibility.

In regards to the blogging community, I am fully committed to following back those who follow me, as well as commenting on those blogs whose creators have commented on mine.  So I will continue to do this to the best of my ability, because I believe it's the courteous thing to do.  I will also strive to continue replying to comments made on my posts -- not only here on my blog, but on the commenters' blogs, as well.  Yes, doing this takes up more time, I know, but again, I think it's the courteous thing to do.   It's also important for me to try to comment more often on other blogs, and I will certainly work on this, since I do feel I need to do more of it.

I would also like to host more giveaways, although that, too, can be a problem because of the time factor.  However, I will soon be using Rafflecopter, which will definitely expedite this process! 

Another of my goals for 2012 is to post more reviews!  It's ironic that I would say that, I think, because I've noticed that reviews don't get that many comments.  However, I do enjoy writing them!  In order to do more of them, though, I need to read more books, and I go right back to the time problem...and I'm not a fast reader.  I've never been interested in speed reading courses, either.  Reading more slowly means that one really gets to  savor a book.  But what's a book blog primarily for, if not for posting book reviews?  So I've got to do something about reading a little bit faster...

Yet another possibility is to cook up a couple of new book memes, perhaps combining them with blog hops, although, in my experience, it hasn't been easy to get people interested in joining new book memes/blog hops.

Well, as you've just found out, I'm not planning a drastic re-designing of my blog, although I do want to add some variety to it.  You can look forward to new headers periodically.  (I might revert to an older header every now and then, too, if it's one I'm really fond of.)

I sure do hope my present followers continue to enjoy this blog, and I also hope to attract new ones!








15 comments:

  1. All the best with your resolution and in 2012 in general.
    New follower.

    Here's our #FF post

    Maja @ The Nocturnal Library

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  2. I wish you all the best, too, as your blog grows! Happy New Year!! Thank you so much for the comment and the follow!! :)

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  3. Hi, Shelagh! You're very welcome!! Yes, you're probably right about comments on reviews... When I read a GREAT review, though, I always leave a comment, because I LOVE reading such reviews! If I don't like a review, then I do move on, because I avoid leaving negative comments. When I do write something negative, I try to balance it with a positive statement, or write the negative comment in such a way that the blogger won't feel bad. Most of the time, I do try to avoid negative comments completely.

    Thank you for such a wonderful comment, and for following!!! YAY!! I'm going back to your blog to make sure I'm following. If not, I will!!

    I sure hope you, too, have a wonderful year, in the blogging world, as well as personally!!! : )

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  4. Happy New Year, Maria. From the looks of it, it seems that 2012 will be a busy and productive year for you. I'm glad to have met you in the blogosphere. Keep those reviews coming! When you have that blog tour set up, let me know; I might sign up. Have a safe blast! :-)

    All the best,
    Nancy @ Simple Clockwork
    http://www.nancycudis.com

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  5. Happy New Year!! :-)

    Great thoughts heading into 2012! Love your up-to-date banner!! :-D

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  6. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and for your kind comments! I think your goals are great as well. I've thought about hosting some book tours, but like you I haven't had the time to dedicate to planning that. Maybe this year. If you do start, good luck!

    Happy New Year to you!

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  7. Great goals. I too get a little nervious changing too much on my blog because I don't want to ruin everything by accident. Thanks for hopping by my blog. New follower.

    http://readingandwritingurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/

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  8. Thank you for the follow!

    I agree, no changing the cosmic blue, it's lovely.

    And yes, blogging does take up a lot of time- time that could be spent reading!- but it's also really enjoyable.

    Lynsey @ http://urbanfantasybookreviews.blogspot.com/

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  9. Happy New Year to you, too, Nancy! It was nice to meet you as well!

    Yes, I do hope that this year will be a very productive one for my blog. And I sure will try to post more reviews. Gotta get more books read! Lol.

    I'll be sure to let you know when I do decide to host a book tour.

    Hope you also have a GREAT year for your blog! Thanks for the comment!! : )

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  10. Happy New Year to you, too, Burgandy! Thanks for your super nice comment!!! : )

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  11. Hey, Christin! You're very welcome! Your blog really deserves them!!

    Yes, I think book tours are very interesting, and they definitely add variety to a blog. I'll be sure to keep updated on yours, if you ever do any, as well as let you know about mine, if I do start hosting them.

    Thanks for the comment, and Happy New Year to you, too!! : )

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  12. Hey, Jennifer! Glad you agree about changing things too much on one's blog. It could turn out to be disastrous!!

    You're very welcome! And thanks for commenting and becoming a follower!!

    Happy New Year!! : )

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  13. You're very welcome for the follow, Lynsey! I LOVE your beautiful blog, and hope you get many more followers!

    The template and background I'm using are provided by Blogger. I tried out a couple of backgrounds before this one, and didn't like them. Finally I settled on the present one. Besides being blue -- and it contains very beautiful shades of this beautiful color -- it does remind me of the universe. Hence my pet name for it, lol. It also reminds me of the night, which goes perfectly with my blog name and theme. I'm not the only blogger using this background, but I do have a blue overlay, which no other blog has! Glad you like this background!

    As for blogging itself, of course I find it VERY enjoyable. It's too bad it does take time away from reading, though...but I wouldn't stop blogging for the world!! Like reading, it gives meaning to my life!!!

    Thanks for the comment, and Happy New Year!! : )

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  14. Hi just stopping by some blogs I missed on Follow Friday.

    Happy New Year! I love the banner. :)

    My FF

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  15. Hey, Sam! HAPPY NEW YEAR to you, too! Thanks for the compliment and the follow!!!

    Heading on over to your FF now!! : )

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