2009: A Good Year

Dear 2009,

You've been good to me. I laughed. I cried. I whined. I chatted. I critiqued. I wrote. I jumped off the ledge a lot. And every moment was worth it.

I wrote three books, one completely by hand. Another on the computer. One in ebook format. And I finished a fourth novel, one that was born in 2008, but that you helped me "grow up."

I queried. Oh, how I queried. And I cried. And laughed. And squeed. And whined. And chatted. And jumped. And every moment was worth it.

Because I signed.

I revised. Oh, how I revised. The last quarter of this year has seen my MS grow and grow and grow until I can't even believe it's the same book I queried.

I blogged. Dude, I can blog. Not only for QueryTracker, but here too. Every day. Five days a week. Very few breaks. I read blogs. Commented on blogs. Followed blogs. Thank you, 2009 for an amazing year of new bloggy friends--321 of them, all from this year. In fact, I had to create a new list just for them. It grows daily. I smile. And read.

Next year is sure to be just as awesome. I look forward to conferences, submissions, reading amazing books, meeting online friends and leaving reviews.

Yes, 2009, you read that right. I know I haven't left a single review this year for any of the books you blessed me with. Even though I said I would. Even though I thought about it. But next year is my year. I'm going to leave reviews for every book I read on Amazon or Goodreads.

It's one thing I can do that I'm not doing now. (And really, 2010, with everything else you hold, one more thing is probably all I can handle.)

Thanks, 2009, for the excellentness you were.

Sincerely,

Elana

Speed Blogging: Tips From a Blogaholic

Okay, so I posted on Facebook last week that I'd just read AND commented on 30 blogs. How long did it take? 30 minutes.

Scott provided the title of this post when he said, "Speed blogging!"

So I give you, Speed Blogging, Tips From A Blogoholic:

1. You need a blog list you can click from quickly. This is one of the many reasons why I created my Wicked Awesome Bloggers list. I go to that blog and viola! Every blog I care most about reading is there. In order of their last post.

2. Quickly click on every blog you wanna read. They'll open in a new window. This is good for you. Sometimes I have 40 windows open. This might freak some of you out. It's okay. Deep breaths.

3. And go! Read the post. Comment. Close window. Guess what? The next blog pops right up, where it was waiting in the background. No extra clicking. Read post. Comment. Close window. Rinse and repeat.

The end.

I can usually go through the morning's posts (up to 30-40 blogs) during my 35-minute lunch break. That includes heating up my lame leftovers and using the restroom.

I then do a nightly round of blog reading. This usually consists of making sure I go to the blogs of people who leave me comments, and anyone else who didn't post by 11:45 AM. I probably spend 60 minutes, TOPS, reading blogs. And I probably read and comment on 45 - 60 blogs every single day.

And that's it. Speed blogging. It's all in spending that 3 minutes to get the windows all open. Then it's click, read, comment. Done!

What tips do you have for reading a lot of blogs in a short amount of time? Lay it on me, I'm all about the speed blogging, baby.

Oh, and I just wanna say that I'm at 6800 words for NaNo. Hold the applause. Ha ha!