More To Consider

Okay, I've gotten a lot of great emails from you guys re: blogging. Thank you! I love reading and responding to them. And you guys are like, writing my posts for me, so there's that too. *smiles*

So I thought I'd share a little bit more. Just things that personally annoy me (like the neonity of blogs) or that I think make blogging harder. And we all know that we don't want our blog to be hard to like or hard to read or hard to comment on.

So consider:

1. Music. Please, don't. I often (very often) have music on already, and I don't want to listen to yours. Rude? Probably. (Sorry!) It's okay to have a player, but set it so it doesn't start automatically. Then, if I'm interested in your music, I can have the freedom of choice to play it myself.

2. Comment verification. I know this can be a tricksy little bugger. If you feel like you MUST use it (I recently took mine off, and have less than 5 anonymous spam comments), please use the pop-up window that already has the word in it.

If you're opposed to pop-up windows for some reason, use the full-page form with the word already in it. Waiting for my verification word to load is annoying. Like, seriously annoying.

Here's how you do that:
1. From your dashboard, go to SETTINGS and then COMMENTS of the blog you want to alter (Hey, I have four).
2. In the COMMENT FORM PLACEMENT choose either "Full page" or "Pop-Up Window."
3. Scroll down.
4. In the COMMENT MODERATION area, choose "Older than [fill in blank] days." Then you can approve all comments on posts that are over a certain number of days old. Mine's set at 14 right now, just because that's the blogger default, I think. That way, if someone is commenting on posts older than 2 weeks, I must approve them.
5. Right below that, in SHOW WORD VERIFICATION FOR COMMENTS? choose "No." Of if you must, say yes, and if you've chosen full page or pop-up window, at least then I don't have to wait for your verification word to load before I can sub my comment.

Easy peasy. And this will make your blog an easier, happier place to leave comments. At least for me.

3. Follower widget. For the love, put it at the top of your blog. I don't want to scroll through a millionty awards to follow you.

What else? I feel like I've dispelled all my bloggy opinions/knowledge, so I think this might conclude this whole blogging series. Me = *panic face* What am I going to blog about now?? Guess I better put on my "What If?" hat.

Contest: Are You a Word Wizard?

*nods* Yes, yes I think you are. I've done this before, and it was such fun! There's so many funny, talented people out there. And yes, because I am lame, I basically took what I wrote in that post and copied it here. I am only original on Thursdays and sometimes Saturdays. LOL.

Today I'm hosting my SECOND Comment Contest! This is gonna be so much better than the first one, so I hope you've brought your delicious A-game to the table today. If not, never fear! This contest will be open for a few days so if you're currently playing your B-game, maybe you could take a nap or have a refreshing beverage before participating.

Rules That Must Be Followed:
1. Leave a comment on THIS post.

2. The comment has to be a single sentence. Not two. Not three. Not even a one-word second sentence. One sentence. Em-dashes, commas, hyphens, and semi-colons are encouraged and may earn you extra points. Or maybe not.

3. The sentence must use your verification word in it in a unique and interesting way. Oh, and it must make sense. (Side note: NO CHEATING. You get the word you get, and you can't throw a fit. That's what I tell the kids at school. This means no exiting the page because you "don't like" your verification word. I have no way to police this, so police yourselves people.)

4. Post said sentence with said verification word by Sunday, June 7.

5. Since I am the queen of Mindless Musings, I will choose the one that makes me spray Sprite out my nose the most and meet you back here with the dripping wet winner sometime next week.

6. This contest is open to anyone. Writers, non-writers, boys, girls, facebook addicts, non-twitterers, professional blog readers, everyone. Because of this, please make sure your entry is PG. And spread the word! I want to laugh my fool head off this first week of summer vacay! Okay? Okay.

7. The prize? $10 gift card at Barnes and Noble.

Ready? Set...Go!

Comment Contest Winner!

This was so much fun for me! If you didn't see my first post on how all this comment-wackiness came about, check it out here and here.

So onto the contest! There were many funny entries. I loved them all.

Like this one by Lisa. "I am not allowed to eat burnt toast, it gives me the RESHIES." It's a standing joke with my family that I eat my toast "burnt." It's so not burnt. It's simply brown. Yet I've been teased about "burning my toast" for twelve years. So the inside joke is pretty durn funny.

Mandie cracks me up just because of who she is. Her comment was priceless. "Gramma wished me Mazel Tov while I was sitting on my tuchus in the SMAZI--oy vey!" Even though I'm not entirely sure what it means, she had me at tuchus and then that oy vey! LOL.

Now, I'm really torn. I'm going to choose a winner from the five finalists below.

1. I loved Mary Lindsey's comment. "CONANTER the Barbarian gazed dolefully at his broadsword as he donned the pale pink tu-tu, regretting the loss of the bet with his older brother, Conan." I mean, how funny is that?

2. But I love Cole Gibsen's too. Another inside thing, but it is FUN-nee. "nonsc –verb (used with object)
1. Nonsc is what LOL cats do when their mouths are too sticky with peaunut butter to nom." And I sorta think she should get bonus points for defining that it's a verb. That went a long way in my teacher book.

3. Archetype had me at "Dude." Usually anything with "dude" will win me over. "Dude, have you seen those awesome GRASTSHI hedges they used to write Elana's name?"

4. Then Authoress joined the party with "MENAR at the root of every evil in a woman's life." Couldn't. Stop. Laughing. Then she posted "Indiana Smith, archaeological hero wannabe, burst into the chamber, startling the bound and blindfolded heroine, who cried, "UNTSTI me, you fool!"" Indiana Smith? Awe-some! UNTSTI me? Holy made of awesome.

5. And Ali's "I'm an idiot and cannot think of an hillarious way to use the word FIGHTIVE so I giveupive." made my day. I'm going to have to start putting -ive at the end of everythingive. Or maybe notive. LOL.


And the winner is...Mary Lindsey! I just can't get over CONANTER. I sorta want to name my next hero Conanter. He could go by "Co" for short. Or "Nanter." Now that's funny!

Mary wins the $10 Barnes and Noble gift card! Yay! Email me at elanajohnson (at) gmail (dot) com for instructions...WOOT!

Comment Contest Closed

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first comment contest! It is now officially over.

Yay! I laughed many, many times. I will be back later today with the winner!

Comment Contest!

Hello my peeps. Today I'm hosting my first Comment Contest! This is gonna be awesome, so I hope you've donned yourself in the appropriate attire. Bathing suit, seatbelts, battle armor, whatev.

Da Rules:
1. Leave a comment on THIS post.

2. The comment has to be a single sentence. Not two. Not three. Not even a one-word second sentence. One sentence. Em-dashes, commas, hyphens, and semi-colons are welcome at this party.

3. The sentence must use your verification word in it in a unique and interesting way. Oh, and it must make sense. (Side note: NO CHEATING. You get the word you get, and you can't throw a fit. That's what I tell the kids at school. This means no exiting the page because you "don't like" your verification word. I have no way to police this, so police yourselves people.)

4. Post said sentence with said verification word by Friday, January 23 at 12 Noon MST. For those of you slightly math-challenged, that's 2PM Eastern, 11 AM Pacific.

5. Since I am the queen of Mindless Musings, I will choose the one that makes me spray Sprite out my nose the most and meet you back here with the dripping wet winner Friday evening. Or Saturday morning. Or whenever I get through the entries.

6. This contest is open to anyone. Writers, non-writers, boys, girls, band geeks, professional couch potatoes, everyone. Because of this, please make sure your entry is PG. And spread the word! I want to laugh this weekend!

7. The prize? $10 gift card at Barnes and Noble.

Ready? Set...Go!