Weekly Geeks 2009-41

In honor of Halloween, this week's assignment is a guest post from our scariest Weekly Geek: Dark, of It's Dark in the Dark. (You can see a picture of him, all decked out in his new Halloween cape, here).

First I would like to thank the kind folks behind the Weekly Geeks for inviting me to emcee the Weekly Geeks on Halloween. It's a real honor.

There's a particular story about cooking that I've heard enough versions of that I think it must be an urban myth. In this story, the victim is, alternatively, a frog, a lobster, or an abalone. The story is that instead of dropping the victim into a pot of boiling water to cook them, you should place them in luke-warm water over a fire and they never notice that the temperature is rising until it's too late, and then BAM! they're dinner. I always imagine that if you were cooking two lobsters this way, one would eventually turn to the other and ask, "Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?"

Fortunately, I'm not going to find myself in a crock pot any time soon (at least not if I can help it) but lately I've been finding myself wondering if it isn't getting a little WEIRD and CREEPY in here. What with books about vampires (Twilight) and orphaned wizards (Harry Potter) in the mainstream, and a book about a child raised by vampires, werewolves, and ghosts (The Graveyard Book) being on the New York Times children’s best seller list for 52 weeks, it seems like maybe I'm right.

At the same time, I'm a real fan of the weird and creepy and I seek it out. So maybe asking me if things are a little weird in here is like asking a fish if the water feels a little wet today. Maybe my barometer is under water.

1) Tell us about something weird, unusual, terrifying, or creepy you've read lately.

2) Tell us what you think. Are things getting a little more weird and creepy than usual, or less? If your choice for the answer to question number 1 was written in a different decade, what does it say about that era? Maybe you think that the weird and creepy is status quo. Or maybe we’re all like lobsters in a pot, and we can’t tell if things are getting hot in here.

Happy Halloween!

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Opening the Toolbox: WG 2009-40 Round-up

This week, Ruth's question to Weekly Geeks concerned how we stay organized and inspired in our reading and blogging:

Book blogging, as a concept, is essentially pretty simple: If you have Internet access and an opinion about a book, you can be a book blogger. However, actually maintaining a book blog is much more complicated -- our blogs are labors of love that require a lot of time, energy and devotion. For this edition of Weekly Geeks, I want to focus on the little things that make your blogging and/or reading life a bit easier. Do you use sites like GoodReads, LibraryThing or Shelfari to organize your books? Do you swear by Book Darts? Couldn't live without your Book Buddy? Love connecting with other bloggers on sites such as Twitter? Tell us about what makes your blog tick. Is there something specific that keeps you organized or inspired?

There was one very popular response about a source of inspiration: other book bloggers! Getting ideas about what to read next, exchanging comments about what we've read and written - it seems like it always comes back to community.

Geeks shared some of the practical things that keep their blogging and reading going, too. I'm always impressed to see how many book bloggers track their reading activity on spreadsheets. I'm an accountant in my non-blogging professional life, and I work with spreadsheets all the time - and yet it never crossed my mind to use them in connection with my reading! (There's the "inspiration from other bloggers" kicking in.)

In addition to spreadsheets, the online-library websites are very helpful too. Suey of It's All About Books and Sarah from Puss Reboots are both active GoodReads users, while Trisha of eclectic/eccentric and Jennie at Biblio File organize their books with LibraryThing.

On the blogging side of things, Kerrie of Mysteries in Paradise is a fan of XnView image software for online editing of pictures for her posts. Erotic Horizon composes posts using Windows Live Writer and then pastes them into her blogging software, and finds a lot of inspiration and advice in the Book Blogs Ning group.

Thanks to everyone who shared "tools of the trade" this week! There will NOT be a new Weekly Geeks theme posted this weekend because the 24-Hour Read-a-thon is going on all day tomorrow. But please don't forget to check back for a new WG next Saturday, October 31...will it be something Halloween-themed? You'll have to come by and find out!

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Weekly Geeks 2009-40: Tools of the Trade

Book blogging, as a concept, is essentially pretty simple: If you have Internet access and an opinion about a book, you can be a book blogger. However, actually maintaining a book blog is much more complicated -- our blogs are labors of love that require a lot of time, energy and devotion. For this edition of Weekly Geeks, I want to focus on the little things that make your blogging and/or reading life a bit easier. Do you use sites like GoodReads, LibraryThing or Shelfari to organize your books? Do you swear by Book Darts? Couldn't live without your Book Buddy? Love connecting with other bloggers on sites such as Twitter? Tell us about what makes your blog tick. Is there something specific that keeps you organized or inspired?

After you write your post, come back here and sign Mr. Linky. Be sure to visit your fellow Geeks throughout the week. Who knows, perhaps you'll discover a few new tools of the trade.

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Round-Up for Weekly Geeks 2009-39

This weeks participants in Weekly Geeks were asked to explore book recommendations. Becky wrote:

So your assignment this week, if you choose to play along, is to ask your readers for recommendations. Choose a genre--any genre--and ask for recommendations. You can be as general or as specific as you like. Consider it as an "I'm looking for...."

The second part of the assignment is to write a list of recommendations and share them with your readers. Choose a genre--any genre--and share your list of favorites. I think of this as "If you're looking for...."

Here are just a few of the great responses we got...

Bunny from Bookosaurus Rex joined us for the first time (Welcome to Weekly Geeks, Bunny!). She asked readers for recommendations of Victorian literature- 'as in, something actually written during and set in the Victorian era' Her list of favorite books with a Victorian setting includes: Tipping the Velvet AND Fingersmith...both by Sarah Waters, The Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libby Bray, and The Ruby in the Smoke by Phillip Pullman.

Megan from Leafing Through Life loves historical fiction. She wants to explore an historical fiction sub-genre involving kings and queens and knights and court intrigues and would love your recommendations. In exchange, she shared some of her five star historical fiction books including: Sweetsmoke by David Fuller, A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly, and The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy.

Bernadette at Reactions to Reading is looking for some audio-book recommendations. She writes:

Listened to anything lately that has left you breathless? speechless? teary? joyful? bent over with laughter? If so, let me know. Tell me what book you listened to and what you loved about the experience (if you can please tell me the name of the book, author and narrator as there are often different narrators of the same book and I want to share your exact experience if I can).

Erotic Horizon is an eclectic reader looking for recommendations for good crime fiction, M/M, Urban Fantasy and Paranormal. She also writes that although self-help is not her favorite thing to read, she is 'open to reading books that give you a chance to open you inner eyes and rethink just about everything of your life or the people who revolves around you. Also world folklore would be nice as well.'

Trisha at Eclectic/Eccentric gave us some great recommendations for non fiction, personal essays and short stories including Stiff by Mary Roach, Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, The Latin Deli by Judith Ortiz Cofer. In return she looking for good Contemporary Literary Fiction...'stories published in the last fifteen years or so that aren't YAL, SFF, non-fiction, romance, etc.'

This is only a small smattering of responses to this week's Weekly Geeks. It is never too late to join in!

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Weekly Geeks 2009-39

I wanted to talk this week about book recommendations. Where do you go for book recommendations? How often do you challenge yourself to get out of your comfort zone? How often do you read outside your favorite-and-best genre? How often do you try a new-to-you author? How often do you take a chance? This week, I'd like to offer you a few opportunities.

So your assignment this week, if you choose to play along, is to ask your readers for recommendations. Choose a genre--any genre--and ask for recommendations. You can be as general or as specific as you like. Consider it as an "I'm looking for...."

The second part of the assignment is to write a list of recommendations and share them with your readers. Choose a genre--any genre--and share your list of favorites. I think of this as "If you're looking for...."

I'm hoping that some really great books get recommended this week! Did you add any new books or authors to your wish list? If you'd like you can write a wrap-up post mentioning which books you're thinking about reading based on this week's weekly geek.

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Roundup for Weekly Geeks 2009-38

This week's Weekly Geek suggestion was to make your blog more reader friendly. I love when people take the Weekly Geek topic and make it their own. It just goes to show how creative you all are.

*Care welcomed new people to her blog with a letter, including a tour of her blog.

*Gautami offered her own blogging tips with an important reminder to back up our blogs.

*Suey loved Care's idea and wrote a letter to readers. She also made a glossary with many book blogging terms.

*Pussreboots, an old pro at this blogging thing, made a Weekly Geeks checklist.

Thanks once again for participating in Weekly Geeks. If you'd like to offer suggestions for weekly themes, please Contact Us with your ideas.

Also, another project started by Dewey The 24 Hour Read-a-thon will be held on October 24th. Please sign up for this fun event. There are almost 200 participants already!

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Weekly Geeks: 2009-38

Two conversations inspired this Weekly Geeks. First, during Book Bloggers Appreciation Week, Amy asked us to write about our blogging goals. I noticed many people's goal was to acquire a larger readership*. Then during a Twitter conversation Natasha from Maw Books said she was told by a non-book blogger that book blogs were confusing. Which brings me to our topic.

Take a look at your blog as if you were someone who has never seen a blog before. Imagine they are looking for something specific. Could they find it? Could they find YOU again? Be able to contact you? Would they understand your jargon?

With these questions in mind, start making your blog more reader friendly. You can do as much as upload a new template to adding a subscription button. Here are some ideas:

*Add meta tags to help people find your blog.
*Add a RSS feed button.
*Add a contact page.
*Make sure as many people as possible can comment on your posts.
*Make your blog searchable.
*Check your links.
*Explain your rating system, if you have one.
*Create a glossary if you use a lot of blogger acronyms ie- BBAW, BTT, ARC.

These are just suggestions. There are probably a million more. Check out Blogging Tips on the Book Blogger's Ning for more ideas and advice.

After you've accomplished all you can, write a post telling us what you did or even what you plan to do down the road on your blog to help your readers.

Now if you haven't thought about your goals, it's a good time to do so. Maybe you haven't thought about readership, maybe you could care less! Then where do you see your blog in a year. How do you plan to accomplish that? Write a post about it.

*Adding Google Analytics to your blog will help you figure out who your current readers are and how they found your blog.

Good luck and have fun!

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Roundup for Weekly Geeks 2009-37

Last week Ali asked us to step outside our comfort zone and go in search of blogs that were different from ones we usually hang out in -- different in terms of:

• race and/or ethnicity, religion, cultural background, age, etc. from you
• Live the farthest from you
• Have entirely different tastes in books from you (but you love their blog anyway)

And if we were unable to come up with a blog that fit and of the descriptions, we were to write a "personals ad" on our blog looking for Mr or Ms Outside our Norm.

Ali also suggested that if we felt our blogs were somehow in the minority, to blog about that experience.

There were only a handful of participants for this challenge - I won't begin to analyze what that means!

• Maree opted for a personal ad - and you'd better like cats to make it into her inner circle!
• At Mysteries in Paradise, Kerrie has some really interesting pie charts on her post showing the percentages of English speaking readers vs other languages (for which she provides Google translation). Though English is the highest by far, a wide range of countries is represented. (Nice charts, Kerrie!)
• Gautami invited us all to visit her in New Delhi, India! She knows of only a few other book bloggers in India. She listed several blogs she likes to visit that focus on very different books than what she generally reads. And you must read her personal ad! I learned a lot about her from that bit.
  
• Sarah joined Weekly Geeks for the first time this week - welcome Sarah! She highlighted a couple of blogs that have inspired her to give genre fiction another try.
  
• Puss Reboots combined the Weekly Geek assignment with doling out awards to several blogs she thought fit the theme.
  

Nice job, all you participants and commenters! And thanks, Ali, for introducing us to the CORA Diversity Roll Call over at Color Online. Check out this blog that "focuses on women writers of color for adults YA and children."

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