Bloggiesta: The Finish Line... or is it?

All I can say (use your best Spanish accent, por favor) is it's been one muy, muy bueno Bloggiesta and it's time for me to take a siesta!

I have learned so much and (you can stop with the Spanish accent now) I can't even begin to thank all the wonderful bloggers who have challenged me and helped set me on the path to being a "real" blogger.

To be honest, I had no idea that there was so much out there. I've read a blog here and there but up until now, I've been inclined to reach for printed material. I love wrapping my hands and my mind around my reading. I'm not sure I'm ready to go totally hands free but I've been given incentive to put the book down, every now and then.

Let me begin my recap by saying, Natasha, you sure know how to throw a fiesta! Gracias! I can't wait to spend more time at Maw Books.

Now for a summary of what I've been doing for the 18 or so hours I spent at Bloggiesta.

I'll start with the Flashback Mini-challenges.

Thanks to Rebecca at The Book Lady's Blog I now know what a feed reader is and have started mine. I've added quite a few feeds over the last three days. I suppose next Bloggiesta I'll be spending time deleting some of those new feeds.

Beth at Beth Fish Reads gave me some great ideas for post styles that I can use. Thanks to Beth I also know how to save and schedule posts for later.

Jill at Fizzy Thoughts encouraged me to visit other blogs and leave comments. I did visit some blogs but spent most of my time working on my own. I've got the "comment" task on my list of things to develop. It's a long list!

I learned about vanity tags and why I should use them from Emily Emily's Reading Room. I took her advice and hooked some up.

Deborah at Books, Movies, and Chinese Food let me know that if I want to talk about my blog, I need to figure out what to say. I'm working on that. Finding a niche and figuring out my elevator pitch go on the list.

The world of blogging directories was unlocked for me by Lynn atChronicle of an Infant Bibliophile. I didn't sign up for any because I'm not sure where I belong. Finding that niche just moved to the top of the list.

One of my favorite mini-challenges was from Trish at Hey Lady! Watcha Readin'? . Check out my new favicon!

You can see from this post what I learned from Michelle at Galley Smith. Anchor text is pretty cool.
After learning about anchor text, I was thrilled with Andrea's mini-challenge at Book Blather. I spent a bit more time learning about HTML.

Ruth's mini-challenge Bookish Ruth.
wasn't so mini for me. I almost skipped it but I poured myself a shot of tequila and went for it. I got a 13/100 on the website grader. I got some great suggestions for improvement and there are some websites worse than mine out there. If you can believe it!

That brought us to the current mini-challenges.
Rebecca at The Book Lady's Blog suggested we start by setting goals. I feel like I learned so much more than I ever expected. While my camera and computer still aren't speaking, the website grader says I have too many pictures anyway!

I loved Danielle's mini-challenge at There's a Book. My cheat sheet is open and growing larger with each blog I visit.

Pam at Bookalicio.us educated me about the importance of protecting what's mine. You can see that I took her advice if you go to the bottom of the page. Now I know what a footer is.

Labels were new to me too. I'm so glad Beth at Beth Fish Reads helped me get those started the right way.

Since my blog is only a few days old, I hadn't even thought about what would happen if I lost it. Jackie at Farm Lane Books made sure that will never be a problem. She also gave me another bit of information to add to my cheat sheet.

I was reminded by Chelle atPersephone Reads to take pride in my work. Even though I haven't written much, it was good to pick out something I liked best.

Kristen at Book Worming in the 21st Century and Kate at The Never Ending Shelf are amazing! I'm excited about the Bloggie Cult as a resource to help me improve my blog. There's nothing like having a place to learn. Take a look over to the right to see what I learned at The Never Ending Shelf. That up arrow is really cool, huh?!

Brainstorming ideas was the mini-challenge at Jenns Book Shelves. I'm excited to say that I've got way more than 10 ideas on my brainstorming paper.

So that's about 18 hours, 17 mini-challenges, I have no clue how many comments and a ton of learning. I loved the world of blogging that I entered as I completed these mini-challenges. This was a wonderful experience for a beginner like me.

I am muy, muy pleased that I joined the Bloggiesta. Ole!