Saturday, June 1, 2013

Schedule of Events!

It's day one of the blogathon, and as you read this, I'm likely moving boxes into my new apartment and cursing stairs.  So, unfortunately, this entry is a bit of a cop-out, but also a chance to tell you, gentle reader, what to expect in the next month.  During the month of the blogathon, there are theme days every now and then, some of them are fun, others are a bit ridiculous (remember my personal finance haiku?)  There are a lot of things going on over the month, and you can see the full list here, but I mostly focus on the theme days.

June 5 - Theme Day #1. Participants are encouraged to write on the same theme: My 5 favorite apps. The post could be about apps you use for writing — or keeping yourself away from distractions while writing — smartphone apps, or plugins or widgets that you use to run your blog. Don’t use apps? Find out about some that you’d be interested in trying and write about them, or ask friends for their recommendations.  Theme days don’t fit into everyone’s blogs, so it’s up to you whether or not you play along.

---I will not be participating in this theme day because I do not have a smart phone or iPad and am app-less!  If someone wants to contribute a guest post on this theme, that would rock!

June 17 - Theme Post Day #2. We’re trying something new for the second theme day — asking everyone to record and post a video. More and more video content is being posted on YouTube, websites and blogs — why get left behind? Don’t worry if you haven’t ever done a video blog post before. I’ll be sharing tips in a post on June 6 so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare. And remember, you don’t have to participate in theme days if it doesn’t fit your blog or comfort level.

--Hmm, another one I will not participating in.  Since I work with the public, and have had far too many creepy men express an inappropriate level of interest in me over the years, I do not put my face on the internet.  Also, I hate to be photographed, always have.

June 24 - Haiku Day. A day devoted to writing a three-line poem — who knew this simple throwback to grade-school English class could be so popular? Yet in the two years since we added it, it’s become one of the highlights of the month. Pick the topic of your choice and write about it in this Japanese poem form. Find out more about it on this how to write haiku page and read these haiku examples from a previous blogathon.

--I'm actually looking forward to this one!  Strangely, my  haiku post from two years ago was my most-read post up until I wrote about How to Do a Juice Fast Without Spending $150 on a Juicer.

June 30 – Word Cloud Day. Use Wordle or another word cloud tool to turn your words into a picture. If you’re not sure what a word cloud is or how to create one, read these instructions. Then go relax, your blogging work for the day — and month — is done. Participants who posted all 30 days will be able to collect an “I did it!” badge to display on their blogs. Watch for details on the WordCount Facebook page.

--Always a fun time.  Man, I can spend hours playing with wordle--it's nice to have an excuse!

What are you most looking forward to for the blogathon?

2 comments:

  1. All right! looking forward to the blogathon. I'd do a blog about apps as a new smartphone user, but mostly I'd write about apps that don't exist - I dream of an app that tell me which apps I can safely get rid of, and how to stop my phone from being an ass.

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  2. I squidged a bit on apps by also including some that are computer apps.

    Count me out for videoblog post also - just not my thing.

    Another tool for word clouds is Tagxedo.com - free, tons of shapes & fonts, much more fun than Wordle to me.

    Enjoy your posts as 'sensible frugality' instead of couponing & hoarding multi-step conquering of commerce as so many are these days - keep it up! Go, Blogathon!!

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