April 2015: What I Love

The regular feature is back. Are you excited or are you excited? You can’t choose to feel any other emotion except excited.

You can read all about what I loved in March here. Surely, you won’t be surprised at all.

Well, this isn’t a shocker either. I want to confess my love for Writing 101 this April. (I promise next month I’ll move past my obsession with the WordPress 101 courses.)

I love it so much. Writing 101 has helped me more than every English and creative writing class combined. There are things you just don’t learn in a classroom or from a textbook.

Who needs school when one has Blogging 101 and Writing 101, right?

March 2015: What I Love

Remember that regular feature I said I was going to do for my blog?

Well, the 22nd of March is upon us. The time has come for me to discuss what I currently love.

I had no idea what to expect when I signed up.

But, even though it’s over, I love Blogging 101.

There’s so much I can say. There’s only one thing I will.

It’s such a humbling experience.

You will learn. You will grow. You will realize you don’t know everything there is to know about blogging.

Blogging 101: Create a Feature + Bookworm Club

First things first, today’s task is to develop a regular feature for your blog.

I plan on developing a regular feature for the 22nd of every month. The post will be entirely about something I love. Or even someone I love. And I may forget about the feature every so often. After all, Herminia is human.

Now on to what I’m currently reading and enjoying.

By the way, if you’re interested in checking it out, The Bookworm Club is an event I found in the Community Event Listings. It was an assignment for Day Thirteen of Blogging 101.

I am reading Endgame (The Calling) by James Frey and Nils Johnson-Shelton. Goodreads lists it as The Calling (Endgame #1). But I’ve gotten used to calling it Endgame. For some reason, I thought this book fell under the adult section at the bookstore. When I couldn’t find it there, I went and found it with all the other teen books. My bad.

Sorry for the excessive linking.

Since I didn’t want to steal pictures, I held my own book photo-shoot this morning. What a coincidence. I have twenty-two pictures of Endgame on my phone. I swear I did not plan that at all.

For your viewing pleasure…

It should be obvious by now that I’m not even a decent photographer. I don’t aspire to be one. If you’d like nicer quality images, Google is your best friend.

I first fell in love with this book because of the cover. I have it on my bookshelf and when I wake up, the cover blinds me. It doesn’t actually.

Yes, there are some predictable moments. Then again, there are a few twists in there.

I don’t love all the characters. But I do like some.

The detail is incredible. A lot of research has gone into writing Endgame.

Give me a tiny bit of credit for trying my hardest not to spoil the parts I’ve read. I’m slightly more than half-way in so even I don’t know how it ends yet.

Have you read the book? Do you love it? If you do, we can gush about it together. Bonding over books is the best. Do you hate Endgame with every fiber of your being? What an interesting discussion we’d have. Plan on reading it? The book is worth a shot. It’s entertaining so the story isn’t a total waste of your time.

In my opinion, Endgame would make an amazing movie if executed well with the right cast of characters.

Blogging 101: Extend Your Brand

Extend your brand with one of the following: a custom Blavatar, a custom image widget, or a fan page.

Brand?

Ehhhhhhhk. That word haunts me.

I finally fixed my Blavatar. (Read: I learned how to upload the newer head-shot I’ve been using for months as my blog picture.) You learn something new everyday.

But I can’t create a custom image to save my life. I’d pay someone to but I’m broke. And I’m about to be even more broke. Perks of going to university this coming September.

Um, uh..I have a failing Facebook page. Once again I’m broke. I’m a full-time student. I’m someone who procrastinates. A lot. If I ever become a full-time blogger, I’ll pay more attention to my other social media accounts. Until then I can blame homework to finish, projects to complete, and deadlines to meet. As well as tests and exams I always cram for because I hate studying.

Brand still haunts me.

From the bottom of my heart, I hope everyone is doing a better job extending their brand.

Blogging 101: Try (Another) Blogging Event

Pick a blogging event from the Community Event Listings, and participate in the next round.

Guess which event I chose.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

The Bookworm Club

Shocking, huh?

You can expect a post on the book I’m currently reading at the moment on Friday. If you always want to know what I’m reading or some of the books I have read, send me a friend request on Goodreads. Don’t be shy. Because I’m human too, I’m not always the greatest at updating on there. Oops.

Here’s another thing to look forward to this Friday: March 20th marks the first day of spring. Yay. It’s also sadly the last weekday of my break from school. Boo.

I’d be more than happy to participate in other blogging events so if you created one, let me know in the comments below.

Happy blogging!

Blogging 101: Increase Your Commenting Confidence

Read six posts written in response to the same prompt, and leave comments on at least two of them.

Before I forget, Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Also because today’s task is only to read and comment, I figured I will (finally) blog about my writing plans for April.

Before today, I haven’t posted anything even remotely related to Camp NaNoWriMo because I was still undecided as to whether or not I’d participate this year. April is a busy month. It’s even busier when you throw in trying to write a novel in 30 days.

I’m going to declare right here, right now my participation in NaNoWriMo.

Remember it isn’t about “winning” or writing 50,000 words. The process matters more than the final product and if you’re enjoying the process, everything else will fall into place.

Just a heads-up, I might get a little obsessed with Camp NaNo. If that’s all I talk about next month, you have been warned.

Blogging 101: Make a Prompt Personal

Publish a post based on your own, personalized take on a blogging prompt.

You can find the prompt and other bloggers’ responses to it here.

Today’s prompt: Places. Beach, mountain, forest, or somewhere else entirely?

Writing is magical. It transports you to places. You might be on a beautiful beach with the sand kissing your toes. You may find yourself climbing a mountain without any ropes. You’re in a forest you don’t want to leave. You could write a story about somewhere you’ve never been to. You can read a novel set in an entirely different country or world.

You know what’s magical about prompts? You can interpret it any way you like. After all writing is not about being wrong or right.

Happy writing and blogging!

Blogging 101: Build a Better Blogroll

Create a blogroll to share a few links you love.

I’ve avoided doing this for several reasons.

When I first started blogging, I was clueless as to how to create a blogroll.

Way back when I didn’t know anybody either. Can you imagine? Nearly two years ago I had zero followers and no posts.

As time passed I figured who was I to make a blogroll? But that’s lazy me talking.

Now I feel like I’m excluding so many wonderful blogs. My sincerest apologies to everyone I left out.

Thanks for understanding. There’s a reason why bloggers are amazing.