The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~ It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on my blog and share news about what’s coming up in the week ahead.
This past week on FYFA (and in my life):
- Blogging. So, I did a really weird and somewhat insane thing this week. Some of you know that I use a plugin that shows me comments I’ve not yet replied to. Well, in the past year, I basically gave up on replying and just focused on commenting back as much as I could. But, I really wanted to get back to doing both. Only problem is, there doesn’t seem to be any way to reset the plugin. I tried turning it off and back on, but it still said that I had over 1600 comments that hadn’t been replied to. (Yes, you read that right. 1600. That is insanity, right there.) So, I ended up turning off my comment reply notifications and replying to each and every one of those 1600 comments with a ` and then deleting that reply. This made the plugin take it off the list of un-replied comments. In the process, I also commented on a bunch of blogs I haven’t been to recently. So, now I’m down to only 30 or so recent comments that I actually plan to reply to, and I’m starting fresh! Was it worth the time I put into it? I have no idea, but my replying status was like a strange weight around my blogging neck that I couldn’t quite shake and I definitely feel better with this fresh start. I kept up with comments for years, so I should be able to do it again. (I think.)
- Sick kiddo. My daughter Danielle was sick this week, so she was home most of the week. Had to get a COVID test for her to go back to school. She went back on Thursday but then woke up with pink eye on Friday! Ugh! Ended up having to miss her senior night swim meet, which was disappointing, but it’s much better that it happened now than next week for their Conference meet (or the following week for Sectionals, which she is most likely going to this year for the first time).
- Writing. I got super helpful feedback from one of the people I sent the latest draft of my WIP to and started thinking about how I can incorporate it. I am incredibly thankful to this person for reading the book and giving me her thoughts!!! I think I’m close to being able to send the book off to my agent – my goal is to do that by the end of the year at the latest!
- What I Read:
- I finished reading Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee and also read Tristan Strong Keeps Punching by Kwame Mbalia.
- I finished listening to Tristan Strong Destroys the World by Kwame Mbalia and started listening to The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 by Garrett M. Graff.
- What I Watched:
- Danielle, my mom, and I watched season 2 of Never Have I Ever. We really like this show, but wow, Devi is often kind of a terrible person. Hats off to the showrunners who still make me root for her, even with all her flaws. If you watch this show, are you Team Paxton or Team Ben? (I think I actually lean Team Paxton, but my daughter is firmly Team Ben. My mom leans Ben but waffles.)
- I’ve also continued watching The Amazing Race. I’ve made my way backwards to season 6 and it’s kind of funny to see how much lamer those first seasons were than later seasons. I’m pretty sure I watched the show back then and loved it, but it’s hard to watch them after seeing more recent ones.
Here’s what you may have missed on the blog since my last Sunday Post:
Book Blogger Birthdays and Blogoversaries:
Here are the birthdays and blogoversaries for this week! I hope you’ll go wish these bloggers well on their special days! Make sure you check out the calendar to see what you might have just missed or what’s coming up. (If you want to be added to the calendar, it’s easy! Just fill out the birthday/blogoversary form.
- 10/30 – Upside-Down Books‘ Blogoversary
Book Haul:
For Review:
I signed up for the blog tour for The Lost Language, a new verse novel by Claudia Mills. The lovely cover art for this book was done by Kathrin Honesta. Thanks to Rockstar Book Tours and Holiday House for the review copy!
Purchased:
Those of you who read my Personal Library Book Tag saw that I was inspired to hunt down a childhood favorite book, The Ghost Next Door by Wylly Folk St. John. I bought it from a store on Etsy called Smile It’s Vintage, and I was really impressed with the condition and the way they packaged it. They put cardboard behind the book to make sure it didn’t get bent in shipping, which I really appreciated.
Then, I also got my signed/personalized pre-order of The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu. Very excited about this one! And I forgot to mention that I got my pre-order of Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber a few weeks ago. I’m a little bit nervous that I haven’t received my pre-order incentive for this one. It’s an alternate cover jacket, and I was really excited for it.
Great Discussions/Goings On Around the Blogosphere:
- Laura @ Daydreaming Dragons gives us 6 Ways To Be A NaNoWriMo Rebel
NEW Pre-order Campaigns
Head over to my new Pre-Order Campaigns Page to see ALL of the pre-order deals, including pictures!!
Here’s the list of all the pre-order campaigns that I just added to the list this week:
Pre-order A HISTORY OF WILD PLACES by Shea Ernshaw to receive a signed bookplate, bookmark, letter from the author, & a sticker sheet! (US only) (Ends 12/6) CLICK FOR DETAILS
Awesome Giveaways:
(Make sure you scroll to see them all!)
- Twitter Giveaways:
- @22Debuts is giving away a preorder of any #22debuts book!
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@stampepk is giving away a signed ARC of Golden Boys
-
@acuevaswrites is giving away a signed copy of CUBA IN MY POCKET and some swag!
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@jencamiccia is giving away The Memory Keeper
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@melissasee is giving away a signed ARC of YOU, ME, AND OUR HEARTSTRINGS
- On my blog, you can enter the giveaway for the October 2021 Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway and the September Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up & Giveaway. You can also enter to win a copy of Frankie & Bug and a copy of Tristan Strong Keeps Punching.
- Lots of blogs participating in the CHEEKY PUMPKINS GIVEAWAY HOP!
- Head over to bibliosini for a chance to win Jadie in Five Dimensions
- Enter to win a very scary stack of wicked reads!
- Enter to win an ARC of ROXY
- Head over to Good Choice Reading for a chance to win a signed copy of Violets Are Blue by Barbara Dee (and check out the list of tour stops for more chances to win the book as well!)
- Head over to From the Mixed-Up Files for a chance to win books, author Skype visits, gift cards and more in the STEM Tuesday – 4th Anniversary Giveaway
- Enter to win a Sci-Fi/Fantasy prize pack
- Enter to win a collection of Simon Teen’s new fall books
- Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight is celebrating her 8th blogoversary with a giveaway!
- Head over to The Children’s Book Review’s Giveaway Page to win The Quest for the Luminae and more!
- Head over to KidLit411 for a chance to win Out of the Box, Gwendolyn’s Pet Garden, and The Hiddenseek!
- Head over to Lisa Loves Literature for a chance to win 3 books from Lisa’s ARC pile.
- Head over to Literary Ramblings to enter to win Pighearted and a Melissa Nasson Query Critique
- Head over to JeanBookNerd for a chance to win The Charm Offensive and more!
- Head over to Bookhounds YA for a chance to win 6 Explorer Academy hardcovers, THE ME I CHOOSE TO BE, THE BEAR HOUSE, and more! (Check the sidebar)
- Lots of blogs participating in the October 2021 Of Books Giveaway Hop!
- Book Riot has lots of giveaways, including A Year of Free Books!
Lots of good stuff! Have any giveaways or great discussions happening on your site right now? Feel free to share them in the comments!
Wow! I applaud you for taking on that comment mountain. I would be very overwhelmed. Poor Danielle! Sorry she missed her meet, but glad she didn’t have Covid.
I was overwhelmed, which is why I had to do something to get the mountain to disappear, even if it was by “cheating.” Now I feel like I can start fresh.
Aww, poor Danielle. I hope she feels better soon. Congrats on dealing with the comments! I’ve mostly given up on replying to comments on my own blog. I spend the time commenting on other people’s stuff.
Yes, I had pretty much given up over the past year as well and focused on commenting back instead. In some ways it worked out fine, but I wasn’t crazy about how I was actually missing out on some comments entirely. It was stressing me out. I kept up with comments for years, so I knew it could be done, so I just decided to start over.
Wow, that was a lot of work you did on the comments!
I’m sorry about Danielle not feeling well.
Your writing progress sounds good!
Here are my WEEKLY UPDATES
Yes, it was a lot of work, but hopefully it will pay off! I already feel less stressed about the whole thing.
Yes you came commenting on my site ;-)))) 1600 comments that’s insane but I don’t dare looking at mine!!! I hope your daughter gets better soon!
Yes, I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been making it to a lot of blogs I used to visit regularly. I’m hoping this “fresh start” will get me back into a more regular routine.
I hate to hear that about your daughter. I do hope she gets feeling better fast!
Wow. I envy your dedication, there’s no way I could’ve fixed all those comments without just going insane.
Insane is definitely a word you could use for me. 🙂
You are doing well in cleaning up the comment mountain and getting your book off to the agent. I don’t know about the plugin – I just have WordPress email my blog account every time there is a comment or a like. I keep those cleared almost daily. Best wishes to Danielle.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
I used to use email notifications for my comments, but that got overwhelming fast. I definitely prefer the plugin (when I use it correctly, which I did manage to do for years).
Wow, that’s alot of comments! I know it’s time consuming to keep up with. I hope your daughter is feeling better and good luck with your writing 🙂
Yes, I stayed on top of it for a long time, so I think I can do it again!
i get what you mean about comments. i am in the negative column for both commenting on my blog and other blogs. i stopped commenting on my own blog, but i read every one and hop over to their blog to comment. then, i try to, at least, once a week hit some of my ‘regulars’ and comment on a few posts. mr wonderful and i got a new computer, so i am hoping to do better now that we won’t be sharing the same one. it weighs on me too
That was my approach for a long time, but then I found that I was sometimes missing comments, and I just wished I could go back to the old method of using the plugin. This was the only way I could make that work.
Wow, that sounds like a lot of work. But at least you have it down to manageable levels again and can start over. I hope your kid feels better. My grandson brought home a cold this week too and I am hoping that I don’t get it.
I was actually amazed that none of the rest of us got sick. Just a little bit ago, my daughter developed an earache, though. Ugh! Every time she starts to feel better, something else hits.
That’s too bad your daughter had to miss her senior swim meet. I remember it was an important one for my daughter. That’s great that you are getting caught up on commenting on blog comments and are starting to follow blogs again. It’s a good way to keep followers coming back to your blog. At least that’s what I found.
Yes, I agree that visiting other blogs is key in keeping people coming back. This past year got overwhelming with writing and blogging, and I found I couldn’t keep up, but I always intended to get back to the blogosphere as soon as I was able.
Hope Danielle is doing better! I hated having pink eye. I was the kid that cried when I was told I needed eye drops when I visited the doctor. Right now I’m batting a cold that’s trying to start. I keep taking medicine, went to bed super early last night, took a cat nap today…just hope that I’m battling it in the right way and that I won’t wake up sicker tomorrow.
Nice new reads! Gotta love when people know how to pack books with care! Every so often I do get people/sellers who know what they’re doing! Lol. Hopefully your alternate cover comes in soon. Think I saw a few people who were in the same boat. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Happy Reading!
Here’s my StS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
Yes, I was really impressed by the care that the bookstore I bought from put into packaging to make sure that the book arrived in great condition. In a plastic bag and attached to a piece of thick cardboard – I was very thankful!
I hope you wake up feeling better tomorrow, not worse! My daughter has now developed an earache. Poor kiddo just can’t catch a break!
I can so relate to the commenting thing. I used to be so much better about replying. You are giving me hope that I can get back to it haha! 🙂
Hope your daughter feels better soon! And that’s great news about the book! How cool!!
Once you get behind on replying, it can feel impossible to catch up. That’s why I felt like this “starting over” would work better. I’m hopeful it will work well!
“So, I ended up turning off my comment reply notifications and replying to each and every one of those 1600 comments with a ` and then deleting that reply.[…] Was it worth the time I put into it? I have no idea, but my replying status was like a strange weight around my blogging neck that I couldn’t quite shake and I definitely feel better with this fresh start.”
I can totally relate to feeling overwhelmed by something like that, though you were the only one seeing it! Still it must have taken a lot of time and dedication to “cheat” on your comment plugin LOL 👏.
“I think I’m close to being able to send the book off to my agent – my goal is to do that by the end of the year at the latest!”
Yay! Good luck with that! And I hope Danielle is feeling better.
Yes, who knew cheating could be so hard! LOL!
I had that plugin and ended up deleting it for that reason…lol You go girl!
I would be desperate for a similar plugin that actually allows you to mark certain posts as not needing a reply and have a function where you could mark ALL past comments as not needing a reply to start over. I would pay good money for that!
I don’t know that I would want to know how many comments I haven’t replied to. It would be a lot. I bet it is nice to have everything back to 0. Congrats on the progress you are making on your book. I hope your daughter is feeling better this week. Have a great week, Nicole!
Yes, seeing that number on Missing Reply is so very sweet! (Right now it’s 9, and I can sigh in relief at my ability to tackle that number). 🙂
All the pending comments would have driven me crazy. Kudos on clearing them out and starting fresh. I hope Danielle is feeling much better this week!
Yes, it feels so good to have started fresh!
Next time you want to reset a plugin, you actually have to delete it and reinstall it. WordPress doesn’t delete the data from the database unless you “delete” (and even then, it’s tricky). What a pain in the butt for you to go through all of those comments!
The way my hosting works, I don’t think I actually can delete a plugin. I use NoseGraze and she has all the possible “approved” plugins there for you to activate (or not) – I’m pretty sure I can only deactivate one, not actually delete it. I might be able to put in a request with her to do it, but I’m not sure. I guess if I run into something like this again, I’ll have to look into it.
1600?! Ack, I’m sorry! That must have been so much work but I’m happy it’s reset and working for you again, yay! And hugs to Danielle! I’m so sorry she had to miss her swim meet. Thinking all the happy thoughts for her upcoming meets! And the cover to Once Upon a Broken Heart is gorgeous! I still need to read her other series that has been sitting on my bookshelf forever ack. Here’s hoping you love!
It was a whole lot of work, but now that it’s done, it’s such a relief!