Tuesday, January 5, 2010

The 2010 Comment Challenge Starts This Friday!!!

Okay, kid lit blog writers and blog readers, take note:

It takes 21 days to form a new habit.

So starting this Friday, January 8, 2010 - the amazing Mother Reader and I will launch our community-building annual event: getting YOU to join in for 21 days of habit-forming commenting on other people's blogs - with the goal of commenting on 5 different blogs a day.



That's it - 5 a day!


Why participate?

You'll be part of the conversation.

You'll expand your circle.

And you'll get more visitors to your blog, and more comments left on your own blog as well.

The last Comment Challenge was a big success, comments were up all over the kidlitosphere, and it really built a sense of community for everyone who participated - and we learned some great lessons, like this one:

Leave three comments on someone's blog that are contributions to their conversation and most likely they'll click back to your blog to see just who is that insightful commenter?



I'm excited to see what we learn this time round - and remember, in addition to link-lists on individual blogs (like the 18 blogs I try to check out all the time, listed in the right hand column here), you can blog-hop via google alerts (try setting keywords for your personal passion so you know who else is talking about what you care about. i.e., I have a google alert for "gay teen book" which helps me find blog posts I wouldn't know about otherwise.) You can also navigate to blogs that are new to you via the indispensable kid lit central blog page which lists (with links) nearly 300 "Bloggers in Children's and Young Adult Literature!"

So, crack those knuckles, fire up your computers and hand-helds, and get ready...

'Cause starting Friday there's going to be a whole WORLD of blog commenting going on!

Namaste,
Lee

18 comments:

Cathy said...

Thanks for doing this, Lee. I'm going to make every effort to comment on 5/day, and get to know some new BFFs.

MotherReader said...

Yeah baby! I'm warming up my commenting this week to go for broke on Friday. Bring it on!

Jen Robinson said...

I'm glad that you all are doing this again, Lee and Pam. I think it's particularly easy to let commenting slide over the holidays, with so much else going on. This is a great time of year to get us all recharged and reconnecting. Thanks!!

Unknown said...

Thank you for organizing this, Lee. I also told a friend, an adult writer, about your blog. We met at a New Year's Day party and he was interested. I hope he'll take a look.

Elizabeth O Dulemba said...

Yup - me too. And since I'm not going out of town this year, I might actually be able to pull it off! :) e

Sherrie Petersen said...

I'm glad you guys are doing this again. I discovered so many great blogs last time you ran this challenge. And I stopped lurking and became involved. Thanks for encouraging people to speak up :)

Tasha said...

Count me in! Last year I managed to find out about it halfway through, so I am very happy to give it a try!

Amy-Baskin.blogspot.com said...

What a great way to (re)connect. Thanks for inspiring me- count me in!

Megan Frances Abrahams said...

Love this idea, Lee. Great challenge - how could I not comment?

Kelly Polark said...

This is awesome! I did this challenge last year, and it got me into the habit of commenting and I've hardly stopped since! :)

Sarah Stevenson said...

Nice graphic, Lee! Thanks to you and Pam for organizing this again. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with friends around the blogosphere over the next few weeks--I've been neglecting EVERYONE, not just my kidlit peeps. :(

Alison Ashley Formento said...

I think I can. I think I can.
Thanks for the New Year challenge. Now...back to writing.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Great post and a great idea. I try to mention my blog friends (with links) when they have good news or a contest. I click on people's names when I see an interesting comment that they have left on a blog that I already read.

I'm in for 5 comments a day on five different blogs. :)

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

yay! i loved this last year :) I'm in.

Unknown said...

oo - glad I found you. Thanks for the reminder about google alerts and the link to kid lit blog central.Here I go!

Barbara Shoup said...

This is a fabulous idea! Starting a little late, but I'm in!

Bibliovore said...

Lee, thanks for all your hard work on this! You and Pam are such amazing community builders!

Marge Loch-Wouters said...

Glad you two started this..it *IS* a challenge but a darn fine stretch and a chance to meet and see many many new blogs!