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Monday, January 30, 2012

Blogfests?

If you've been around the "bloggersphere" for any amount of time, you've probably heard of blogfests.  

What do you think about them?

  • They can be a great place to find inspiration.
  • They can help you write something outside of your comfort zone.
  • They can fill up your time so that you don't get any writing done on your projects.
  • They can help you find new bloggers that you click with and become great friends. Maybe even critique partners.
  • They can bring new followers to your blog.
  • Your entire day can disappear while you are reading other entries.

As you can see, I mostly like blogfests. They won't get me published, but they are a lot of fun. Here are three blogfests I'm participating in during February:

That's Y Amore Blogfest hosted by Oasis for YA on February 11th. Post 250 romantic, swoon-worthy words from your YA WIP.
One participant will win a swoon-worth book from the book depository.


 



Hook, Line & Sinker Blogfest hosted by Justin W. Parente on February 13th. Post the first 500-1000 words of a WIP and see if others would read on.
The suggested guidelines they used to judge entries last time was the following:
  • Does the character have a personality I can fall into easily? This includes any dialogue exchanged.
  • Is the world around them set up to compliment the character as they're introduced?
  • Are there secondary characters to assist with the hook?
  • Lastly, would I read more?
 
It's Getting Hot in Here bloghop hosted by Cassie Mae. Post your steamy kiss scene on Valentine's Day.
2 lucky kiss stories will receive a 14 page edit from the blog hosts. 






That's three in one week! I'm sure there are tons of others that I've missed.

Add ins from comments:
Loralie Hall at http://blog.apathyshero.com/ is hosting a Beta Blogfest in Feb, kind of a 'show me yours and I'll show you mine' kind of event.








Critique my Blog hosted by Teralyn--TOMORROW, Feb 1st. Have people tell you how your blog is stacking up. I just joined this one last minute. Think I'll add Unicorn Bell too!









Qs4U:
  1. Do you participate in blogfests? Why or why not?
  2. Would you like us to host a blogfest with voting and prizes?
  3. What kind of blogfest is your favorite (kissing, fighting, dialogue, show vs. tell, photo inspired, etc)?

12 comments:

Huntress said...

Loralie Hall at http://blog.apathyshero.com/
is hosting a Beta Blogfest in Feb, kind of a 'show me yours and I'll show you mine' kind of event.

1)I participate in blogfests as time and creativity allows. It's a good way to meet people, gain followers, and form a platform.
2) YOWzA!!! I mean, um yes.
3) I'll leave that up to the supremely perfect moderators of this site.

Anonymous said...

I love Blogfests. I understand the concern of posts being too long. I try to keep mine very very short just for this reason. For the long ones, I sometimes scan for an interesting point or read the first and last paragraph.

Tara Tyler said...

i like blogfests that give me a writing prompt.
they give post ideas, we meet new friends, we discover new perspectives
prizes are bonus!
no YA or childrens, i stick to general themes or my genres

drawback, hard to visit everyone in a big one...

1000th.monkey said...

I think I've participated in about 4 blogfests in total, keeping in mind I have only been blogging for 10 months and only discovered blogfests in August.

It depends what they're about, (like the romance/kissing ones are not my thing) and how much time/energy I have since I get sick a lot.

When I did participate, I had a lot of fun :) It was a cool experience.

David P. King said...

I'm taking part in the "Getting Hot In Here" one. There are a lot of blogfests and hops, so many that if you want to participate, you might have to pick and choose which ones interest you most, simply on a matter of time. "Getting Hot" will be my 4th blogfest.

Brooke R. Busse said...

You forgot to change the link to the post with the new date for the "Hook, Line, and Sinker Blogfest," Charity. Here it is: http://jwparente.blogspot.com/2012/01/hook-line-sinker-blogfest-sign-up-link.html?

mshatch said...

I think blogfests are a lot of fun for all the reasons stated except for #3. If I don't have time I don't do it. Likewise if it doesn't inspire me. But I'm doing the Origins one in Feb. and I'll be signing up again for A-Z.

Angela Brown said...

My first blogfest left a most memorable impression on me and a love for blogfests. Though I don't get to participate as often, I love the fun, the excerpts the camraderie from checking out what others are writing about. It's so much fun.

I would love for you guys to have a blogfest. Is suppose my favorites thus far are those with word or picture prompts.

Stina said...

I love kissing blogfests. My CP and I hosted on last year. But alas, I'm working on my first draft and am not really to enter one for this year. :(

Cassie Mae said...

I am a blogfest-o-holic! I can't even count how many I've participated in. (too many) But I've hosted 3, and planning on hosting a ton more in the future... if I don't lose my mind first, lol.

Brooke R. Busse said...

Here's another blogfest taking place in February: http://teralynpilgrim.blogspot.com/2012/01/critique-my-blog-blogfest.html

Also, I like Angela's idea of a picture prompt. I've never participated in a blogfest like that. My previous experiences are mostly "post pieces of your WIP" fests. And I've recently decided that I like prompts quite a lot. I would have to to write to one ever week for a year.

Hope Roberson said...

I love blogfests! Thanks for posting about the Valentine's day bloghop, I look forward to reading your scene :)
I'm so glad you found humor in the squirrel post, it was fun to write and laugh at myself :)