Heather Arundel

The Diva of Darkness

Salton Sea Sunset Photo by Ron Niebrugge

Salton Sea Sunset Photo by Ron Niebrugge
The Beauty of Hell...

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - also known as my personal life motto!

All Human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Who I am...

I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a survivor.
My family has made me who I am...my past family with past hurts...my current family with current joy.
Family is something you are born into and cannot choose,
family is also what you choose it to be once you are old enough to start anew...

Followers

Monday, August 29, 2011

The Campaign is kickin' my butt!

Well, I finally figured out how to "follow" everyone in my group (all those with no "follow" button are making it incredibly difficult to "follow" you!), and now I am responsible for reading 60 blogs everyday.  I am a mother of three and even when the older two start school on Wednesday, I will still have my willful, stubborn, overly active 15 month old at home with me.  It took me over 3 hours on Friday to read/comment on all the blogs; and I don't have that kind of time!

Please, gentle bloggers, please let me know how you do this - and how to do it correctly!  I want to fulfill my obligations; but as of this weekend...I feel like I'm letting Rach & all the other bloggers down!

I know, I know...I'm a perfectionist and I'm sure Liz will say "Just do what you can"; but I want to give all of you the same attention you are giving to me!

Help!

18 comments:

  1. Blogger is being a pain regarding 'follow' buttons. A lot of them are not showing up when they should. Sometimes F5 helps, but not always.

    Reading everything you want to read is tough. Sometimes, if I'm short of time, I'll read two or three posts by the same person and only comment on the most recent. I know some people only read and comment on certain days.

    I'm 'lucky' in that I'm unemployed at the moment and have a lot of free time but I know as soon as I get a job my blog surfing time will go right down as writing has to come first.

    Also, there are going to be some blogs out there that you just don't enjoy, for whatever reason. Life is too short to read what you don't want to. I read a lot of blogs from people who have never visited me. That's fine, because I enjoy them. I hate someone to read my blog because they felt they 'ought' to.

    I'm sorry if this is a bit rambly, I hope there was something helpful in it somewhere!

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  2. Hi there, just wanted to drop in and say "Hello!" from a fellow campaigner. Don't worry, I'm completely overwhelmed too. I just saved a separate folder under my bookmark tab and put all the campaigners in my group in it. It helps to be able to quickly scan through the blogs and comment on what I want. Hope that helps. :)

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  3. Yeah sometimes a reload F5 works to get them to show up. I use internet explorer instead of Mozilla Firefox or chrome and they show up most of the time.

    You can always hit the "Follow" word at the very top on the left where the blogger icon is or subscribe to an RSS feed.

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  4. Don't worry about it, Heather. Visit who you can and follow who you like. We won't always like the posts a blogger writes. The beauty of the Campaign is that you get a chance to see many different blogs at once.

    Currently I have more than 800 blogs on my Reader. I scan the first paragraph of most of them. If they're interesting or if I feel I can contribute, I click through and leave a comment--otherwise, I wait for another day when the post is more inspiring.

    Do what you can. After a few visits, you can see who you like.

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  5. I know, it's mad isn't it? im just buzzing around leaving comments here and there. Is fun, though.

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  6. I agree that you shouldn't sweat it! It's too much.


    But I can share a tip that I do.

    Go into DESIGN and add a gadget, scroll till you find BLOG LIST. You can put the web addresses of everyone you want to follow in there, or you can click the ADD TO LIST and when the window opens click on BLOGS I'M FOLLOWING (I usually only show 25 blogs at a time)...then save the whole thing.

    Then I can see on my side bar who has posted recently and try to keep up with what I can.

    Just an idea :)
    You now have a list

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  7. Heather, I don't have to comment, you just do it for me? Yeah, that's what I was going to say. And it's true. If you only have a half hour, only go through the blogs for a half hour. Really.

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  8. I agree that the Campaign feels overwhelming at times. I keep reminding myself that it's going until Oct 31st, and so if I don't get to all the other folks immediately, that's okay. So far, I'm having a great time with it, but I'm also giving a lot of time to it!

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  9. It is next to near impossible to read all the blogs I follow so I really do what I can. And I hate that, but I also think people understand that.

    I do try to hop back to blogs that comment on mine - and have met a lot of awesome people that way.

    Good luck!

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  10. When you figure out how to keep up with all of it, please let me know!

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  11. @Sarah: Thanks for the encouragement, understanding & technical advise!

    @Alynza: Totally helps! Thanks!

    @Michael: thanks for the great advise!

    @Maria: I think that is the beauty...discovering like-minded writers! thanks!

    @Deborah: yes, for all my complaints - I'm loving it!

    @Small Town: I plan to do that!

    @Liz: your voice is in my head all the time while I'm writing or blogging...it's becoming a bit creepy! ;)

    @Katie: I can totally do this! I can totally do this! - It's become my mantra... :)

    @Alison: Good advise...thank you!

    @Liz: I'll keep ya posted! ;)

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  12. Hey Heather! I know the feeling - I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed, too! I just read as many as I can first thing in the morning and then squeeze the rest in during any breaks that come along. If all else fails, there's always after work, too (I'm lucky enough to be working from home, so...)

    Anyways, you're right: I'm going to tell you to do what you can, because really, that's all anyone can do, right? :-)

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  13. I think the best way to tackle all the blogs are in chunks. You don't have to do all of the blogs all of the time. Maybe section them, and do A section one day, B the next, and so on. No stressing allowed! lol. Best of luck :)

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  14. Hi Heather! Nice connecting with you today! Never feel like you have to visit every single blog every day. I do a handful each day and only comment if I think I have something helpful/interesting to say. Good luck!

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  15. You are so sweet to try and read and comment on all of the blogs! Thank you for coming to mind :) I try to visit all of the blogs, but not every day. When I visit a blog I read down the posts that I missed. And as I get to know the blogs, I revisit some more frequently than others, based on which ones really click with me. I hope you'll find some blogs that really click with you during the campaign!

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  16. @Crystal: I'm doing my best, and that is all I can do! (Keep repeating until I believe it!) :p

    @Kelley: I'm learning that not everyone posts everyday...that is helping me tremendously! thanks for the advise!

    @Liz: Thanks for the words of wisdom, I suppose I shouldn't comment if I don't really have anything to say...huh? ;)

    @K: I am finding some great blogs...a lot of words of wisdom and some really great writing! I'm truly glad I joined the Campaign! :D

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  17. Hi Heather. I managed to put myself down for six different groups and I'm slowly working my way around to each and every one of them. I agree in that I want to visit everyone, comment, etc, but I see I'll be stretching myself too thin. I guess it's a matter of do what you can, when you can.

    Now, having said that, thanks for stopping by my blog! It's a pleasure meeting you Heather. :)

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  18. Hi Heather! Fellow campaigner here, stopping by to say hello.

    I can relate to your problem. I signed up to four groups and have been feeling completely overwhelmed, too. I just try to have a good time with it.

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