Blog Improvement Project

The first task of the Blog Improvement Project (hosted at Sophisticated Dorkiness) is to set goals/set the focus of your blog.

I started this blog in June of 2008, but I didn't do much of anything with it until December of 08. In December, I decided enough was enough and it was time for me: time to do something I wanted, I needed. That it was more than okay for me to make this blog a priority.

I started off super-excited, and I must admit that I'm still in the early stages of that. I haven't burned through that. I haven't experienced frustration, disappointment, confusion, burn-out. I'm still defining what it is that I want to do here, and how I want to do it. But I'm loving this process. I'm okay with it still being in-the-works and brand-new.

My goals for this blog are simple:

I want this blog to be a reflection of me, an extension of myself. That doesn't mean it's a me-me-me blog. But it does mean that it is okay if a post isn't explicitly bookish. I want to capture my life--the books I read, the music I listen to, the sermons and podcasts I listen to, the movies I watch--particularly if they're clean/Christian.

The books I read. I want to read the Bible. That's obvious I know. But true. This blog is primarily there to motivate me to actually read the Bible.

This means that every week I need to write a post with my progress reading the Bible. This isn't about me bragging saying look I was "good" this week. It's about me being accountable to someone. Even if that someone is an online stranger who has stumbled across my blog.

It's also about slow encouragement. For days when I feel like I haven't done anything. I can look back on where I've been, what I was feeling. It's easy for days, weeks, months, years to blend together. And when you're having a desert experience it's hard to remember that you've ever ever been anywhere else. That you've ever felt that mountain-top high.

I want the blog to be a reminder to keep things in the moment. That way I have all these moments to piece together somewhere down the road.

I also want the blog to have reviews of the Christian books I read--all ages. Fiction. Nonfiction. I want to read more Christian books in 2009.

My goal is to read TWO Christian books per week. This is in addition to reading the Bible.

So that automatically is three posts a week I've committed to. But I'd like to at least try to have a few more per week--whether it be a reflection/journal type post, a poem, a song, a meme, a music review, whatever.

I've joined several challenges here on the blog to encourage me to read Christian books.

I'd love to connect with readers. I haven't really done much (if any) exploring in the Christian blogging community and/or the Christian book-blogging community. I'd like to be a part of a community of some sorts. This means that I'd read other blogs--that I'd seek out new blogs, new friendships, etc. But that I'd also hopefully build a readership for this blog too. That people would find my blog and enjoy it for what it is. So I suppose this means: comments, memes, participation in community events when I find them.