Things that I am LOVING in the Blogosphere

Bout of Books 8.0 is up and about! What is Bout of Books?

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 19th and runs through Sunday, August 25th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. 

For all Bout of Books 8.0 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog.

This is one of my favorite blogging opportunities.  It really is low pressure and you get to meet so many others who reading!  It also introduced me to TweetChat to follow Twitter conversations through hashtags. Apart from the Twitter dialogue, there are writing challenges and it's a lot of fun.

Megan's reading challenges are so much fun and a perfect way to incorporate the Bout of Books Challenge with your TBR (to-be-read) List.  She just posted the first check-in and I'm so behind! I need to share my reading list. I'll put it together soon and post it here :)

Source: The Wiegands' Blog

There is going to be a documentary on bloggers.  Chris Wiegand, the spouse of Casey Leigh, is traveling the country and interviewing bloggers.  They've been sharing their journey in their airstream camper via her blog and Instagram.  It's such a neat project and so much fun to see where they're at.  So many of my favorite bloggers are being interviewed and I hope that I'll get the opportunity to see the finished project.

Whitney shared 26 birthday wishes for her 26th birthday and it was sassy, fun, and so filled with love.  It was great to see the blogging community give her so much love and at the same time it was also incredibly humorous.

What are some of your favorite blogging moments right now?

If you liked this post, share it with others! If you feel particularly moved by it, leave a comment because I love feedback and discussion. Social media links are provided below and thanks for reading!

Semi-Charmed Summer 2013 Book Challenge

From Megan's Blog:

The Semi-Charmed Book Challenge is back for summer 2013! The challenge will follow the same rules as the winter 2013 challenge, and it will run from July 1 to September 30. See below for the full list of rules and categories, and thanks to all my readers who submitted category ideas!

Rules:

• The challenge will run from July 1, 2013, to September 30, 2013. No books that are started before 12 a.m. on July 1 or finished after 11:59 p.m. on September 30 will count.
• No re-reads (unless specifically stated)! I want you to experience new books with this challenge.
• Each book must be at least 200 pages long. Audiobooks are fine, as long as the print versions meet the page requirements.
• A book can only be used for one category. If you want to switch the category later, that's fine, just be sure to account for that in your point total.
• The highest possible total is 200 points, and the first five people who finish the challenge will win a featured/guest post on Semi-Charmed Kind of Life. Good luck!

The Challenge:

5 points: Freebie! Read any book you'd like, as long as it follows the above rules. :)
5:  Read a book that is less than 150 pages long. (Yes, this is an exception to the general rules! You're welcome haha.)
10: Read a book with a color in the title. Submitted by Erinn of it's the journey on Twitter.
10: Read a book that is not the first in its series. (And yes, it must be in a series.)
15: Read a book it seems everyone but you has read! Submitted by Brighton of Dear Brighton on Twitter.
15: Read a banned book. (For consistency's sake, the book must be found on one of these lists. See the links in the first paragraph for book lists.)
20: Read a book written by a celebrity. This can be a memoir or a fiction book published by someone who was already famous by another means (e.g. James Franco). Submitted by Brighton of Dear Brighton on Twitter.
20: Read a non-fiction book that is not a memoir. It can be pure non-fiction or narrative non-fiction. Submitted by Blair's Head Band on Twitter.
20: Read a book that takes place in a state you have never been in. If you have been to all 50 states, choose a book that takes place in a country you have never been in. Also do the latter option if you are not American.
25: Read a book that is at least 400 pages long.
25: Read a book with a main character who shares your first name. If you have an uncommon name and really can't find a book, let me know and we can come up with an alternative. :) Submitted by Erinn of it's the journey on Twitter.**
30: Read a book written by an author who was born in or died in your birth year.****

**Edited to add: I've decided to amend this category to allow nicknames of your first name and alternate spellings of your first name. I recognize this category is difficult and I don't want anyone to give up looking! :)
****This category was also amended after the original posting when I discovered too many participants were unable to find an author born in their birth year. This website will help you find authors who were born in or died in a specific year.

How to keep track: Megan will post a check-in on the first day of every month, on which you can comment with your progress. She will also include the scoreboard from the previous month on each check-in post. The first check-in post will be Thursday, August 1. Megan will also host a link-up on Monday, July 1, if anyone wants to share their preliminary reading list for the challenge (see an example post from one of my previous challenges here).



I'll be sure to write up how I'll participate in the challenge very soon!