Sunday Salon: Order, order!

This was supposed to be my Sunday Salon post last week, but instead I spent hours outside in the sunshine. Unfortunately I wasn't expecting to be out for anywhere near that long so I managed to get sunburned which isn't good. I also started some new medication last weekend, and I think I was still getting used to it, as I really didn't feel great at all, so I was in bed by 8.30 that night!

And then, quite without warning, I hit the blogging wall. I have loads of things that I should have posted about over the last couple of weeks but really couldn't manage anything much at all. Still reading though, so that is something!

Anyway, there are lots of things on the agenda to get through, so I had better get on with it.

Item 1: Historical Tapestry

I meant to post about this earlier last week, but I've been really, really busy. More about that later!

Back at the beginning of December, we had Susanna Kearsley week at Historical Tapestry. There was an interview, a Why I Love post, and reviews! If you have a spare five minutes, check it out! We are getting ready to announce the 2011 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, so if you like historical fiction, and like reading challenges, then please keep an eye out over there!

Item 2: 2010 Virtual Advent Tour

Once again this year, I am cohosting the Virtual Advent Tour along with Kelly from The Written World. Yesterday was the fifth day, and so far we have had posts about food, music, Sinterklaas, books, memories, and oh so much more! To see where the tour is taking us, head on over to the tour blog or follow @VirtualAdvent on Twitter. And if you are inspired and want to join in, it's not too late!

Item 3: #spbkchat

Not only are we a twitter tag, we also have a blog now. It will be updated with the new topics for each week! If you think you might be interested in participating in then please check it out. #spbkchat runs from 6pm JPN/8pm Eastern Aust/10pm NZ time for approximately 2 hours and features lots of bookish chat.

If there is anyone who can help the graphically challenged we would love to have some kind of graphic for #spbkchat, so if anyone could help please let me know.

Item 4: Blogoversary giveaway

I hadn't forgotten to draw the winner of my blogoversary giveaway. In  fact, I drew it on the day that the converday that the contest closed, but I just haven't told the winners yet!

So, the winner of the special boxed set edition of The Arrival and Sketches from a Nameless Land is

Alex

and the winner of  the second prize, which was a copy of The Arrival is

Kathrin

Congratulation to both the winners.

I will be contacting you shortly to get your addresses so that I can get your prizes on the way to you!

Item 5: Australian Book Bloggers Directory

We now have more than 100 entries in the directory, and it continues to grow. Early next year I will be starting to try to organise get together's in Melbourne and Sydney to start off with.

Any other business?

I am sure there were a couple of other things I was going to mention but I can't remember what they were from a week ago now!

So, what was I so busy doing?

I was luckily enough to be invited to participate in the local community radio station's Book Chat program to talk about book blogging a couple of weeks ago. Once I got over being a bit nervous, and worrying about what I was going to wear (yes, even though I knew it was on radio this was an issue) it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was supposed to be a live broadcast, but there were some technical issues and so it ended up being broadcast the week after. Unfortunately I missed it when it did air! Once it is uploaded I will share the link, assuming that I don't sound too terrible!

The other thing that I did that week was go to U2's 360 Tour concert! It was amazing! Loved every minute of it!

Just remembered one other thing I needed to blog about! Haven't done my November reads yet! Maybe by sitting down and actually finishing writing this post I will give my blogging mojo a kick start and I might do that this week, or maybe I will just hold it over and do a big post in November.

I am already contemplating which challenges I will participate in next year, and I have already signed up for a few of them. I am going to try and do a few different challenges next year, and also to do my challenges differently, if that makes sense.

To finish off today, here is a video of U2 - such a good concert, I need to relive just one moment again, or maybe I will hang out on Youtube for a while reliving a lot of them!