If you read this blog in your RSS reader (I’m 100% converted to Google Reader now) or via email you might not have noticed the changes I’ve been making to my blog home. Jo and I have been tinkering with a few elements, and I wanted to point them out as I think they make the blog a bit easier to navigate.

Sidenote: don’t you just LOVE tinkering with your blog? This space has undergone so many changes since my first post in April 2006, and it continues to be a source of endless satisfaction to nip and tuck to my heart’s content :)

So, in the sidebar to the right we now have some extra social media buttons – alongside Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and the RSS subscribe buttons there’s now my Pinterest account (love it!) and my Google Reader thingy where I share other people’s blog posts that catch my eye.

Underneath the buttons is the Unravelling section, including a short testimonial teaser (my favourite page on the whole site!), links to the handy dandy pages — including the newly updated Polaroid Guide — blog categories, more subscription options and a new ‘popular posts’ box.

My blog badge and code is now living in the footer — if you scroll down to the bottom of this page you’ll see it — alongside my copyright notice, and there’s a link to my about & contact page which we’ve refreshed with more photos, some pretty colour and a much-needed FAQ. I’ve been receiving a heck of a lot of emails this year, which i truly love, but unfortunately the more I get the longer it takes me to get back to everyone, so I hope the FAQ might save a wee bit of time.

So that’s it – not huge changes, but little tweaks that I hope make the site easier to use. I like to keep this place as simple and stress-free as I can

Happy Hallowe’en everyone! x

You know, when I wrote yesterday’s blog post I wasn’t sure if anyone would want to join me, which is why i didn’t put a Mister Linky gadget on the blog to automate the blogroll sign ups – I thought it would look sad if it was sat there empty. How wrong was I?! I am SO happy so many of you want to try the experiment – I think it’s going to be fun!

For me this won’t be a month of making “amazing photos” – it’ll simply be a way to record an intensely creative month in a mindful way; there’s a very good chance I’ll end up posting 31 snaps of my laptop as that’s where I’ll be all day, but i hope to mix it up and get out the house once in a while!

Some more thoughts:

1. The first rule of Fight Club the August break is that there are NO RULES. In other words, if you want to post a few photos rather than just one, or you wish to share a few words, or write a regular post, or leave a week out altogether – great! I know I’ll be freestyling too.

2. Use whatever camera you like. I’ll probably use my iPhone most days – as all my Polaroids are being squirreled away for the book(s), I’m really enjoying the zen of using my phone. And as I want August to be all about the words, it makes sense to use the simplest camera I own.

3. On that note, if you’ll be using your iPhone too, check out these apps – Hipstamatic, PS Mobile, Best Camera, Camera +, Perfect Photo, Monochromia

4. I’m sensing our month of few words needs wordless comments too, just like we did on this post. Maybe not every day – this is a great opportunity to get to know other bloggers so comments are encouraged! – but just so you know: smiley faces as comments are very welcome here in August :D

5. I’ve started a Flickr group for our experiment, so if you’d like to add your daily photos, and chat to other participants, you can. It’s a public group so anyone can join – all you need is a Flickr account (instructions on how to set one up (it’s free) are in my FAQ)

[I slipped on my Unraveller-in-chief hat then - ha!]

6. Other mindful things to try in August: Marianne’s fabulous 30 days of yoga; Unclutterer’s Thing-A-Day challenge – deeply digging both of these.

7. And lastly, there’s no requirement to ‘join’ this bit of fun, but obviously if you’d like to be on the blogroll please do leave a comment at any time and I will add you. And don’t feel obliged to add the badge to your blog, but blog bling is fun, so it’s there if you want it.

Here’s a new version of the code, as I know some were having problems with the code I shared yesterday:

<a href=”http://www.susannahconway.com/the-august-break-2010/” target=”_blank”>
<img src=”http://www.susannahconway.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/august_break_flat.jpg” width=”150″ height=”150″ border=”0″ /></a>

(Samantha shared another way to get the badge on your blog in this post – thanks, love!)

Okay! We have T-minus 9 days to get all our words blogged out before we slide into a mindfully recorded August… I can’t bloody wait!

I need to take a break. August is pencilled in for book-writing madness, and I know i won’t have many words left over for this space, so I’m thinking of trying an experiment. I’ve always been inspired by Darlene’s December Views project, where blogging participants let their photos do the talking for the whole of the month, so I’ve decided I need some of that for August.

Would you like to join me?

The (loose & very adaptable) plan would be to simply share one photo per day on your blog – Monday to Friday, or every day. Or whenever you want. Using any camera – DSLR, compact, Polaroid, Holga, iPhone (my choice), Instax, 35mm, video – with or without words – anything goes – for the whole of August. No pressure -  just looking at August through your camera lens as a way to be more present this summer. And to have a little break from the pressures and expectations of regular blogging.

What do you think?

I’ve been racking my brain this morning trying to think of a suitably jazzy name for the experiment but all I can come up with is ‘the August break’ so that’s what i’m going with :) I’ve even made a badge!

So if you’d like to play along leave a comment with your name and blog address and I’ll add your link to a blogroll of participants so we can all visit each other throughout the month.

You wanna play? Spread the word – it’ll be like a blogging summer camp!

Scanning my Google Reader this afternoon i discovered a mini blog challenge set by Darren over at Problogger (i love reading blogs about blogging, don’t you? Makes me feel all square and geeky… in a good way). The idea is to link to six of your old posts (and one by another blogger) to help your readers dig deeper into your archives. The links lead to:

• Your first post
• A post you enjoyed writing the most
• A post which had a great discussion
• A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
• Your most helpful post
• A post with a title that you are proud of
• A post that you wish more people had read

So here’s my interpretation:

My first post: Setting sail into the unknown – April 12th, 2006
A post I enjoyed writing: these early thoughts on being an auntie – little did i know that that early love would go supernova when i finally met the tiny wobble man; this post on allowing dreams also spoke to me today.
A post with great discussion: it was naughty and rude, but the post about our favourite swear words had the best comments ever ;)
From another: I’m so proud of my mate Lisa for starting her Monday Me series - inspiring!
My most helpful post: has to be the Polaroid guide… or perhaps my little series on falling in love with your self (more of those to come)
Best blog post title: Juice, Clooney & fish ‘n’ chips
And you might want to check out: this post.

Wanna play along? Leave a link to your post in the comments!