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Dubrovnik, Dalmatia, Croatia
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September 1, 2010: Yesterday I bought “Problogger” Darren Rowse’s new e-book, The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers, and I’m about half-way through it now. There’s a lot of copywriting tips plus some questionnaires for (1) the blog, and (2) each post, plus the scorecard near the end of the book. After I bought it yesterday he added an expanded version with about fifty more pages, so I downloaded that late in the day.

All that information inspired me to make new spreadsheets to organize my blogging. My spreadsheet for this blog has a page for the blog questionnaire and my marketing plan plus blog post ideas (everyone needs a place to do some brainstorming.) I put my new mission statement at the top of that page in large letters, to remind me of what my intended focus here is. I’m going to keep my intent secret for a while yet because I need to do a lot of writing before the site will be organized in exactly the way I want it to be. I have learned that it can be humiliating to announce my intentions online too soon. Life is full of surprises! (And that’s a good thing!)

The other two pages in my spreadsheet are for keywords – especially those used by people to actually find this site over the last six months, and for the questionnaire the e-book suggests for each blog posting. It forces me to focus on being aware of what’s good for this blog, and to stay centered on the main purpose.

Today when I got into my blog control panel to find keywords I discovered that a scammer/spammer had infiltrated the SMF message board I had on the site. I spent the rest of the afternoon deleting that message board (which I wasn’t using, anyway) and even had to email my server’s customer support to delete the offensive directory the person was using for some nefarious activity. Anyhow, that’s done, and I’ll be looking through every other site I have for any similar infiltrations. I like to run a clean ship!

A long time ago I made it a goal to read all the children’s novels on the Newbery Medal list. So far, I’ve read 40 out of 88 Newbery Medal winning books. Only 48 more to read! The last time I took inventory I’d read 36 of them… that was nearly three years ago. I really need to get busy reading more of these! I’ve linked to some of my reviews. Books I’ve read are in bold letters.

2010 – Rebecca Stead – When You Reach Me

2009 – Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
2008 – Laura Amy Schlitz – Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
2007 – Susan Patron – The Higher Power of Lucky
2006 – Lynne Rae Perkins – Criss Cross
2005 – Cynthia Kadohata – Kira-Kira
2004 – Kate DiCamillo – The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread
2003 – Avi – Crispin: The Cross of Lead – My review of Crispin: The Cross of Lead
2002 – Linda Sue Park – A Single Shard
2001 – Richard Peck – A Year Down Yonder
2000 – Christopher Paul Curtis – Bud, Not Buddy

1999 – Louis Sachar – Holes
1998 – Karen Hesse – Out Of The Dust
1997 – E. L. Konigsburg – The View from Saturday
1996 – Karen Cushman – The Midwife’s Apprentice
1995 – Sharon Creech – Walk Two Moons
1994 – Lois Lowry – The Giver
1993 – Cynthia Rylant – Missing May
1992 – Phyllis Reynolds Naylor – Shiloh
1991 – Jerry Spinelli – Maniac Magee
1990 – Lois Lowry – Number the Stars

1989 – Paul Fleischman – Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices
1988 – Russell Freedman – Lincoln: A Photobiography
1987 – Sid Fleischman – The Whipping Boy
1986 – Patricia MacLachlan – Sarah, Plain and Tall
1985 – Robin McKinley – The Hero and the Crown
1984 – Beverly Cleary – Dear Mr. Henshaw
1983 – Cynthia Voigt – Dicey’s Song
1982 – Nancy Willard – A Visit to William Blake’s Inn
1981 – Katherine Paterson – Jacob Have I Loved
1980 – Joan Blos – A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal

1979 – Ellen Raskin – The Westing Game
1978 – Katherine Paterson – Bridge to Terabithia
1977 – Mildred Taylor – Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
1976 – Susan Cooper – The Grey King
1975 – Virginia Hamilton – M. C. Higgins, the Great
1974 – Paula Fox – The Slave Dancer
1973 – Jean Craighead George – Julie of the Wolves
1972 – Robert C. O’Brien – Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
1971 – Betsy Byars – Summer of the Swans
1970 – William H. Armstrong – Sounder

1969 – Lloyd Alexander – The High King
1968 – E. L. Konigsburg – From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
1967 – Irene Hunt – Up a Road Slowly
1966 – Elizabeth Borton de Trevino – I, Juan de Pareja
1965 – Maia Wojciechowska – Shadow of a Bull
1964 – Emily Cheney Neville – It’s Like This, Cat
1963 – Madeleine L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time
1962 – Elizabeth George Speare – The Bronze Bow
1961 – Scott O’Dell – Island of the Blue Dolphins
1960 – Joseph Krumgold – Onion John

1959 – Elizabeth George Speare – The Witch of Blackbird Pond
1958 – Harold Keith – Rifles for Watie
1957 – Virginia Sorenson – Miracles on Maple Hill
1956 – Jean Lee Latham – Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
1955 – Meindert DeJong – The Wheel on the School
1954 – Joseph Krumgold – …And Now Miguel
1953 – Ann Nolan Clark – Secret of the Andes
1952 – Eleanor Estes – Ginger Pye
1951 – Elizabeth Yates – Amos Fortune, Free Man
1950 – Marguerite de Angeli – The Door in the Wall

1949 – Marguerite Henry – King of the Wind
1948 – William Pene du Bois – The Twenty-One Balloons
1947 – Carolyn Sherwin Bailey – Miss Hickory
1946 – Lois Lenski – Strawberry Girl
1945 – Robert Lawson – Rabbit Hill
1944 – Esther Forbes – Johnny Tremain
1943 – Elizabeth Gray Vining – Adam of the Road
1942 – Walter D. Edmonds – The Matchlock Gun
1941 – Armstrong Sperry – Call It Courage
1940 – James Daugherty – Daniel Boone

1939 – Elizabeth Enright – Thimble Summer
1938 – Kate Seredy – The White Stag
1937 – Ruth Sawyer – Roller Skates
1936 – Carol Ryrie Brink – Caddie Woodlawn
1935 – Monica Shannon – Dobry
1934 – Cornelia Meigs – Invincible Louisa
1933 – Elizabeth Foreman Lewis – Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze
1932 – Laura Adams Armer – Waterless Mountain
1931 – Elizabeth Coatsworth – The Cat Who Went to Heaven
1930 – Rachel Field – Hitty, Her First Hundred Years

1929 – Eric P. Kelly – The Trumpeter of Krakow
1928 – Dhan Gopal Mukerji – Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon
1927 – Will James – Smoky the Cow Horse
1926 – Arthur Bowie Chrisman – Shen of the Sea
1925 – Charles Finger – Tales from Silver Lands
1924 – Charles Hawes – The Dark Frigate
1923 – Hugh Lofting – The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
1922 – Hendrik Willem van Loon – The Story of Mankind