This Blog Has A Comment Form 8

This blog is still revealing it's self. Slowly emerging into something I can be proud of. If it seems like I have put the food writing and blog writing on hold it is because of all the stuff going on right now. Unfortunately due to the nature of all of it, it is far too personal to throw it out to the web. If you follow me on twitter you might wonder, well you pretty much tweet about everything else in your life - why not shout out what's all happening?

These things have no words I think that would encompass what I truly feel, and might come off as cheapened if I blog about them. It would be like setting my troubles on a balance scale and match them against a million much more tragic events happening to the masses.

Because of these happenings I will be working on slowly getting back up to speed in the world of foodie postings. Bare with me.

In the meantime I wanted to update everyone on some of the new features to Renaissance Culinaire. I have been working hard to tweak this blogger template to the very max of it's capabilities.

I have added a comment form! No more redirects to blogger - if you want to comment on a post, you can now do it on my blog under the post, in a comment form - similar to wordpress blogs. The comments will still be moderated by me, same as usual. But hopefully having a comment form spawns a new influx of commenting people for this blog. Comments are also displayed in a recent comments widget on the sidebar.

Above is a picture. You can find out how to add a comment form to your own blogger blog here.


So not only have I made it easier for you to comment, but I will featuring the best comments w/ link to your profile /blog in a comment carnival, similar to this former post: Reader Comment Carnival. So what are you waiting for, grab yourself some blogger karma - give me some comment love, it encourages me to keep writing.

There are allot of useful archived posts, so poke around.

2nd Place for Best Hobby Blog at the 2007 BOBs Awards 7

Some of you have been wondering if your vote(s) made a difference for BOBs results. And I would say a resounding, YES! Renaissance Culinaire placed 2nd in the Best Hobby Blog Category.

I really am appreciative for everyone who rallied for me on digg and Blogcatalog and stumbleupon, and some of the mom blogging sites I am apart of - your willingness to help another blogger was great! It made being nominated for this award a whole lot sweeter! And for everyone who voted for this site - You are awesome and THANK YOU!

I am awaiting my official winner button from them, and once I get it, I will add it to my sidebar. It's cool to think that my relatively small blog had a chance to win a Best of Blog Award.

2008 started out very well and my momentum was really good, even with things going on in my personal life - I still put out some great posts, that attracted some great comments.

But if you have been wondering why the posts have started to get spaced further apart, and the foodie aspect of this site has been lagging - well I am experiencing some health problems right now that are very debilitating, and down right frightening.I have an appointment to see a doctor on the 8th.

I have been debating whether I should note this, but I decided you readers should know I haven't lost my passion for blogging or for food, I just am feeling so terrible most of the time - it hasn't left me wanting to talk about food.

Lately I haven't been social networking except for twitter. I have been twittering allot lately - to keep my mind off my symptoms, so if you'd like you can follow me and chat a bit...about geek stuff, movies, music or whatever!

It's Official - This Blog is a BoB Award Finalist! 0

Hi everyone, I was nominated for a "BestofBlogs" Award in April and I just got word that my blog Renaissance Culinaire has been chosen as a top 10 finalist.

...Support

Small Bloggers
Vote
for me..

This is a really big deal for me - I just found
out today.

Usually the biggest names in the blogosphere are
the only blogs to be seen representing
the top ten finalists
for each category - but this year I was initially
nominated and accepted for a special
"under appreciated blog" category for smaller
blogs. I made a long list of finalists - but the
final list of top ten nominees has been decided
by a panel of judges and Renaissance Culinaire
made the cut!!


If you have visited my blog and like the content,
if you want to see one of the little guys represent
bloggers in a good light --- please show your support
and vote for my blog in the "Best Hobby Blog" category.

This is truly a "people's choice"award!

Voting Ends June 2nd, 2008

So Please visit the link below and on the voting widget: Select 'Abstract2Collective' and click 'vote', to make sure your vote is counted.

http://www.thebestofblogs.com/2008/05/12/best-hobby-blogvote-here/

It would really mean allot to me! If you can help spread the word I would be truly thankful.

Thanks,

And The Winners Are - Drum Roll Please... 0

The Publisher has been notified. All 5 of
the winners of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book Challenge were notified by email.
For the first contest conducted on Renaissance Culinaire, it went very
well. I will do this again soon when I have the opportunity.

I really appreciate everyone who took the time to follow the contest rules and that had kind comments to make. Thanks to everyone who featured a link on their site also.








The contest is over and the random drawing, thanks to random.org has come and gone.

Now to officially announce the winners:

1. Dan, of MN
2. Mark ,of IL
3. Curtis, of TX
4. Karin, of MN
5. Amy, of OH

CONGRATULATIONS!!


The publisher was forwarded the winners info, including email - in case she wants to verify your shipping address. You will then be shipped your brand new copy of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. Happy Baking!


I have created a little graphic if any of the winners would like to display a link in their blog post about winning the contest.



This is what it will look like on your site:















Copy & paste this code into your site template:


<a href="http://abstract2collective.blogspot.com/2008/05/and-winners-are-drum-roll-please.html" title="I won the Sweet Melissa Cookbook Challenge"><img alt="I won the Sweet Melissa Cookbook Challenge" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtwwbfIND1xgew61Wxtoa0lm4PA52moBJVioG_rvn5kpQxNL0ZL_r3wRZd1HghyphenhyphenqjXTgUvVHfhXr86bCZb7JokGz2bn0bn0qyfKncvVcVsfwaOCS41GGhi_GtUASrWbiMlLUZ9ng/s200/250+seal.gif" /></a>





This is what it will look like on your site:










Copy & paste this code into your site template:


<a href="http://abstract2collective.blogspot.com/2008/05/and-winners-are-drum-roll-please.html" title="I won the Sweet Melissa Cookbook Challenge"><img alt="I won the Sweet Melissa Cookbook Challenge" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-cCgBGH48JLEJUdv_JdQw-tRaYbyT-tN1836MlBfWqU5LAjkLTZbz5re0ROz9TDxnnBuKbWksuHHCXcypfoUwEOWjc6oApSESEI8Pm2ROu3fXEcFc3P7MSJcsSSLs13PX4K50g/s400/115seal.gif" /></a>




Related Posts:

• Contest : Cookbook For 5 Lucky Random Winners

• Review: Sweet Melissa Baking Book
• Hot Pepper Gingerbread Muffins with Orange-Maple Butter

On Blogging : The Active Digg'r Blog Roll 0

Inspired by a recent thread on Blog Catalog that I read this morning., I thought I would start an active digg'r blogroll.

On many blog community sites, the topic in most forums is social networking. Social networking sites connect people with like minded interests, and introduce new content that other members of theses sites have bookmarked or posted about. Popular sites with bloggers include digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon , twitter. These sites can boost your readership and traffic. because not only do you have links to your posts submitted - but you can add a link to your blog within your profile. If people like what you are submitting, or just want to view the profiles of other members who have given their content a boost - the gives you a potential visitor.

In the blogosphere, links are very important. Potential visitors can view links to your content they otherwise might never have been exsposed to.

Many social networking sites also allow you to add widgets to your blog, or blog post footer, which allow readers to bookmark and promote your content within each specific social networking site.

As bloggers it is very important to reach out to as wide an audience as possible. Most blog posts get very minimal exposure. Even if the content is excellent and informative - if you do not work to promote your content then the effect on readership or traffic is not seen as positively reflective of your blog. The less exposure - the least amount of readers will stumble upon your blog content. If you are trying to gain traffic then this can be a real no-win situation. Especially if you are not a frequent participant in forums or part of a Publisher / Ad network. There is however a very fine line between promoting your content and seeming spammy.

In this post I am mainly referencing digg. Members of digg submit content that they like, which is then publically displayed in different categories - so that other members can "digg" or vote for the items they like. Members may also comment on , or add each item to their favorites, or "bury" the item if they don't think it is worthy, or stupid.

If you have a blog and frequent blog community sites such as entrecard , blogcatalog, or Mybloglog , you will see many groups devoted to social networking. There are alot of forum threads posting about digg exchanges. And I am all for promoting my fellow bloggers, I will digg a post if I believe it is well written and the content is believable and informative., even if it doesn't pertain to me or my niche. I will add someone to my digg friends if they will exchange diggs with me.

But the problem with digg exchanges is that many members will post their link, expecting everyone to friend them or digg their post, but then will NOT reciprocate. This creates a rift in the digg network. Not everyone understands what or how to participate in a digg exchange. That is fine, but I am talking about the chronic non-reciprocaters.

A lot of these non-reciprocaters will post "shouts" or messages , alerting their digg "friends" un-mercilessly, about content that needs a digg. The worst offenders post shouts sometimes 5-10 times a day - all the while ignoring friends shouts and NEVER digging something shared with them. These chronic offenders can turn off a new member to the digg exchange very quickly. It is also frustrating to have to remove these people from your own digg friends lists.

So inspired by these events, I am starting a blogroll listing bloggers who actively support their blogging peers through dig exchanges and digg friending. The Active Digg'r Blogroll
not only will provide a sense of community within the blogosphere, but will also be a way of promoting member's blogs and content.

Here is the button all members will display:

Renaissance Culinaire Available Via Mobile Devices. 1

The importance of mobile feeds in the blogosphere. Steps on how to optimize your wordpress blog via the plugin – or how to use a third party provider if not on wordpress.


Get Updates sent right to your mobile device! Learn how now. Also other Renaissance Culinaire related links.

To Subscribe to Renaissance via Your Mobile device :
Subscribe here


Renaissance Culinaire Links :

Feed | Amber (personal) On Twitter | Updates Via Twitter (Feed) | Subscribe Via Email | Community On BlogLog | Get Recipes Feed

"What’s needed is a version of your blog that is designed for display on a mobile phone and other small-screen mobile devices.


That means a focus on displaying the content (the text) in a way that’s easy to read on a small screen, easy to navigate it using a typical phone’s small buttons, and display hyperlinks in a way that makes it easy to spot them.


It also needs to be quick to load over the comparatively slow connection speed of a cellular network, or even the comparatively faster speed that you might get with a wi-fi-enabled mobile phone.


All this needs to be available in an easy-to-create way that doesn’t require you to spend hours coding and creating a mobile-specific version of your blog.


You’re in luck if you’re a WordPress user – there is such a tool. It’s a plugin called WordPress Mobile Edition, created by Alex King (one of the most generous contributors to the WordPress user community).


This plugin is simplicity itself. Upload the files, activate the plugin, and that’s it – the mobile version of your blog is done. It works (and looks) a treat as the photo suggests. Download the zip file and follow the simple instructions.


Having an easy-to-use version of your blog for small-screen mobile devices is becoming more important if you want to make your site easily accessible to visitors no matter what device they use to connect to the net."—-Quoted from Neville Hobson

Don’t have a Wordpress blog?? Don’t know where to start, but want an easy method to turn your site mobile accessible, without coding?


Turn your feed into a mobile site with FeedM8, You just need to give them your url or feed url, and within a few seconds you have a moblog link to offer your readers!! Cool.

Renaissance Culinaire Nominated for 2007 BOBs 0

Congratulations!!! You have been nominated for a 2007 Best Of Blog Award!! Especially designed to bring attention to lower profile bloggers, The BoB’s as we like to call them are currently taking nominations in over 20 different categories. To find out more about how your site has a chance to become one of this year’s Best Of’s and how to nominate other bloggers, visit us at www.thebestofblogs.com. Remember voting begins May 5th so make sure you pass the word to your friends, family, and faithful followers.

Sincerely,
Bill Beck
Project Mgr.
www.TheBestOfBlogs.com
Email:Bloggerbeck@aol.com

How cool? I am very excited to be a nominee. It's nice when the little blogger's can get in on the action. Apparently the Best of Blogs had some technical errors and decided to allow more time for nominations .

Below is a new schedule :

• Nominations end April 21st
• Two weeks later on May 5th the Top 10 in each category will be announced and voting will begin.
• May 26th marks the date that a winning blog in each of the 23 categories will be announced.

If you are wondering how the BOB's work here is more info from the BOB site:

After the nomination period, the panelists assigned to each specific category will weed through the nominations and pick what they think are the 10 most deserving blogs in that category. Panelist decisions will be based first on blog content and second on user-friendliness; a blogs visual design will only be a minor consideration.

The fans will then vote on a their favorite in each category. 100% of the popular vote will be used to pick the winner.

I am so happy to be nominated. It is an honor. I had taken a break from blogging, and let this blog remain parked and not updated while I took care of a host of personal business, but people still visited and left comments, and linked. It was great to receive reader emails asking if I was o.k, or mention how they liked my site. It makes my day when I get feedback. It makes me want to blog more.

I have appreciated all the subscribers and fellow bloggers who have supported this blog for the long haul. It has gone through many metamorphosis's , but my interest to share foodie tidbits has been ever increasing. I think about culinary ALL the time...I am such a foodie.

I will be adding more updates about the BOBs in the future. I would appreciate any support when it comes time to vote for BOBs . So if you like this blog and what it stands for --- please consider posting a vote.

If you have other favorites --- there are 23 categories to choose from to nominate your favorite blogger, but you must visit the site and put your nominee in comments under the appropriate category . Make the content that you love soo much , get the exposure it deserves - Vote for your favorite bloggers.