Its been a busy weekend so of course doing the April Platform Challenge has been difficult. Thankfully the last few challenges have been pretty straight-forward, so I’ve combined them into 1 post.

Day 5’s  Challenge:

For today’s task, create a blog. You can use Blogger, WordPress, orTumblr. In fact, you can use another blogging platform if you wish. To complete today’s challenge, do the following:

• Create a blog. That is, sign up (if you don’t already have a blog), pick a design (these can usually be altered later if needed), and complete your profile.
• Write a post for today. If you’re not sure what to cover, you can just introduce yourself and share a brief explanation of how your blog got started. Don’t make it too complicated.
• Share your blog URL in the comments below. I’ll go through and create a list of blog URLs, so that we can easily find, follow, and friend each other in the blogosphere.

I already have a blog (2 in fact) so Day 5 was easy enough to miss. However, take a look at my post right after this about my experience with Angelwalk Theatre’s Presentation of I Love You Because. That’s my actual post for the day base on the premise of My Quirky City.

Day 6’s  Challenge:

For today’s task, read at least one blog post and comment on it (linking back to your blog). And the comment should not be something along the lines of, “Hey, cool post. Come check out my blog.” Instead, you need to find a blog post that really speaks to you and then make a thoughtful comment.

Here are a few possible ways to respond:

• Share your own experience. If you’ve experienced something similar to what’s covered in the post, share your own story. You don’t have to write a book or anything, but maybe a paragraph or two.
• Add another perspective. Maybe the post was great, but there’s another angle that should be considered. Don’t be afraid to point that angle out.
• Ask a question. A great post usually will prompt new thoughts and ideas–and questions. Ask them.

I shared my emotional week on Rachelle Gardener’s Friday post. She’s a literary agent whose website I frequent.

Day 7’s  Challenge:

For today’s challenge, add share buttons to your blog and/or website.

The easiest way to do this is to go to http://www.addthis.com/ and click on the Get AddThis button. It’s big, bright, and orange. You can’t miss it.

~ Robert Lee Brewer

I added the ‘Share This’ option from addthis.com to my side bar, but I already have the ‘Share This’ option at the bottom of each post. Does anybody have any thoughts on what is easier for people to use and which one should be more important?