Here’s the details for this weeks Weekly Geeks:
For those who have been with the group, either from the start or joined within recent months, what does being a member mean to you? What do you enjoy about the group? What are some of your more memorable Weekly Geeks that we might could do again? What could be improved as we continue the legacy that Dewey gave us?
Believe it or not, I’ve been participating in Weekly Geeks since the very beginning and it has been a lot of fun. I was really excited to hear that there were a few members of the community who was willing to continue this project after Dewey passed away and I’m glad we’re back up and rolling.
Personally, one of the strangest questions anyone can ask is “what does being a member mean to you?“. I always get the feeling that I’m suppose to answer with some enlighten mumbo jumbo that only makes sense because people pretend it does. Think about it this way, in the most literal sense, the phrase “what does being a member mean to you?” pretty much asks you what do you think the obligations are. So Weekly Geeks means to me that I genearlly need to do a post once a week. However, the reason I keep participating is because of the great conversations and activities that are thought up.
For instance, during WG #2, we were given a task to find other bloggers who had reviewed the same novels that we had, and link to their reviews. One of the other bloggers, Darla, had/has done that with her own blog and Dewey recommended that we could start that at our own. I thought that was a great idea. Everyone wants to promote their own book reviews, yet at the same time, we want to help our friends as well. This was a great way to do both. So I started linking to other reviews in mine and I still do it today. Not only are you giving your opinion on a novel, but you’re showing that your opinion is not the only one that counts. That there are other people out there with different thoughts and you’re encouraging them to go read them and make up their own mind.
In addition to WG #2, there have been a lot of great topics over the last year. We’ve introduced each other to various tastes in novels, what has been going on in our lives, and even some new authors. Through Weekly Geeks, we’re given a chance to see what else is going on in the book blogosphere without leaving our own little corner of it. There are a ton of great blogs I would never had visited if it hadn’t been for Weekly Geeks simple because of the genre tastes. I’m in the minority of the WG community with a site that focuses primarily on paranormal fiction, but I’ve stumbled across novels that have intrigued me simple because of a Weekly Geekers review.
Of all the other topics we’ve done, I have to say that my favorite ones have always been the ones where we’re either interacting with the topic (i.e. WG #12 – More Questions or WG #15 – What Is It?) or introducing readers to new ideas (i.e. WG #10 – Magazines or WG #13 – Authors). Here are some of the other topics we’ve done…
With the new regime at Weekly Geeks (yes I used the word regime!), there’s room for a lot of change or to incorporate more diversity – not that I’m saying it needs it, but it is an option. The new team is asking “What could be improved as we continue the legacy that Dewey gave us?” and I’m not really sure how to answer that. I love Weekly Geeks the way it is, but I don’t want to do the same topics over again. Although, I wouldn’t mind doing WG #16 – Interviews again. That one was fun. So I’m going to leave this to my readers. If you haven’t checked out Weekly Geeks – why not? What kind of topics would intrigue you enough to join? What about it doesn’t interest you? (strange question, I’m sure, but if something can be changed…)
On a side note, the 22nd Edition of the Bookworms Carnival will be back here at the end of January with the theme of Anthologies. I’ll be taking submissions until January 23rd, so if you have one you want to enter, email me.
Ooh, I have an anthology sitting on my TBR shelf that would be perfect for this. I’ll try to get to it before the deadline!
I’m relatively new to Weekly Geeks – but I love getting to see other reviews, etc.
Your post is great and inspiring.
See you again ;0)
Lynda’s Book Blog
Thanks for visiting my blog, Jackie!
I’m a new reader of yours, too (actually, your post last week is how I found WG!)… and I’ve been wanting to tell you how much I enjoy your site. I find myself checking for updates several times a day… and I become giddy when there’s something new! ;)
Have a great week!
Some great WG posts there! I’m looking forward to reading some of the older ones today.
Thanks for the note about the Carnival. I haven’t heard much about it, so I’m glad for the link!
My answer was a lot less well-thought out. I’ve been doing it from the start as well, and there have definitely been some great topics. The interview was one of my favourites, too. :)
Happy Weekly Geeks
I’ve been here from the beginning to and enjoyed so many of these! I think I only skipped one or two.
well said, WG is a great way to meet new bloggers and chat books.
I agree with much of what you’ve said. I like keeping things fresh and new for the most part. New topics being generated both in and out of the group. But there are a few that–with time–I wouldn’t mind seeing repeated!
Good point about the question. I had trouble trying to think of answer myself. I wanted it to be thoughtful like you said but… anyway. You did a great job answering it though.
I am a newer blogger and didn’t know much about Weekly Geeks until after the passing of Dewey. I appreciate your great post and explanation of WG and links to the topics that you’ve discussed. I’ve decided to join the group and look forward to the discussions ahead!
If you haven’t checked out Weekly Geeks – why not?
Well, I’ve seen references to the WGs for awhile, here and elsewhere. I’ve been thinking about diving in. I’m not sure why I haven’t so far. I think I’m just not much of a joiner, if that makes sense, and I don’t like the idea that I have homework or assignments for the blog.
When I initially checked out Dewey’s site, I seem to recall that to join, she was asking people to commit to doing the meme (or whatever you want to call it) every week. Maybe I misinterpreted, but I just didn’t want to make that commitment.
So, I *have* checked it out, I just haven’t joined in.
That’s a staggering list isn’t it? There are some activities I wouldn’t mind doing again, but some were just too complicated at the time, and I didn’t take part. I think whatever the activity is, it needs to take into account that most of us blog about books.
It seemed strange to collect top books for the year when the year had many weeks to run.
I also seem to be in some sort of minority in that I read crime fiction almost exclusively. However I love it when I find another enthusiast.
I had forgotten that the “link to other people’s reviews of the books you review” thing was started by Dewey. I think this is probably the most popular WG theme, because most book bloggers do it now. I think it’s fun to link to other people’s reviews :)
I found this blog, Litarary Escapism, through Weekly Geeks and always enjoy Jackie’s posts here. In fact, most of the bloggers I visit daily or weekly are some that I have met through Weekly Geeks (and a few other “assignments”). Thanks for giving a lot of thought to you reply.
I read in a fairly narrow area myself and I love being exposed to all those other books out there by the other geeks. I don’t know that I’m going to read very many of them, but widening my horizons even a little is just great.
I didn’t participate every week and that was okay. I also hope we have a variety of topics. I’ll keep this in mind when I post my WG topic. Thanks for the feedback!