Happy Saturday! and.. I know it’s been a while since we had a good Discussion here! This week I have something I wanted to talk about since quite a while and I’m excited to hear your thoughts andย responseย to this topic!
We all do meme’s, right? I think most of us Book bloggers have a few meme’s we all love to participate, or… we are just used to participate. There are some meme’s nearlyย everyoneย is doing, so ofย course, if all the cool kids do it we want to join too, righty?
ย 
But why do some meme’s work and other doesn’t?
Old Habits die hard!
I think one big aspect is the habit. Some meme’s are there since ever and many people keep doing them. I’mย thinkingย of Waiting on Wednesday (one of myย favoriteย ones!), In My Mailbox (or Stacking the Shelf) is another of theseย classicsย Then, there are Teaser Tuesdays and Top 10 Tuesday, It’s Monday What are You Reading?
We’ve been blogging since 3.5 years by now and all these meme’s have been around even longer.
Why ย join exactly these?
I think (and correct me if I’m wrong) one reason also is, that ย when so many people are ย joining a certain meme, we all get tons of comments on these posts. Then of course, the link back. In the end, we also get more traffic from these meme’s right??
They are easy!
Another aspect is, that these are meme’s which are easy to participate and a post is put together really fast!
We are all creatures of habits and like to do what is easy. I mean, writing a review requires much more time, so I think we all appreciate if a post is easy and put together rather fast. So, yeah – meme’s do work and I love them!
We here at the Bookwormsย regularlyย join 2 meme’s.Every Wednesday I do a Waiting on Wednesday, and I love these posts! I LOVE seeing what everyone else has up and it#s also for me to find new books.
Then on Sunday, we do an In My Mailbox. Also these are easily to put together and this is a meme all of us Bookworms do and rotate every week. But, I’m coming ย back to this later again…
Just because it’s fitting here, I wanted to take theย opportunityย to take a second to discuss the difference between a meme and a Feature.
Meme
Aย memeย (/หmiหm/;ย meem)[1]ย is “an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.”[2]ย A meme acts as a unit for carryingย culturalย ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond toย selective pressures. Source : Wikipedia
A meme is something hosted from one blog and usually has a linky list where you can link up your posts. It’s there for everyone to join! All you have to do (and that is imperative) is to link back to the hosting blog. So an Meme is there to spread idea’s and in our case all bookish things!!
Feature
A Feature however is something original for a certain blog. It is an (more or less) original idea from one blogger and this blogger does this Featureย regularlyย on their own blogs. Here you have to be careful if you like the idea, because a feature is not to be replicated or even stolen.
My advice? If you love a certain feature talk to the Blogger and ask if you can join her idea and of course you ALWAYS have to credit the blogger. I think most Bloggers are actually excited when another blogger like their idea so much that they want to do the same. It happened with our very irregular “New Adult Monday” Feature. There are a few Bloggers who loved this idea and asked me if they could do the same. I was of course excited and send them the Button I created. All I wanted in return was a link back and they are happy to do so! win win!
New Meme’s hava a hard time getting established!
Truthfully, we had several (in our opinion alsoย awesome) idea’s about new meme’s! Right in theย beginningย we created a meme called “Notable Quotables” but we never got any people to join. Why? Mainly because it was too similar to Teaser Tuesday to be regonized as something new and exciting to join.
Next, we created “Book Birthday Shout Out” toย featureย new Releases onย Tuesday. Also this was an idea we all loved but… as usual, weย endedย again doing it alone. and this, even though many people like to feature new Releases on Tuesday, but no one wanted to add it a label call is Book Birthday Shout out and turn it into a meme! *shrugs* Basically, it was not unique enough!
For a very long time especially in the beginning of blogging we joined the Friday Blog Hop meme’s. Then, we wanted to do something else on Fridays and created “My Friday Love“. At this point we were already prepared that no one wanted to join our new meme, especially since many people love to stick to their Follow Friday habits. In the end, it’s an easy post, you get to know new people and new people find your blog! It’s definitely a win – win situation.
Yes I doย understandย why no one wanted to join our ย “My Friday Love” post. So after a few month of trial, we turned this to-be meme into a Feature and we just keep doing it!
Yeah… I had tons of ideas for new meme’s and I was actually hoping that some other bloggers might also like to try out something new. But then, most Bloggers are creatures of habit and like to do the things all the cool kids to do. Also, I think many love the comments and the increased pageviews on a strong meme day, right?
Now, after going through all these phases of try and error we again have something new coming up! See, we are not letting our oldย experiences bring us down.
It’s Time for a Change!
For years now we joined In My Mailbox on Sundays! It’s a nice way to show what we all got in our mailbox, but… I admit that I’m getting tired of this. Don’t get me wrong, It’s a nice meme but we decided that we needed a change, something new and fresh for us!
We want to do something else, something fun, something easy. And while being a BEA we talked a lot about our Blogs and meme’s and these kind of things. There is one meme I absolutely LOVE! It’s Top Ten Tuesdays! I love Tuesdays for exactly this reason and I’m excited seeing all the pretty and awesome posts. However, Tuesdays we cannot join this meme – I mean yes we could but this is one of our strongest days to post our reviews and we do already a meme on Wednesday, have a Feature on Friday and then on Sunday.
So inspired by this I wanted to do something smilar in a list style! And after talking with my Bookworms we came up with something cool and exciting (at least for us).
Inspired by Top Ten Tuesdays, but we do a little twist and we won’t just talk about books, but all book related things and also Blogging Related things. So yes ofย courseย it’s not completely new, and we will credit “The Broke and The Bookish” for inspiring our meme, but it won’t be the same!
And… you know what? If you all want to join – that’s awesome and I will jump around and be excited. And if not? I’m fine too – I leanred my lesson that new things are just not easy to be established! so if you areย interested, then come back tomorrow for our Super Six Sunday premiere!ย (Note, of course I did my research and didn’t find any other Blogger doing a meme or Feature called like this)ย
So, now I want to hear it from you guys! Why do you like to stick to these old established meme’s? Pageviews, Comments or just the love for a certain meme?ย
What do you think makes a meme work and other doesn’t? Did you also try to establish a meme yourself? Did youย succeedย ?ย
Much Love,
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I love this post! I’m new to the blogging world (just three short months!), but meme’s were something I was well aware before since I am book blog follower. In the beginning, I researched which meme’s were out there. I chose two that seemed easy and fun: Top Ten Tuesday and Waiting on Wednesday.
These have helped my stats of course (and man have they!), but they’ve also given me a lot of chances to connect with other bloggers. I love the networking and community that comes from these two memes.
In addition, I added some standard ‘features’ to my blog: New Reads (Monday post with books hitting the shelf that week) and Indie Spotlight (Sunday post dedicated to an indie author I’ve read and loved). I know so many people do some version of New Reads, but the Indie Spotlight is my favorite, because I love sharing books (an authors) that may not be well known, but that I love.
That being said, I say keep at the meme creating! One will stick and in the meantime, you’ll have fun features like My Friday Love (which I LOVE to read btw). Anyways, I love your blog and I’m sorry about the mini-post this comment turned into!
Jessica @ Such A Novel Idea recently posted..This Girl โ Book Review
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YEAH for you starting a Blog!! And it helped me also a lot joining a few meme’s in the beginning. They are a great way to get your name out there! And the two you chose are the ones I love most!
I love Features and you should keep doing them and yes many features are similar to others on other blogs, but there you shouldn’t worry to much. We also have a Indie Spotlight, but haven’t done one in a very long time.
And.. I’m HAPPY you love our Friday Love posts. They are just our way to share random bookish news hehe!
Thanks for your wonderful comment!
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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Love this post too:) I love meme, my favorite is Top 10 Tuesday:)
Elin recently posted..Book review: The Sweetnes of forgetting by Kristin Harmel
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I so love this discussion because it’s so true. I find a lot of problems with other memes is that we never hear about them or some are too difficult. I’m always willing to try new memes because I like to change things up however I have noticed that many blogs I read after do the same memes over and over and over every single week.
I recently started a new meme called From the TBR Pile and while it’s super easy nobody has checked it out except maybe one other blogger. It makes me sad but I don’t think that’s going to stop me from posting them because Teaser Tuesday takes too long for my while I’m at school as does Top Ten Tuesday since I would love to beautify the entire post.
I will definitely be checking out your meme. I never really post anything on Sundays so great idea and thank you for this awesome post!
Reese’s recently posted..Review: Conquer Your Love
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A meme that requires just won’t work. It’s true. People like to do meme’s that are easy to do!
And I feel your disappointment … as I said I started a few meme’s and non one wanted to join. And yes I do love the Top 10 posts from people and I love how they make them look, so pretty!
We always posted IMM on Sunday, but I’m tired of doing them as well as reading them, so it’s time for somethin fresh!
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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We tend to avoid memes on our blog. We used to do them, but now we’d rather focus on features and reviews. However, if you are a beginning blogger, memes are a good way to add content. Keep in mind that if everyone is doing the same thing, it reduces the originality of your blog. Also, as a reader of many blogs, I tend to skip through the memes because everyone is doing the same thing.
Good luck on your new meme. It sounds interesting.
AH@badassbookreviews recently posted..Badass Hidden Gems vol. III
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I perfectly agree, when you are a new Blogger meme’s definitely help creating an audience and I think we also did more meme’s in the beginning.
And YES if meme’s is the only thing you are doing and you see the same posts over at each blog, it becomes boring!
I’m not really seeing our meme to hit off, but it’s something we like to do so we are excited about it even if no one joins ๐
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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Ohh! I’ve always wondered about this and you’ve definitely said everything that I’m always thinking! One of my favorite memes was my book boyfriend, but that one stopped a few months back – althoughhhh. I may be trying to work something out on that one. But who knows.
Great post!!
tabithasbookblog recently posted..Stacking the Shelves #31: The one where I get a Macbook Pro!
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Oh I LOVED Book Boyfriend and I’m so sad Missie stopped blogging;( I miss her!
You might talk to her and ask her if you could take the meme over as long as she’s gone. I would love seeing these posts again!
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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I emailed her and she said it was okay! I’m working on a new button, but I’m keeping the original too – the first posts are going up on Monday, so I guess tomorrow!
tabithasbookblog recently posted..Review: Forget You by Jennifer Echols
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I’m looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with! ๐
Ashley recently posted..Stacking the Shelves (55)
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Woot! Let#s see – but at least we are super excited about it, so if no one joins it’s fine ๐
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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What happened to Salacious Saturdays? LOL!
Love this! It sounds like it could be a lot of fun and your non-button-y button is adorable. You know I’m in (though it’ll probably be more on-and-off because I’m erratic when it comes to the weekends).
I do enjoy memes, as long as people don’t go too crazy. I like Top Off Tuesday (and reading the Top Ten Tuesday) and Waiting On Wednesday, which I participate in a lot. And I guess my Thursday Speed Date is a feature unique to my blog (though others are more than welcome to join in, if they want). As long as it’s a good mix of all things bookish, that’s what I like to see!
Mary @ BookSwarm recently posted..Speed Date with Justin: GAMEBOARD OF THE GODS by Richelle Mead
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*giggles* Yeah… you know that would be super cool, but … we would be a little limited righ??
And .. OoOo thanks for linking my banner!
Love your Top Off Tuesday and of course WoW is ma favorite to fid new books! I love your Speed Dating Reviews but.. I have a hard time keeping myself short! Ugh!
I don’t mind other people joining my features as long as they credit the original idea we are all good!
I’d love to see you join when you have time and when you like the topic!
*hugs*
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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I am new to the blogging world and I am participating in a few blog hops to hopefully bring people to my site. One is great because it basically runs for a week. Then is doesn’t interfere with posts you have scheduled. The other celebrates Fridays (always fun). Time will tell if they work or not, but I do think they are fun and I really like meeting other bloggers and connecting with them on Twitter etc. I can’t wait to see what you come up with ๐
Meredith
Meredithโs Musings
Meredith recently posted..Celebrate the Small Things
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I loved doing Blog Hops in the beginning and I think we got many subscribers that way! Parajunkee is hosting a great one!!
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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Thank you so much for the tip ๐
Meredith
Meredith recently posted..Celebrate the Small Things
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I tried to start one just for bloglovin blog hopping, but it didn’t really garner much interest. I figure maybe it is too similar to Follow Friday, but there people aren’t good about stating where to follow in an easy to find place.
brandileigh2003 recently posted..Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post Mailbox Memes
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Oo do NOT get me started on BlogLoving.. everyone is moving there but there are so many blog Feeds missing because BlogLoving is messing with their Feed.
My Blog is one and off on BlogLoving and it DRIVES ME nuts! I loos followers and pageviews and they do not get this fixed. Sorry for this outburst:)
Anyway, I actually think this is an awesome idea since everyone moves over to Feedburner, but again I’ve seen this so many times, new meme’s have a hard time;(
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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I like doing the Feature & Follow meme for the reasons you mentioned. They’re quick, which means I don’t have to spend too much time putting the post together on Friday, and it’s a nice chance to meet new bloggers, get page views, and new followers.
Super Six Sunday sounds really interesting. I don’t do the Top Ten Tuesday either. Tuesday is a good day to post reviews for me.
Kim recently posted..Feature & Follow: Book Spine Poem
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That is truly the only reason why I don’t join Top 10 Tuesdays, simply because I like to post Reviews on Tuesdays. Plus, I do not want to post so many meme’s in a row. Weekends are more laid back and lazy so I think it’s actually a good day to do a meme like this!
Let’s see how people respond and I hope that even though they do not join they at least might like to read it:)
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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I love the graphic for your new meme. I think some memes work for some people and not for others etc. I do “It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?” and use that as my weekly book discussion post. I’ll also do Top Ten Tuesday when the topic interests me.
Tanya Patrice recently posted..#WeekendReading and Eating {Fajitas}
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Thanks Tanya! I truly wanted to do something special and pretty for this new adventure!
And now this is also so very true, everyone likes something else so while some memes work for some, they won’t work for others!
I have to check your weekly discussion posts! Love discuss books:)
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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I of course host The Sunday Post and like that it includes blog news, around the blogoshere news and book meme. I find tons of new books. I participate in Waiting on Wednesday when I can but mostly focus on reviews. I do three features coffee pot reviews, caffeinated confessions and How the Heck Did You Do That!?! Look forward to your new meme ๐
kimbacaffeinate recently posted..Review: Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
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And I LOVE your Sunday Posts for exactly this reason, that it also tells what’s going on. Many of us are so often busy during the week so having a Summary is awesome!! Love your Coffee Pot Reviews, sometimes it’s just enough to write a short review for people to get an idea:))
I’m also looking forward to Super 6 Sundays and I hope people will actually read our posts ๐
Danny recently posted..Super Six Sunday – Danny’s Super 6 Books I’m looking forward to read next
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I do think a lot of times the bigger memes get the strongest followings because they already have an established group of followers, so it’s more likely you’ll get visits and comments by participating in them. But, if I’m honest, some of these larger memes seem so pointless to me. I feel like sometimes all they involve is copying and pasting a book blurb or quote. There really isn’t a whole lot more added to it. And while I get that that’s part of the appeal for bloggers, for me it’s not appealing as someone who wants to leave comments. When I participate in memes (TTT and F&FF) I always try to really make a post out of it. I rarely answer with only images or one-line sentences. I really try to take what’s given and make it more, just so those stopping by can have something to work with to leave a meaningful comment. (Otherwise you get those “Great post, here’s mine!” comments.)
Honestly, I would like to join some different memes if they were something meaningful and original. I think part of the trouble with some memes is they don’t have a schedule. Let us know in advance what the topic or focus will be each week so we can write it up in advance and have it ready to go! That’s definitely my favorite thing about TTT, and WoW works in that way as well because you already know what you can create for it way in advance instead of waiting until the day or week of.
Okay, sorry for rambling! It’s just such a great discussion post! ๐
Asti (A Bookish Heart) recently posted..Bookish Recap: June 10th โ June 15th
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First – that graphic is gorgeous!
And second – starting a meme is simply *hard work*. Lauren from The Housework Can Wait and I started a Throwback Thursday meme last fall, and we were just starting to get some bare bones momentum when one of us would need to take a break from blogging for a few weeks. And we found that both of us needed to be around to really fan the flames and promote it and get folks excited. Then, for personal reasons, I stopped blogging entirely for several months and it just completely petered out. We found that the weeks with the most participation were the weeks where we were both Tweeting incessantly about it and promoting it on our blogs and Facebook pages… basically gettin all up in everybody’s faces with it. There’s just SO MUCH out there that you kind of have to scream to be heard until you have a solid footing and following.
Mandi Kaye recently posted..Review: Broken by Kelley Armstrong (Women of the Otherworld #6)
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Great topic! I’m so glad you shared your experiences related to trying to start a new meme. I’ve started two features that I hoped would turn into something during this past year — so far, I only get one or two participants for each, but since I enjoy doing it, I keep writing the posts and providing a linky. I’m probably past the point when I should give up and just keep them as features that I do for my own blog without the linky feature… but, well, I just keep hanging in there! I enjoy writing Top Ten Tuesday posts each week, although some topics take a lot more time and effort than others. Good luck with your new meme! I haven’t been blogging long enough to see a successful meme from when it first started, but it just seems like momentum has a lot to do with it. I started joining in with TTT because I’d stumbled across it and it already had such a big following. I haven’t encountered any brand-new ones yet, but I’ll keep my eyes open!
Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies recently posted..Help Me Choose My Vacation Reading!
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This is a GREAT discussion, Danny! I agree with you. I haven’t participated in memes for a while, but when I did, they were for the reasons you mentioned. They’re easy, and they bring lots of traffic! Many times, my days with the highest traffic were meme days.
I also agree with you about getting bored with some memes over time. I like them, but at the same time I get tired of seeing them and just want to see original content! I’m looking forward to your Super Six Sundays!
Kelley (Another Novel Read) recently posted..Book Bloggery Week-in-Review (12)
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It can well imagine it would be crazy hard to get a meme off the ground. I hope your new one works out and I’ll be going to check it out right after this. Personally the WoW its kind of aggravating to me that her particular blog has NOTHING else – there are no reviews – just the meme every Wednesday. That to me just seems like a waste.
April and I were just talking about memes and features the other day! Coming up with an awesome yet simple idea is the key. Hopefully you’ve hit on a winner!
Pabkins recently posted..Review: Wonders of the Invisible World by Patricia A. McKillip
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I kind of just wanted to pop in and say that the title of this post is grammatically incorrect, and if I had done that I’d definitely want someone to tell me especially if I were a book blogger who spent time reviewing an author’s way of writing.
First, it’s “memes”. Not “meme’s”. “Meme’s” means that the meme owns something. So, you say, “I love doing memes.” or… “That meme’s theme for today is kind of boring.”
Second, “why some memes work and others doesn’t.” does not work. Basically, you’re saying “why some memes work and others does not.” It would need to be changed to “why some memes work and others don’t.” Then it makes sense, because now it reads, “why some memes work and others do not.”
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love the idea! If i didn’t have so many going I would definitely join. I love the idea and will for sure come by to check it out, so even if people don’t join, keep it up! I get so sad when I like a feature someone is doing and they just stop. ๐
JennRenee recently posted..Review: Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
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Oh we’ll totally keep doing it no matter if people join. We wanted to do something new on Sundays and we love this idea.
Of course;-) if people join that would make it even better!!
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[…] some great comments, it never took off as a meme. Danny from Bewitched Bookworms is talking about Why Some Meme’s Work and Others Don’t, which made me realize that my meme just wasn’t easy enough to reproduce! But it might be a […]
[…] Danny discussed memes and talked about why some work better than others. […]
Hmmm, interesting post. I actually like features a lot more than memes and the only meme I’m doing now is Top Ten Tuesday. (I can never pass the oppurtunity to make and share lists ๐ Memes are great for traffic and finding new blogs, while features, like discussion posts, are more….personal, they tell me more about the blogger behind the blog. I like that ๐
I think trying to make a new meme popular is like trying to make a new blogger into one of the BIG ones. It’s hard and (almost) impossible. There are already established memes for every day, so breaking into the meme scene won’t be an easy task. I think I’ll stick with my features, but good luck with Super Six Sunday!! Just because no one has done it in a while doesn’t mean it can’t be done. ๐
Cayce recently posted..Character Likes & Dislikes
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I didn’t quite know the difference between a meme and a feature before reading this post, just had a vague idea that there was one. So thank you for that!
I do wish there were some good food blog memes, or I at least knew where to find them. I really enjoy reading some of the ones on the book blogs, but they aren’t quite relavant to what I blog about. ๐ Waiting on Wednesday is one of my favorites as well, since I’m always on the lookout for new things to read!
Also: I ADORE your Matryoshka doll rating system! It’s definitely the cutest one I’ve seen so far! The whole site design is lovely, really. I especially love the watercolor-style Super Six Sunday banner in this post, as I’ve been thinking of doing some watercolor featured image headings on my blog. It’s a hobby of mine I need to get into gear on practicing. ๐
Leanne @ Record of Confection recently posted..Sunday Special {6.23.13}
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