Discussing and Remembering Dewey

[Maw Books]

It is a sad week within the book blogging community. Dewey from Hidden Side of a Leaf passed away this past week. To say that she leaves behind a huge void is a understatement. Not only was she a prolific reader, reviewer and blogger but she was also the founder and organizer of Weekly Geeks, the Bookworms Carnival, and the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. And I'm sure I'm unaware of many others. We have all been influenced by her amazing energy, creative juices and bringing the community together. She was a wonderful friend. Florinda at The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness perhaps summed everything up best on this well thought out post. She already has a list of bloggers willing to help.

There has been a lot of discussion on many blogs and twitter about how to cope with that loss.

Some of that discussion has included:

1 - How to best express our condolences to Dewey's family. Many of us have her address in which to send cards/packages. It's been mentioned to donate money/books to her local library, donate money to have her family plant a tree in her name, gather all the online tributes to make sure that Dewey's family doesn't miss them all, send flowers, etc.

2. - How to best carry on the amazing community building events that Dewey started. Many have already expressed interest in taking up some of these projects, includes challenges, Weekly Geeks, the 24 Hour Read-a-thon (this has gotten so big, it probably should have a dedicated blog), secret santa (with Nymeth), and the Bookworms Carnival. Dewey already had a lot of help on many of these projects so I'm sure many feel more prepared than others to step up to the plate.

3 - Raych from Books I Done Read has asked for a RIP button to place on our blogs.

4 - Keeping Dewey's husband in the loop. He mentioned that he would like to either see Dewey's blog continue or just let it rest. Either way, I think he should be in the know how.

So what now? Let's figure it out! Ideas, like to help, etc? I thought that we should get a discussion going in just one place, so it's not spread out among everybody. This certainly doesn't make me the "moderator" here. I just want to be able to talk amongst ourselves. What have I missed?

And if you're reading this discussion that get the word out and direct traffic over here. I'll set up another discussion to list links of our remembrance posts.

[Terri]

Those are beautiful. I don't think they need to say more than that.

[Literate Housewife]

Bethany, these are absolutely beautiful!

[Marg]

A bit late to the discussion (darn different time zones!) but I would be happy to be involved in helping out whereever I am needed as well.

I agree that it would be nice to leave Dewey's blog as it is - what better memorial to a wonderful blogger than her own words and ideas left there to be read.

The other thing that might be possible is some kind of perpetual reading challenge, or perhaps Weekly Geeks can be renamed to something including her name - Dewey's Weekly Geeks or something like that.

[Nymeth]

Thanks for creating this discussion, Natasha.

I agree with creating separate blogs for the Read-a-thon, Weekly Geeks and Bookworms Carnival. And I also think doing things collectively is a good idea. Not only because it must be difficult for a single person to keep up with things (she had so much energy), but also because I think it feels right for people to come together to continue it. What do you guys think?

[Nymeth]

Exactly. I like what Renay said about a group blog run by a team.

[chrisbookarama]

I'd be willing to help out with Weekly Geeks.

[chrisbookarama]

I've thought a bit about this. Maybe the Weekly Geek group could have a private group (Yahoo or even here) where we could gather ideas and decide on the week's theme. Then we could have a blog like Booking Through Thursday where the theme is posted for all to participate.

Just throwing it out there.

Christina

[Suey]

I think this is a great idea.

[Amy]

This is how we're doing buy books for the holidays....so obviously I think it's a great idea. :P

[Kylee]

As Florinda mentioned, I'm willing to help out where needed. I have no idea how Dewey managed all that she did. Her inner strength must have been off the charts. Her blog was one of the first I came across when I started blogging (with my old blog). I often went to The Hidden Side of the Leaf in those early days as a guide of where to place things and how to phrase things. She helped me with a few technical things through e-mail.

I don't know what else to say. I just wanted to let you all know that I will help however I can. Contact me through here or my blog or e-mail: kylee.challenge2009 AT gmail.com

[WordLily]

As one of the co-hosts from the past read-a-thon, I just wanted to add: There will certainly be room for people to help! :)

[Literary Escapism]

I've already sent a message to Dewey's husband letting him know I would be more than willing to continue hosting the Bookworms Carnival, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet. However, if anyone else wants to do it, just let me know.

Nymeth and I are working on finishing the project Dewey and I started during Weekly Geeks #19 - the Top 10 Books of 2008. I know she wouldn't want us to push this project aside, so expect to see posts about it within the next week or so.