Wednesday, August 28, 2013

thoughts on blogging every day.


When I committed to blogging every day in August, for Blaugust, I was excited. I had blogged every day in May alongside Jenni, & although it was a little bit stressful from time to time, it was a good experience. It produced feelings of productivity & pride in my work, & it pushed my limits of cranking out some writing each day. I liked the challenge, a lot.

So, naturally, I thought Blaugust would go the same way. But, y'all, it just hasn't. I spent the first half of this month absolutely loving blogging every day. I was putting out quality content, I was loving the results, & I felt proud of myself at the end of each day.

Then, I started school. And, you know, that threw a bit of a wrench into my plans. Suddenly I'd look at the clock, & it would be nine p.m., & I hadn't put up a post for the day.

Uhhhhhhhh..... I'd stammer, to myself. What should I put up? A single photo? A list of some sort?

All of these were cop-outs. All of these were attempts to just get something up in the space. Quality wasn't taken into account. Real thoughtfulness was not part of the equation. It was all about just getting something up into the space. And that's not the kind of blog I want to have.

If you've been reading my posts lately, you'll know that I'm taking a break from blogging for the month of September [except on Sundays... The Sunday Currently will still be going live at noon eastern each Sunday & will be available for linking up]. And really, Blaugust is probably the main contributing factor to that.

I embarked on Blaugust to inspire me, to push me, to challenge me to create quality content each day, but all it's really done is completely burn me out. And that's why the break in September is absolutely necessary, among a whole host of other reasons, one of them being school work, & another of them being that I want to reformat this space.

I wanted to share this today in the spirit of being completely transparent. You may very well have noticed the lack of quality in my posts. And that's ok, because it's the honest truth. And I fully intend to fininsh out Blaugust, putting up a post every day for the rest of this week. And I can't promise they'll be great posts, but I don't think they'll be horribly terrible, either.

And when I'm back in full swing in October, I will be blogging for quality. Never quantity, ever again.

Have you ever challenged yourself to blog every single day? How did it go? Do you plan to ever to it again? It really impresses me when blogs are set up to crank out content each day. I wish this blog could be one of those blogs, but I just plain don't see it happening.

9 comments:

siddathornton said...

Back when Jenni put up the challenge, I was so gung ho about it. But when it really came time to write something and put a post together based on a prompt SOMEONE ELSE provided for me, it lost its fun. I blog because I want to share whatever I feel like sharing that day, and sometimes that means not posting at all. I felt that the, I think, two posts I did for the challenge were just so contrived. It didn't feel natural and I'm glad I didn't continue. Kudos to you for doing what you think is best. Quality > quantity, always.

siddathornton said...

I have always loved the idea of blogging every day. But I am always afraid that I would just put something together just to have a post, it wouldn't necesarilly be any good. I honestly still do that sometimes, I am like I totally just posted that because I wanted to post something and it wasn't really anything great. So good for you for giving yourself the freedom to take a break. I did early in the summer, and it was so nice! It was fun to come back with a fresh mind and new ideas for posts!

siddathornton said...

One of the reasons that I try to blog every weekday is to keep me thinking and to keep me active not only in writing, but in reading other blogs. Sometimes, I just put out really sloppy posts just to post something for that day...it doesn't always end well, nor does it feel satisfying. I know what you mean about school getting in the way because I'm currently in that predicament. I've been writing my posts on weekends and scheduling them throughout the week...without doing that, I don't know how I'd keep up.

siddathornton said...

I've never challenged myself to blog every day because I was afraid the quality of my posts would suffer, as I would blog just to blog and not to share interesting content. Sometimes it just happens that way, though, and sometimes I have so many ideas I have to schedule everything out and try to avoid posting twice in one day (like now!). Other times I can't come up with anything original and just participate in link-ups for a week or two. So my blogging frequency definitely varies, which I probably need to fix. I think it's great that you challenged yourself this month, though! Have a nice break and see you back here in October. :)

siddathornton said...

i'm the exact same way as you. sometimes i feel so motivated & inspired to blog, that i wish i could put everything up on the same day. and then other days.... nothing. it's a weird balance, i think, that blogging requires. i'm still trying to learn it, that's for sure.

siddathornton said...

i used to be on a pretty strict week-day posting routine, & then i'd also be putting up the sunday currently on sundays... most of the time, it felt satisfying, but i'd have days when i would look at my post & think, 'ugh.... i don't even like that post. there's no way anyone else is going to.' so, for the past few months i've been putting up a post only when i want to. the results were better, but then i found i wasn't posting as much as i wanted to. then, this blaugust project... YIKES. hopefully once october comes around, i'll have some things figured out!

siddathornton said...

i really love the idea of blogging every day, too - i wish it was a reality for me! i'm really looking forward to my break, but in a way, i already miss blogging & i'm already making plans for october. i think this will do me some good & give me a chance to really get my thoughts in order!

siddathornton said...

my current blogging mindset sounds a lot like yours... i want to share whatever i feel like sharing that day, even if it's nothing. there's something significant, i think, about when a blogger puts up a really great post, then doesn't post anything the next day. to me, it lets that really great post breathe... lets it really sink in. or something. haha. i'm looking forward to getting back to that kind of rhythm in october.

siddathornton said...

I try to blog 6x/week, but it only doesn't overhwlem me when I do at least a post or two for the week ahead on the weekend before. I went through a period of drafting almost all the posts for the next week on the weekend so that, on the night before it was due to go up, I could just polish and make sure it was relevant. The most overwhelming thing I found about posting every day was that I couldn't do that AND read the blogs I wanted to! It was a valuable - if uncomfortable - learning experience. Unfortunately, I think we have to go through those experiences to know, you know? We have to make all the mistakes before we can find the balance :/


See you in October! and on Sundays :)

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