Saturday, June 28, 2014

thoughts on blogging every day in june.

At the end of May, I declared that I would be blogging every day in June. And of course, I wondered if it was going to pan out like my experience of blogging every day in May, or my experience of blogging every day in August. I was scared of burning out, I was scared I wouldn't actually meet the goal of blogging all thirty days [which, with today being the 28th, I still haven't - yet], I was scared it was going to make me kind of hate blogging, like my Blaugust experience did.

Because when you commit to blogging every day in a given month, I think two outcomes are possible, the first being that you are ultra-inspired, that your blogging rhythm is reset, that you come out the other end feeling fresh & inspired. The second, well, I'm sure you can guess: you're completely burnt out, you feel stretched too thin, & then you go on a blogging hiatus.

I am so happy to report that I am coming out of the June Blogs experience a happier, more inspired blogger. I have genuinely enjoyed putting together my posts each day, even though my goal of getting two weeks ahead with scheduled posts did not come to fruition. As a person who loves scheduling & routines, it brought me joy to make blogging a priority again, & to treat it as part of my daily regimen.

Also, this month has taught me a few things:
1. I need some professional help with my blog layout & design. I've been wrestling with the looks around this space for a long, long time. Longer than I care to admit. But recently, I've begun making plans to change that, & I am beyond excited about what is in this works for this space, in that regard. I'll go ahead & tell you one of the changes, & that is that I will be moving this space over to WordPress, & siddathornton will finally become a dot com. The name of this space is also going to be slightly altered, but as I said, the address will still fall under "siddathornton," & all of my social media will remain under the "siddathornton" handle... Ok, I'm getting ahead of myself. I will be posting more about this in the distant future.
2. I need to make & commit to a consistent blogging schedule. Done & done. On Monday, I'll be sharing my new posting schedule with y'all.
3. I need to remember how fun blogging can be. Blogging affords me the chance to capitalize on my own, true voice & identity. It's my space to share myself, to examine my life, to celebrate, to ponder, to wonder... aloud, to others. And then, the feedback. The friendships. The advice. The wisdom I feel is unique to this community. Blogging is fun, at its core.
4. I need to stop being so hard on myself. My photos aren't perfect? It's ok. I haven't picked up my DSLR in a couple weeks? It's ok. My layout & design aren't where I want them to be at the moment? It's ok.
5. Imperfect things are perfect. See above. As I've said a million times, blogging is a fluid thing. And things that are changing & growing are often imperfect. And that is ok.
Lastly, here are a few of my favorite posts from this month:

i choose the light
cozy thursday: last week of spring
spring 2014 empties
early rising: the joyful truth

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Want to join me in blogging every day in June? The more the merrier. I even made a button to celebrate the occasion. Feel free to use it in your blog sidebar or in the body of your posts. Let's encourage one another to get back to our blogging roots. Happy blogging!

11 comments:

siddathornton said...

I've really enjoyed reading your blog every day in June so I'm hoping you'll still be posting a lot with your new blog schedule. :) I'm excited to hear about more of the changes that you plan to make in the future!

siddathornton said...

So glad you came out of this more inspired! Can't wait to see what the future holds for you and your blog!

siddathornton said...

I love this! I'm so happy for you!! I could never commit to blogging everyday because I know that it would not make me a happy blogger... but I'm so glad that you enjoyed this and are coming out positive :)
I can't wait to see the changes and keep reading about what's going on! I also can't wait for my move to NC!!

siddathornton said...

I have enjoyed your posts and it was clear that it reenergized your blogging mojo!

siddathornton said...

There are a few things that you've shared in this post that are very much inline with where my head has been too -- like, scheduling posts and imperfection. I'm looking forward to that post about schedules tomorrow, very much! Also, one of my favorite quotes lately is "strive for progress not perfection," which agrees with your "imperfect things are perfect." Mostly, thank you for this post, I've enjoyed it!

siddathornton said...

So glad you had a positive outcome! There really is nothing like returning to the basics of blogging to remind us why we fell in love with it - I say we because I've gone through my own fights with that over the past few months! Can't wait to see your changes and updates!

siddathornton said...

Getting back to basics is essential! Sometimes I get so lost in all the blogging muck that I totally lose sight of why I'm doing this. Going back to my roots helps me rekindle that passion & feel all the feelings that I felt when I first started my blog.

siddathornton said...

I definitely need to focus on progress & not perfection - probably starting with my email inbox! :)

siddathornton said...

Yay! Thank you for your encouraging words!

siddathornton said...

I emailed you some NC suggestions - I hope they help you out!

siddathornton said...

Thank you! I'm excited!

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