What National Blog Posting Month Taught Me
As many of you are aware, I signed up for National Blog Posting Month last month. For the most part, it wasn't much of an issue. There were a couple of days that I just had absolutely nothing to write about and if you look back through the archives you will definitely be able to pinpoint those days. If you are looking back through the archives now you'll notice that I didn't quite make it. I'd like to share what NaBloPoMo has taught me.
Before November began I was posting about 0.9 articles a day. Most days, I had a new post, sometimes there would be a day without a post. When I heard of National Blog Posting Month I thought it would be no big deal. A post a day...I already do that. So, I can easily sign up for this and get together with thousands of other bloggers doing the same thing.
I did quite well for most of the month, as my archives show, but I noticed something almost from the beginning. I was finding it difficult to write. At all. And it wasn't just trying to find topics to write about, which is sometimes difficult, but it was actually difficult at times to motivate myself to actually write. It seemed like the moment I agreed to actually post once each day the very thought of coming up with a post was difficult.
I'm not normally very prolific - I like to get to the point. It wasn't that I was trying to write more than I normally would. I was averaging a post per day, anyway. So, it seems that the real factor that was causing me to want to skip posting was just because I had to do it.
What had been an entertaining hobby that I thought might someday lead to a nice side income had instead developed into a second job. And it wasn't a difficult job, by any means, but it still somehow weighed upon me like the onus of working a second job would.
As a result, I will probably never be a professional blogger. If the deadlines in a simple agreement like National Blog Posting Month got to me like that then I may have issues producing regular content for a 'pro' blog. On the other hand, as long as I can simply perceive it as a hobby, I seem to do fine keeping just about any schedule.
For the time being, though, I have cut back on the posts I have been making. The last thing I want to do is burn out on something that I should find enjoyable. For now, I am having fun, so the posts will keep coming...just not as often. :)
6 comments:
I know what you mean, subconsiously some of us just can't take "orders", we rebel. I'm just the sameI can quite happily set a schedule or series of tasks and complete them. If someone else has any part of the decision it becomes mundane, boring and difficult to complete. I find myself having to reward myself at intervals just to get thru it.
I totally get it. After it was over, I had to take a few days off - thoughts like "I should delete the whole thing, it's too time consuming" were running through my head even though in reality it takes me 1 minute to put up a post. Funny what a difference it makes in your head to feel like you "have" to do something.
I actually tried my own version of the original writing craze, NaNoWriMo. I realized that blogging was a better format than novel writing, for me. In novel writing, the result should be a book, with a point or overall theme. With blogging, at least I can go on and on and never really end. But staying on topic can often be difficult.
However, I didn't participate in the blog writing month, and I would surmise that I would come close to burning out as well.
As a wise man once said, everything in moderation--even blog writing.
Yeah, I definitely seemed to rebel against what I felt was something I 'had' to do. I really have to give props to those that accomplished the 50,000 words in one month for NaNoWriMo. I'm certain that I never would have managed to stay focused to produce like that in such a short amount of time.
I'm so weird. I couldn't do NaNoWriMo (failed 4 years in a row) but I actually thrived with NaBloPoMo. I'm not quite certain why. What I did find, though, was that in making a more conscious effort to post each day, I was making more of an effort to really have something to say. Sometimes I fell back on a quiz or a meme, but for the most part I t hink I had some decent posts.
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