Day 7: One Week Update Of The Challenge

The joy of writing and challenging oneself is an exhilarating experience (Photo credit)

So, we are at the one week mark in our blogging challenge! Hows it going for all of you? I had a rough October work wise and decided to jump into the challenge only on 31st. Since I took the challenge even last year, I kinda know the drill of registering, sharing etc. And I think this is the best opportunity for me to finally attack the blog ideas I have been writing down for months. So with 2 prompts used last week, I am able to finally write about things I have wanted to for quite some time now. 

Since this is my second time, I can’t help but compare it from the last time. So here is a bit of an update on how this challenge has been for me so far:

I am a lot more planned. 

No! I don’t have the whole month figured out. But I think writing every week on my work blog on communication and soft skills has put me into a routine of planning. And even when I run my workshop on blogging for beginners, planning a few posts before beginning to write is my first tip. So I guess it’s not hard for me to figure that out for myself. And like I mentioned, I have been jotting down ideas (which is actually the first tip in my blogging classes) and couldn’t wait to dip into it and start writing.

I am not scrambling last minute. 

This is one big change from last time. I remember writing my post for the challenge as the last activity of the day hurrying to make it to the 12 am deadline! Sometimes I posted and went on to edit later! But that definitely wasn’t comfortable. This time I learnt a valuable lesson from a fellow blogger I got acquainted with during the challenge. Shalini's posts for the day go out at 12am! Which means she is a day ahead in writing it rather than a day behind, like I had been. Although I still haven’t been organised enough to write the previous day, I do get the challenge post out of the way as the first task of the day. (In fact, the post for today is late due to ill-health) And I know I am able to do this because I have scaled back a bit work wise and I’m able to indulge in the joy of writing.

I have read other blogs too.

This is a bigger change for me since I have never been able to hop onto others’ blogs and read. I just never managed to find the time. I think what really helped, apart from being planned, is the blog link thread on Facebook. That really worked as a ready reckoner to read other posts. Every time I post my link, I look up a few blogs and comment/share posts. Another thing that helped is looking up the blogs of people who commented on my post. I am guessing that they landed on my blog from the thread since they are from different countries. It is great to hop over to their posts and return the favour. That covers a few more blogs. Although it is impossible to do justice to the madness that the number of blogs and new posts there are everyday, I think looking up a few every day and making friends along the way is a worthy goal to set for ourselves.

Conversations with fellow bloggers

I not only hopped on to other blogs and discovered amazing blogs, I also had conversations on Facebook around the usage of daily prompts on Facebook. It is heartening to know that most people use a mix of prompts and freewheeling in their posts. 

I am planning more variety in my content. 

I think of my posts in a very linear fashion. I am trying to break that thought pattern and put in more variety in the content. Maybe I should keep this under wraps and you can see it for yourself when I post :)

It’s been a great writing experience so far. And I am already gearing up for week two and planning posts. It is such a great joy to write and even more so when you challenge your own self and see it through. All the best to everyone else taking the challenge. 

This post is a part of #NaBloPoMo which stands for National Blog Posting Month hosted by BlogHer. The last date to join the challenge was 5th November. You can still look up prompts and write for your own practice even though it wouldn't be a part of the challenge. 

#NaBloPoMo Day 10 - What is the hardest part of a project?

The prompt for today is - what is the hardest part of a project - To muster the energy to begin it, to find time to continue or the emptiness after the project is over? As someone who set up her professional blog last year, I will say that the energy and motivation to get started is the hardest for me. It's not for nothing that they say  - Well begun is half done. At every stage of setting up and making changes in my blog and social media strategy, it was the hardest to get started. There were times when I knew I was outright avoiding tackling the main questions and was beating about the bush instead.

Even with the blogging challenge, I knew about such blogathons last year, but the thought of having to write a post every single day seemed so arduous that I did not want to commit. I let 2 blogging challenges pass by my notice. But this year I thought it would be a good idea to kick myself out of my complacence and dive right in. And true enough, I have enjoyed writing everyday. I have ideas brimming over more than ever. I look forward to picking one of the ideas from my basket and get writing for the day!

Though, I will also say that it is important to sustain your plan too. There are people who begin a lot of things but lose steam and not complete tasks. So, it is equally important to stay true to your plans, modify them if needed but hit the target you set out to achieve.

Which is the hardest part for you? Are you an eager beginner who loses steam? Or do you go all out and get tasks done only to feel drained at the end of it till you find the next best thing?

To do or not to do - that is the question...

All of us face the Hamlet-like inertia a lot of times in our lives. When we know we have to do something but find ourselves incapable of surmounting that sense of ennui that hampers action. This was exactly the case with me for the past one week. i knew i had to post here and kept contemplating on what to write but just couldn't get myself to writing. First I had the excuse of studying for my exam. And then the absence of motivation in the lack of readers kept my blog in abeyance! i knew my not writing here wouldn't make much of a difference to how the world functions. The wheels of time would move just as slowly and Cyberspace would continue to expand at the same speed. No, this is not on a wistful note at all - but plain fact. But i shall try to be more regular in future - my monthly resolution since i started this blog!

i've begun to realise that it is not easy to maintain a general blog like mine. i knew i would run into stone walls looking for interesting things to write about. Who would be interested in knowing what i ate for lunch and how much time i spent simply changing channels on my Tata sky Plus in search of that elusive program. And now i know why people stick to specialised subjects. It not just makes writing easy but also makes the posts keyword rich. i too will gradually move on to the realm of including cyber jargon like keyword rich, SEO etc in due course. But i'd like to first be a generalist before i go on to be the specialist. But for now it is important to keep writing to keep the flow going.

So watch this space!