Tag Archives: Writing

Blog Like Crazy…Round Three!

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If it’s November…it’s Blog Like Crazy month!!!  This is a month-long writing event created by Javacia Bowser, founder of the See Jane Write network, to encourage bloggers to exercise their writing muscles!  I’ve participated in this challenge for the past two years and loved it, but I wasn’t sure about doing it again this year…until yesterday.

I was taking my pup Lucy on her morning walk and thinking about my week.  I had just checked my emails before heading out the door with Lucy and saw one from Javacia with the subject line – “how to make the most of #bloglikecrazy.”  A few months ago I didn’t think I would do this again but the closer it was getting to November, the more I found myself thinking about the challenge.  I also found myself debating the pros and cons of participating and even talking about it out loud on my walk!   Yes, Lucy looked at me like I was nuts but sometimes it helps to hear my thoughts out loud!  Things like…what would I write about?  What if ideas don’t come through for me this year like they have in the past?  What am I afraid of, anyway???

One question kept popping up as I mulled all these questions over… did I have time to plan and write a blog post every single day in November?  Seriously, we have a weekend get-together with friends in two weeks, Thanksgiving planning is underway and we are also planning a trip to the beach…not to mention the Christmas decorating that has to happen at the end of the month before my December cookie swap party.  But the more I rolled that question around in my head the more laughable it became!  I mean, I’m recently RETIRED!  I have all sorts of time now, right?!  Well…

This writing challenge was quickly becoming a personal challenge since I no longer have an 8-5 job and structure has pretty much gone out the window these past four month!  Actually, I began to think that this would be a good way to introduce some sort of structure back into my life while doing something I love…writing and sharing my photography.  So…here I go again…about to blog like crazy for the third time.  You know what they say…third time is the charm!  Here we go…!!!

Blogging Like Crazy Didn’t Make Me Crazy!

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img_3991Today ends 30 days of blogging every day.  Yep!  You read that right!  I blogged EVERY. SINGLE DAY this month!  And…I lived to write about it!

The incredible Javacia Harris Bowser, founder of the See Jane Write networking group challenged the women of the group to #bloglikecrazy for the month of November.  I did this last year and it was a fantastic experience.  I wondered then if I could find enough topics to write about for 30 solids days and I did!  And like anything you do, with practice you get better and ideas come a little easier.

This year the only snag I hit was a pesky sinus infection the week before Thanksgiving which is still hanging on today.  So even though I had some bigger ideas for topics to write about, I didn’t feel good physically and I think it clouded my ability to write on some days.  I chose easier topics to write about and figured I would reserve others for a time when I was thinking more clearly and not as exhausted from fighting the congestion.

I ran into my friend Audrey Atkins yesterday who blogs at Folkwaysnowadays.com and we talked about the bloglikecrazy challenge.  She did the challenge too and we were both excited that we were one day away from finishing!  Check that goal off our list!  Oh, and you really need to check out her blog and her series for this challenge on favorite idioms.  It’s terrific and hysterical!  I learned a LOT about idioms this past month thanks to Audrey!

Back to our meet-up – we discussed how important it is to really plan things out and write ahead of time so you aren’t scrambling at 8 p.m. at night to get a post completed.  I admit, that was me on several nights during this challenge!  But through this process, I’ve thought about other topics I want to explore and write about.  I’ve also been surprised by what people are actually reading vs. what I sometimes “think” will spark interest.  It pays to look at your analytics and see what is catching your readers’ eye!  I’ll be doing more of that as I move forward.

Javacia started See Jane Write to empower women to write and live a life worth writing about.  Thanks so much, Javacia!  It’s a wonderful goal to aspire to and I think by accepting this challenge…I’m on my way!

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