Alas, tomorrow is the last day of NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month. I typically publish a Wordless Wednesday post, so the final day will be easy.
I made it!
It’s been a long month of writing, but I have to say, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Once I made the commitment and planned ahead, the ideas just seemed to come to me. And while I certainly didn’t have a ton of time to just sit down and blog, I made sure I published a legitimate post each day.
Along the way, I learned a few things:
- Writing posts and scheduling them to publish the next day, or over the next few days, makes me feel less stressed about blogging. This was particularly helpful during the Thanksgiving holiday and when I was under some project deadlines. Knowing a post would publish while I was in a parent teacher conference or traveling to another state took a lot of pressure off.
- Committing to a specific blogging schedule, out loud and in public, gives me way more inspiration than just blogging when a subject hits me. I found myself thinking way ahead of time. The first day I committed to NaBloPoMo, the ideas just rushed into my head. I looked at a calendar, figured out when posts would be most appropriate and went with it. I now have an inspiration board filled with blog ideas that I will use for future posts.
- There are a lot of great blogs out there, written by some really great bloggers. While I knew this before, it has been great to interact with more bloggers this month via reading and commenting. NaBloPoMo helped me discover several new blogs that I will continue to follow.
- Blogging is easier with a little support. Knowing that there were a couple thousand other bloggers in the same boat as me made daily blogging easier. I wasn’t alone. When I needed a little inspiration, all I needed to do was visit the NaBloPoMo site, check out the daily writing prompts or find a new blog to visit. Twitter was helpful too.
- Daily blogging improves your writing. It’s easy to come up with excuses as to why you don’t have time to blog. The truth is, the more you blog, the better your writing becomes. I also found regular blogging helped me write posts more quickly. Practice makes perfect, even if you’ve been doing it for years!
- The more you write and share, the easier it is to find like-minded people. Case in point, I connected with another blogger who is also a lefty, doesn’t like pie and watched the Headbanger’s Ball in high school! How fun and random is that?
- Don’t be afraid to publish a post. Some of my most popular posts are ones that I was convinced no one would read. They also took me almost no time to write. You just might be surprised which posts will connect with readers.
- Consistent blogging increases engagement. We hear it all the time. Yes, it’s true. More content means more readers. Compared to October, visits to anotherjennifer.com went up 79% during NaBloPoMo. Comments went up significantly as well.
While I can’t say I’m surprised about these lessons, it’s nice to experience them all at once. Before NaBloPoMo, I was making an effort to blog 3 times per week. Now that I know I can blog daily if I wanted to, I’m hoping to increase my weekly blogging. I might even sign up for another blogging challenge.
For now, I’m going to soak in my accomplishment. Woot!
Photo credit: END BUTTON © Stanko Mravljak | Dreamstime.com
jenn says
November 29, 2011 at 9:12 pmwoohooo!!! congrats 🙂
jenn recently posted..Self Portrait
anotherjennifer says
November 29, 2011 at 9:43 pmHey, I was just on your blog! Freaky. Congrats to you too!
anotherjennifer recently posted..Walking Through Doorways May Explain Forgetfulness
Cynthia Coleman says
November 30, 2011 at 12:04 amWell, it wasn’t so bad doing NaBloPoMo. I missed the first few days and have had to double blog on some days, but I made it through so far. The majority of the posts were every day. I guess it proves that we can blog on a frequent basis and it’s great to meet fellow bloggers.
Cynthia Coleman recently posted..Pasta and Pepsi for Inclusion?!!?!
anotherjennifer says
November 30, 2011 at 9:13 amI think we should all pat ourselves on the back. Daily blogging isn’t easy! Congrats for getting through it. Now, we can take a couple days off.!
anotherjennifer recently posted..Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Snowman in Brunswick, Maine
Larissa T. says
November 30, 2011 at 12:21 amWow! Basically I just nodded enthusiastically to all your lessons learned! I learned all of those too! It was my first month using BlogHer to interact with other bloggers and the experience was amazing! The interaction was incredible and readership growing, slowly, but growing! I loved your post, true and easy to relate to!!
Larissa T. recently posted..A Lot Like Life.
anotherjennifer says
November 30, 2011 at 9:14 amThanks for reading Larissa! BlogHer is a great platform for women bloggers. Lots of great support. Congrats for getting through NaBloPoMo!
anotherjennifer recently posted..Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Snowman in Brunswick, Maine
Larissa T. says
November 30, 2011 at 3:46 pmThank you! Congrats likewise! (:
Larissa T. recently posted..Just Plain Wrong!
Cynthia says
November 30, 2011 at 11:03 amHooray for finishing NaBloPoMo! It’s not my first attempt, but the first month I completed it. And I love your observations – they give me courage! I’m planning on keeping the momentum going and blogging through December… we’ll see if I make it. 🙂 Congrats to you!
Cynthia recently posted..Failing to Fight Inertia
anotherjennifer says
November 30, 2011 at 12:36 pmThanks Cynthia. December will be tough during the holidays, but I hope to keep the momentum going too. Congrats for finishing your first NaBloPoMo!
anotherjennifer recently posted..Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving Snowman in Brunswick, Maine
QueenieCarly says
December 3, 2011 at 10:36 pmFor me it was a wee bit addicting. I used to blog a ton, but that was years ago. Since then, I’d started several blogs, but none of them stuck. Recruiting another friend who was in the same rusty boat as me, was key. We learned that procrastination is something we have in common when it became habit for us to check in with one another in the evenings (or sometimes even later!) to compare inspirations and sometimes prod one another to actually sit down and write. Boy, were there times that I didn’t have the energy to sit down and do it, but with some encouragement, I managed to. I had the same experience as you did with all of the same lessons. I’d have liked to spend more time perusing other NaBloPoMo blogs, but better late than never, right? 😉
Just out of curiousity, did you use the prompts or just decide on your own topics every day?
QueenieCarly recently posted..a man and his crayons
anotherjennifer says
December 4, 2011 at 8:43 pmHaving a “blogging buddy” is so helpful! I read a lot of the prompts, but I didn’t use them. For some reason, I’ve never had luck with prompts. I’m better with just making observations about what’s directly around me.
anotherjennifer recently posted..Fighting the Blogger Fear of Hitting the Publish Button
Breana Ricciardi says
January 28, 2012 at 8:06 pmI truly appreciate this blog. Keep writing.
anotherjennifer says
January 29, 2012 at 8:28 pmThanks, Breana!
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