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As it is the final day in this year’s month-long #WeblogPoMo2024, I’ve decided to write today’s post reflecting on the month, what I liked about participating, what I struggled with, and what I would do differently if I join in again next year.
The Good
The best part of the challenge was having a huge incentive to actually sit down and write up posts. I felt an obligation that I had not done before, and I really felt it held me accountable to not give up. I’m really glad as it has meant I have added dozens of new posts to the website, which has fleshed it out more and made it feel less empty. It’s a good way to add a lot of content in a short space of time!
Pushing myself to write daily has also meant that I expanded the scope slightly, writing about subjects not related to technology. I probably would not have written about some of the subjects I did as I would have thought they weren’t relevant enough, but I am happy that when those days happened, when I was really struggling to find something to write about, I did turn away from technology and write about other stuff too, and I think it’s made the website more personal. I feel more comfortable now in writing about myself more.
The Bad
It was an overall positive experience, with the only downside really being that there were days where it was approaching the evening, and I had no idea what to write about that day. Although I had started the month strong, with lots of ideas, drafts and half-written posts, I had run out of plans by halfway.
As such, I do worry some of the posts are of lower quality than others, and on reflection, I would often think about a post the next day and realise I had forgotten to add something relevant into it. For example, it was only the very next day when I remembered I had not written anything about how I use the second panel in Floorp or that I have the tabs changed to Tree Style in the post where I had written about my Browser Setup. As a result, when I have some time, I will go back through the posts I’ve made this month and see if there is anything else I have missed which I could later add in.
The Differently
If there is another event next year and I decide to participate, I will have to be better at planning my posts and creating more drafts. In the post talking about the idea of #WeblogPoMo2024, originator Annie Greens wrote:
I encourage people to choose a guiding topic for the month, something that will help them feel propelled to post. It could be a loosely defined goal, perhaps you are learning something new and this would be a way to talk yourself through it on a daily basis, or post about progress.
This was probably a good idea, and one I may have to base my posts around next time. I’m not sure what idea topic may be, I have some things which interest me and I would like to dive deeper into, but I am unsure on exactly what that is yet - but I have nearly a year to figure it out!
However! It was on days where I had no plan that I wrote more easily about my personal life, and I think the website is better for it. So, I need to find happy medium where I have ideas at the ready, maybe a central theme, but also room for impromptu writing where I more freely express myself.
Regardless, I am very chuffed with myself that I was able to post every single day, and although I’m glad I am able to take a break now, I would highly encourage others to consider giving it a go if the event happens again next year as it can be a real motivator to get writing!!
Tags: Website WeblogPoMo2024