It’s Done! Reflecting on 31 Days of Blog Challenge
Here we are - Day 31! I wasn't sure if we would make it, but gosh darn it, we pulled it out of the bag.
In this final blog post, I'm going to share my thoughts having completed this self-imposed challenge of writing a blog post every day this month, whether I achieved my goals with it, and the lessons I’m taking with me going forward.
What was it All For?
If you read my first post of this challenge back on the 1st of July, you'll know that I started 31 Days of Blog on a whim. It was a thought that popped into my brain on the way to work and I thought, “fuck it, let’s see how this goes.” My main goal was to get back into writing regularly on my blog. I hadn't been posting consistently since switching web-hosting services (even before then, I was sporadic at best) and I wanted to write and share regularly.
More that that though, subconsciously I wanted to prove to myself that I can write a blog post even when I don't have an initial idea or loads of time. I'd sold myself the story that I needed ‘something to write about’. And that ‘something’ needed to fit into very narrow yet undefined parameters.
This is why I find daily challenges so useful for myself and my own blocks. When you have to do something every day, you don't have the time to overthink or sensor yourself. Perfectionism can't dig its fingers in and pull your project apart. It had to take a back seat and shut up!
Looking back at my first blog post, one of my goals was to prove that I can put out imperfect work. This is something that I haven’t been conscious of during this challenge, to be honest. Do I think that every post this month has been top-tier, Pulitzer Prize winning work? No. But I haven’t been ashamed of anything I’ve posted, even the more lazy, listicle posts on my more tired days. Then again, I haven’t read them back, so…
As for entertaining and inspiring you, dear readers, I wouldn’t dare to speculate on my success there.
So, actually writing on the blog? Check! Overcoming my writing perfectionism. Check!
What Have a Learnt from this Challenge?
Completing this challenge has taught me a lot about how I work creatively, about myself as a writer, and also about myself as a person. Many of them are positive, but there have also been a few insights that I want to work with moving forward.
The first of many re-confirmations (which are always helpful) is that daily challenges work really well for me, my brain and my neuroses. So I need to figure out 1) how to daily challenge everything in my life, and 2) figure out how to build on the momentum daily challenges give me. If anyone has any suggestions, please share. I’d really appreciate it.
Another re-confirmation for me is that I need to let myself have more fun. Fun and play is such a creative release for me, which is probably why the daily challenge format works so well too. They end up feeding into each other for me: I have no time so I can’t censor the fun ideas for something more ‘serious’ or ‘mature’, and the challenge adds a gamification element to the whole thing. But honestly, the more fun I was having, the easier the writing was. The Homesteading blog? By far the easiest of the 31 posts I’ve written this month. Bat-shit insane, but easy because it was so much fun to write I cannot tell you. It’s not just topics, either. It’s also letting myself use a more colloquial tone. It’s letting my personality shine through a bit more in my writing. It’s nice to feel like I’m finding my writing voice. Which I guess is what happens when you’re writing publicly every day.
When it comes to creating online, I’ve learnt that I like the speed and immediacy of writing compared to making videos. Obviously, my blogs this month haven’t been particularly deep or lengthy. But even with that caveat, I feel like I’ve been able to produce and share a lot more of my thoughts and ideas more quickly than I could in a YouTube video. Which has got me thinking about where I want to focus my time moving forward. I’ve been really struggling to make videos recently (I’m technically filming a vlog at the moment, although I haven’t picked up the camera at all today). Part of that is definitely the time factor. However, I also think that I’ve been feeling stifled by the theatre niche. I really enjoyed writing about non-theatre things this month, so it’ll be interesting to see if that could be a sufficient outlet for me, or if I want to broaden my YouTube channel as well.
What’s Current Plan, Moving Forward
I’m going to split this into three categories: Practical Plans, Creative Plans, and Long-Term Plans.
My main practical plan is to continue blogging regularly. I haven’t decided if I want to post weekly or bi-weekly. My thinking is that bi-weekly would give me more flexibility for a changing timetable and potentially writing more in-depth ‘journalistic’ pieces like editorials, personal essays etc. On the other hand, posting weekly might be better for keeping up the momentum I’ve built. There’s also a potential third option: I post weekly but alternate between faster, lighter posts (listicles, round-ups etc) and more in-depth pieces.
On to creative plans, woo! I’m going to let myself write about more than just theatre. Because it’s my website and I can do what I want. I also think I want this space to be less instructional, as that’s currently what I create for my YouTube channel and also in my pieces for Spotlight. So expect more of my thoughts and opinions about theatre and other things that interest me, as well as more of what’s happening in my daily life as well.
As for long-term plans, I want to do a bit more digesting and journaling about the last month. One of the things that has crossed my mind is potentially starting a newsletter of some sort. But I think that’s something to put on hold and maybe revisit in a few months.
But also it would be really useful for me to know what you enjoyed reading from me this month or in general. Where there particular topic or writing style you’d like to see more of? Let me know in the comments.
Quick-Fire Superlatives!
Before I sign-off for tonight, here are my superlatives for all of my blogs this month:
Most Fun to Write: An Unhinged Homesteading Post, I Guess? So silly. So unhinged. So Surreal. And also, I had no idea I was going to end up going in the direction I did with it. I went in planning to answer semi-seriously and that…is not what happened.
Most Vulnerable to Write: It’s a toss up between One more go with the random number generator! and Thoughts on the State of the World, I think. The former because I literally shared two projects that are quite substantial creative wounds for me, and the later because of the subject matter and speaking so candidly and directly about the horrors and cruelty we’re witnessing in Gaza, Sudan, the US and here at home. As a chronic people pleaser, I find speaking so plainly about ‘controversial’ topics very vulnerable. (PSA: condemning fascism, ecocide, genocide, transphobia, white-supremacy etc isn’t controversial).
Most Dramatic: Probably The Worst Resting Job I Ever Had. For me that was pretty dramatic.
Most Big-Brain: Another toss-up between The More Things Change… and A Beginner Writes a Beginner’s Guide to Tarot. They were both on the more nerdy end of things and involved more research and thought organisation than other blogs this month.
Most Random: I mean, every post where I used the Random Number Generator?! But also I think An Unhinged Homesteading Post, I Guess? was by far the most random because I didn’t even try to link it back to theatre or my life or anything.
Most Controversial: Definitely When Theatre Venues Become a Backdrop for Protest in terms of the theatre community and my opinion. I think most theatre folks would disagree with my viewpoint for sure!
Best Blog Post: For me, it was The Theatre Journal Prompts I Used to Heal my Career Wounds. It was actually a blog/video topic I’d wanted to do for a while and I think it (hopefully) is a post with really value for readers, as well as giving those not interested in the prompts some insight into who I am as and actor and also a person.
So, that’s the end of 31 Days of Blog! I hope you’ve enjoyed this little experiment of mine and that you stick around for more blog posts soon!
Thanks for reading, friends.
Mx