Michelle Rafter |
Today marks the conclusion of the 2011 Wordcount Blogathon. I was among 200 bloggers who accepted the challenge to post every day in the month of May. Michelle Rafter, a Portland-based business editor, reporter and blogger, organized this event to bring together professional writers and anyone else with a blog to help them improve their blogging skills.
“This year, people embraced the challenge with more enthusiasm and camaraderie then I’ve ever seen, which was evident in tweets & Google Group posts,” Rafter told me over Twitter. “There’s something to be said for spending an intense period of time working on blog improvements and also on doing it as a group=big rewards.”
It feels great to have seen this challenge through – the only day I missed was when Blogger.com had a technical glitch that prevented me access to my blog. This experience allowed me to connect with other bloggers and writers, while also stretching my discipline and creativity. Before I started this challenge, I was fortunate if I posted every two to three weeks; now I feel confident that I can post twice a week without too much effort!
A few of the varied topics I tackled this month included:
- 9/11 and my take on Obama’s speech following the death of bin Laden
- A salute to the incomparable Erma Bombeck
- Advice on writing a memoir
- Hemingway’s rules for concise writing
- A Q&A with screenplay writer-turned novelist Jeffrey Stepakoff
- Ways the best brands create a narrative around the customer experience
- Writing wisdom from children’s books
- Finding Your Dream Writing Retreat or Workshop this Summer
Bonnie Daneker |
I also invited colleagues to be guest bloggers. On May 23, Bonnie Daneker became my first guest, offering tips for turning your blog into a book. On June 20, I look forward to a guest post by Judy Stone-Goldman, creator of The Reflective Writer, a blog on writing to achieve personal and professional balance.
Through my participation in this year’s blogathon, I wanted to more clearly find my own voice as a blogger through daily posts, and to explore what I love about writing and storytelling. I realized both of these goals.
I also improved my skills at “content curation” — a technique where you comb the web for useful expert articles on your topic and reference them in your own blog. A third goal still in progress is expanding my blog’s reach to a broader audience — I was able to link up my blog with my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts so everything is in sync. Now, I want to find other ways to drive traffic to my blog.
While I have more to learn about this medium, I got a very big boost this month in my confidence that I have something to contribute to the blog writing community. Thanks, Michelle, for creating this opportunity. I look forward to what’s in store for Wordcount blogathoners in 2012.
Best recap I’ve read so far. Congratulations!
I like how you highlighted your topics from the last month; I’m looking forward to exploring them. Congratulations!
Congrats, fellow Blogathoner!
Anne, congrats on meeting the blogathon challenge. How fun to have met a fellow Atlantan in this roundabout way. Please stay in touch. Alison
Alison – Yes, I agree! It’s been fun connecting. I think we should invite blogathoners in Atlanta to gather. Wouldn’t that be fun? I know a great used bookstore in Alpharetta near NorthPoint Mall. Will have to explore this possibilty. Good luck to you and congratulations on completing this challenge.
Seems like a really challenging and fun initiative.. Congrats for the success! Keep posting your experiences, its nice to read..
Anne:
You’re welcome. The secret of the blogathon is that it’s about more than just writing every day. It’s about focusing attention on your blog to figure out things like how it relates to your work or life, whether you need to make improvements, how to come up with a regular schedule, what to write about, etc. It would be difficult to sustain that effort for a long period of time – just as it would be difficult to keep running marathons month after month. But it’s doable in short bursts.
Now that you’ve gotten into a rhythm, I’m glad to see you’re already thinking of what’s next.
Good luck with everything,
Michelle