I’m waiting for the echo…

In my mind, I’ve already heard Mr. GeoK exclaim, “Are you crazy!” and I expect to hear the same thing IRL about 5 minutes after I click Publish.

Believe me, over the past week – since adding Out and About with the GeoKs to the NaBloPoMo 2015 blogroll – I’ve questioned my sanity several times!

So why did I opt to join NationalBlogPostingMonth? Three main reasons:

1. Community – I really enjoy the community aspect of the monthly Photo Blogging Challenge. It’s a great way to enjoy sights from other parts of the world, to see other blog designs and to share struggles and successes. As I view other participants’ posts for NaBloPoMo, I’ll be looking for ideas to help me decide whether it’s finally time to split this blog in two. And (of course) I’ll be lending my support who are just starting out in the world of blogging.
2. Accountability – Even though I’ve been blogging for 10 years, I’ve never really established a blogging rhythm. And while I know going into this that posting every day forevermore is not for me, I figure trying it for a month is an important data point to consider as I start to think about my 2016 editorial calendar. I also know that external accountability works for me and is the only way I’ll come close to publishing every day for a month!
3. Speed – I routinely invest 4+ hours into writing and editing a post (excluding time spent importing, sorting through and editing photos). I hope that by the end of NaBloPoMo I’ll be able to create quality blog posts at greater speed…or at least have a better sense for how to mix up types/styles of posts so that I can bring down my average time to create a new post.

Tools and Techniques

I rarely publish more than ten posts in a month, so the thought of publishing every day is daunting. After reading a few blog posts offering advice on how to get the most out of NaBloPoMo, there are a few tools and techniques I’m planning to use.

Editorial Calendar – I started using an editorial calendar in 2015. It’s definitely low tech. I took one of the free wall calendars I got in the mail in December, bought some tiny sticky notes and have been spending about 10 minutes towards the end of each month loosely planning the next month’s posts. I write one blog post idea on each tiny sticky note. If there’s a specific publication date, I put the sticky note on that date’s square. I put the rest of the sticky notes on the calendar picture and try to do at least a few of those each month. I already have sticky notes on the first seven days of November. I don’t want to plan too far ahead since I have a few activities and short trips planned for this month that I look forward to writing about, too.

Schedule Posts in Advance – I don’t think I’ve ever scheduled posts in advance, so I’m going to try this at least once in November. I have a short trip planned for later in the month and since I want to enjoy being out and about without worrying about posting while I’m away, that seems like a good time to see how scheduling might help me keep a more regular schedule for posting.

Writing Prompts – As a last resort, I’ll turn to the writing prompts available through BlogHer or The Daily Post. This blog is already pretty eclectic, so I should be able to play in my own sandbox, but it’s comforting to know there’s help just a click away.

Have you ever taken part in a 30-day writing challenge? If yes, I’d love to hear your top tricks and techniques for making it through to the end. If not, there’s still time to join NaBloPoMo…why don’t you hop on board?