happiness and food

If you are a blogger and are trying to get regular with your writing skills, you would have noticed the many contests, pictorial inspirations, daily prompts and challenges all over so many bloggers’ network. I too was exposed to a lot of similar information but I could never make too much sense out of it. Of all, the NaBloPoMo was the one that I could even never get to know what it stands for. So, to begin with, NaBloPoMo is “National Blog Posting Month”.  When NaBloPoMo started for the first time, November was the decided month for posting one post a day for the entire month starting the 1^st. Everything changes with time and so did NaBloPoMo. Today, you can take it up during any month and just make a commitment to post each day of a month.

This November, I also decided to participate and I also took the Photography 101 challenge. The good thing was that I picked up photo prompts and turned them into a post. So, I got the best of two worlds – one was giving me ideas and I was committed to posting cos of the other. Well, I can’t say I successfully completed the challenge but yes, I am proud of myself for posting on 23 days out of the 30 in November and I feel pretty good about it. It was hard cos after a daylong work, sometimes the brain just drains out but having help at home and a supportive spouse adds to the positives. I am not sure when will I take NaBloPoMo next, but there are couple of learnings from the challenge that I would want to share.

What to post? I would advise it’s good to take up NaBloPoMo with an additional challenge like I did. So, you cannot run out of ideas. Though there are prompts for NaBloPoMo as well but I found it creative to be able to write on a photo prompt. You could team this up with the Gratitude Challenge as well. Decide what works for you the best but try it once. It’s fun and it’s satisfying.

Compromise on Quality? I don’t think so. Some may believe that churning out a post every day may mean that the quality is being compromised but actually you learn to be more efficient with time. I learnt to organize thoughts and put it across faster. Due to time paucity, I went in simple with thoughts and organized before beginning to write. Sometimes, yes it was late at night but I tried to not compromise on my sleep.

Variety is the key: I felt that while taking up this challenge, a blogger needs to keep variety in mind. A couple of Wordless Wednesdays, Book Reviews, food for thought, happiness is what I added to my blog during these days. When I look back at the posts, I feel that having relaxing moments while churning out heavy content is equally important to let the creative juices flow.  

Sunday Punches: Such was the excitement and enthusiasm of NaBloPoMo that I promised my blog readers a regular dose of Sunday Punch. It’s been 3 Sundays since then and I have heard some good feedback on the feature. The Sunday Punch adds zing to the coming week and through a picture, video, statistics or anything that means less words makes my blog smile. It’s sheer happiness!

New Followers & More likes: We all love recognition and to a blog it comes in the form of shares, comments, likes and followers. I do not have stats available to prove but I know that love poured in from all parts of the world and that means a lot. In terms of monthly views – my November one hit a high!

Read More: While love poured in, I also made it a point to respond to followers and check out other posts. One reason is reciprocation and the other is learning from each other. When as a blogger you read others’ posts, it reveals a fresh idea, a new way of thinking and different beliefs. We all take the course of penning it on the virtual medium but the many brains behind each post have different tales to tell. A different world comes out in the open every time you read. So, keep reading while you write.

So all in all, NaBloPoMo was an exciting challenge and what better month than November to take this up. 🙂 And you know why!

What do you say?

It’s December and this is Post #3. I am feeling great after taking up NaBloPoMo (read all November posts here) last month and I look forward to challenging myself further. Your comments, feedback, likes and share make me feel you want to read more. Thank you readers!