Unexpected lessons: 6 things I learned participating in Blogtober

First off I have to give myself a hand for completing Blogtober this year. It was my first time participating and I think I crushed it. My brain is fried and I don’t feel like doing anything for a week or 2 but I push on. Blogging doesn’t stop. LOL Blogging for 31 days straight in October taught me 6 unexpected lessons that will stick with me forever.

If you are unfamiliar with Blogtober it is blogging every day in October. A Mixture of Blog and October. In all my years of blogging on and off for the past 15 years, I have never heard of Blogtober. I read about it a few days before October and decided I was going to join.

I was not prepared at all and honestly thought I would give up halfway through and for full transparency, I definitely thought about it A LOT! But I didn’t give up. I may have been late on a few posts or posted 2 posts in a day… but I made sure I had 31 new blog posts in the month of October. The main point is I didn’t give up and I learned some unexpected lessons along the way.

Make a plan

I made a plan for all 31 days and somewhere along the way the plan went off the rails. There was this hunch inside me, I knew it was going to happen, but I had to think quickly on my feet and I usually ended up writing something a lot better than my original plan.

From day one I tried to plan everything down to a T and it sounds good in theory, but I don’t think my brain works that way. I write better when I am stricken with creativity.

It was not my highest month for Blog Traffic

I heard from a lot of people doing Blogtober, NaBloPoMo or Blogmas can really boost your monthly blog traffic. I don’t think it did for me. My views were about the same every day. Which is fine… I was not expecting a huge jump in grow and I am personally happy with the results. I didn’t gain and I didn’t lose.

Maybe it was just the content I was writing, who knows?? Either way, I appreciate all the people who did come and read my content. I appreciate every single one of you!

I am so much more Creative than I thought

Speaking of creativity… I wrote about some things that I forgot I had such passion for. Like true crime. I love learning about weird macabre stories and sharing them. Discussing in detail theories, Killers MO, or just random things that make you think.

My college degree is in Criminal Justice and I still find it very fascinating. Learning about Count Von Cosel and his disturbing obsession was so awesome. I loved every minute of it.

Perfection Does Not Exist

I tried to be so perfect during Blogtober and one of the most unexpected lessons I learned was that perfection does not exist. Between the planning and writing, the Pinterest images… I gave up on being perfect. Not gonna lie, I had a few meltdowns when I didn’t finish writing a blog post. I huffed and puffed for no reason. I think that is why I was starting to lose hope on if I would finish Blogtober or not.

Once I just said to myself “fuck it… it is what it is” I ended up having A LOT MORE fun. Once I let go, I found myself becoming more creative in my writing or my post ideas. In the morning I enjoyed waking up, grabbing my coffee to sit at my desk to write.

One thing they really helped with was not giving myself a time frame. I just posted when the blog was done. Alleviating that pressure off of myself made Blogtober so much more fun to participate in.

I Don’t Want To Create Content Everyday

One of the unexpected lessons I have learned I don’t want to create content every day. It was fun for one month, but it is really draining if you do not plan everything out. I think if I were to do this again or participate in Blogmas… I would have to write one Halloween-themed, Thanksgiving-themed, or Christmas-themed blog post every week on top of my weekly blog that I post on Fridays.

It is 100% doable and I am sure I will do Blogtober and Blogmas one after another, but it just won’t be this year. LOL

Batch Content Creation

I never thought batch content creation was for me, but if I can sit down and write a blog post every day for 31 days. If only I would take 2-4 days to write my blog posts for the month and spend the rest of my time recording Youtube videos and podcasts. One thing I need to stop is multi-tasking and spending my time more wisely. I could up my social media game if I batched all the work.

I definitely thought batch content creation wasn’t for me, but honestly, I think when you finally get into a rhythm it can work. So I am gonna have to sit down and again make a plan.

If you plan on doing Blogtober, NaBloPoMo, or Blogmas

My advice for you is to make a plan, but also give yourself some leeway with the plan. If things are not going according to plan… then it’s time to throw the plan away and come up with a new one. It is okay if you get flustered, it is okay if you want to quit or even give up… But YOU DON’T QUIT OR GIVE UP! Getting something out is better than not getting anything out. You only going to let yourself down.

Your readers could care less if you did any of these. You are choosing to do these for yourself. Yes, your readers get the benefit of reading the amazing content you are putting out, but they are not forcing you. You chose this and it is only going to upset YOU if YOU don’t finish.

It will mean more to you than to your readers if you finish. If you say you are going to do 31 blog posts… do 31 blog posts. Don’t you want that feeling of dopamine and serotonin when you publish the 31st blog post? That was my motivation… It was such a rush when I hit post knowing damn well it was my LAST ONE. I was so proud of myself.

Let me know if you plan to do NaBloPoMo or Blogmas… If you participated in Blogtober tell me some unexpected lessons you learned?

Until Next Time, Have a Great Day! Remember you are a badass!

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