Big, Baggy, Billowy, Blogger Pants
I’m doing something on theme! I am! Look! It’s on topic with the theme! :D Or at least, I’m going to bend it a little bit and look at it at just the right angle so that it fits. This week in Blaugust is ‘Getting to know you’ week. Or from your perspective, getting to know me. Although if you also want to share and let me get to know you too, that’s also most excellent.
Right. The subject. You might be curious. I’m referencing back to a comment made to Belghast, on a recent post confirming that actually, it’s pretty OK to take a break now and then. Being the internet though, I had to disagree. Not with it being OK to take a break! I’m not that disagreeable, I swear. No, just one particular note:
So while I absolutely think setting a schedule for yourself and sticking with it is a key trait in blogging, you do have to give yourself a bit of wiggle room.
Belghast, Okay to Take a Break (2021)
Hi, I’m Nait.
If you’re new here for Blaugust, you might think, ‘Wow! You post EVERY. DAY.’ But if you take even a quick glance back to previous months… Well, I can confirm any pattern or schedule you see for the posts there exists either only in your head or by coincidence. I 100% pants this whole thing. The writing community has a kinder word for my approach to this — they would say I’m a ‘discovery’ writer as opposed to a planner.
And it’s true! Starting this post, I knew the title (sometimes I don’t), the general point I wanted to make (sometimes I discover this as I go too) and… that’s about it. The rest I’ve found as I go. I might post in the morning. Sometimes I post in the evening. No day is any more likely to receive a post than any other. Even the weekends — something I’ll have more to say on in an upcoming post.
I found myself a *lot* of wiggle room in these blogger pants. All to say, I’m not a scheduler and I don’t follow a plan. Usually. Although, sometimes I might stretch myself to try. Even with this all being the case, I’ve made blogging work for me.
You don’t have to set a schedule or have a plan to jump into the crazy world of blogging
Although depending on your goals, it can help — that’s definitely true. But if planning is your bane, as it is mine, or you prefer to ‘discover’ your plan as it unfurls, don’t be put off.
It’s more than enough to just have a desire to start blogging that you’re willing to turn into action. Really, that’s it. Go sign-up for a free WordPress.com account, or Blogger. Join the Blaugust Discord, any time of year. There is certainly more activity during August, but it’s literally never too late — there’s always a solid showing of people willing to help you learn the ropes.
Want to post 5 times one week and just once the next? Pfft. Fine. Once a month? Also good; we’re here for it. Blogging does, as I noted in my Welcome to Blaugust post, have the potential to consume your every waking moment if you let it. But it really doesn’t have to, and you shouldn’t let it. At least not over the long term. It might be fun to be up at all hours in the weekend, or with some time off work, to get everything just so.
But even should that be an experience you relish and have time for — rein it in!
Bring it down to a level of time consumption sustainable to you and your situation.
The only plan you need to have?
Just keep going.
And if you do take a break — even an unplanned one — that’s fine. Just come back, and keep going. You never need to be sorry for taking a break. It isn’t something to feel bad about. Don’t let that feeling of ‘Oh, it’s been so long; I can’t go back now!’ take hold or win.
You can!
Just keep going. :)
This was posted during Blaugust 2021, the annual blogging event hosted by Belghast. Blaugust is an event aiming to welcome new blogger blood into the fold and revitalise those who’ve been at it a little longer.
The Blaugust Discord is still available to join in, year-round!
