Blaugust 2023 in the Rear View

Last year for this post, I went over the achievements earned for Blaugust that year. It just so happened that I’d inadvertently collected enough of them through the course of the month that it seemed a bit silly to not push that slight bit extra and hit platinum.

But even then, I realised the achievements themselves were not going to be much of a motivator for me to participate in Blaugust, and that seems to have been proven out with this year, where beyond noting their return, I’ve made no effort to keep track of which ones I may’ve achieved.

No, for me, it is still about rising to the challenge of posting at a frequency that is above and beyond my normal. Namely; posting every day. In the past four or so years of participating in Blaugust, I probably would’ve resisted any change to this particular goal. But now… Now maybe I’m open to it. After years of acknowledging how difficult it is to lift your head up and out into what the community is doing, between the efforts required to keep up generating your own content, compounded by everyone else doing the same… Well; maybe there might be something we can do there after all.

For myself, I’m on a streak — five years of diamond rainbow tier completion — so I won’t voluntarily stop of my own accord. But if there were now to be a discussion on stepping back the post-count threshold for diamond rainbow to something reflective of just the weekdays, for example?

I’d be up for that. Don’t make people post only on the weekdays, some people have most of their time on the weekend and may well wish to post then. I only mean that the post-count target is designed to allow enough clear air to surface up and look around at what else is going on.

All that aside…

In the same post I discussed those points, I wondered if I’d actually learned anything this year.

I didn’t think I had.

But… Here’s something fairly groundbreaking that I’ve picked up, I think…

Practice makes things easier.

I know! Stop the press!

But one of the themes of my previous years participation at this end of things has been, ‘Man- I’m glad I did it, but I’m so tired‘ now. Basically, the effort to keep going — particularly the posting every day of the month — was very draining to me and not how I would ever want to operate.

Pretty sure it’s still not how I want to operate, but equally, I didn’t find it nearly so difficult this time around.

I did give myself a pseudo-day off by way of the ‘Screenshot Saturdays’ — and I must admit, I did find that quite a circuit breaker to the building tension of writing so much. But I do also think the practice effect was finally being felt. Yay! So if you found this one particularly challenging — it does get better. It just… might, um, take a little while. In the meantime, Screenshot Saturdays are your friend!

Right… I think that’s me on Blaugust this year, except to give one final huge thank-you to Belghast who with the wrap up of Blaugust 2023 has seen this community through the hosting, administration and love and care of ten years of these shenanigans.

I think Bel’s running of this event plays no small part in my continued role as a blogger, too. It’s that shot in the arm each year, to ensure the excitement for the hobby can never be allowed to fade.

Thanks Bel, and to everyone who participated, I’m looking forward to doing it all over again for 2024! :D