Real Talk-The Ups And Downs Of Blogging

Today, I am being real.  Today, I am being authentic and talking about the stress of blogging in a writing challenge. Today, I am writing about digging deep and the ups and downs of blogging.

I love to write.  It gives me great joy.  But, no matter what activity gives you joy, when it becomes something you must do, have to do, and not something you want to do, that activity can become a dread, a burden.

This is the second year I have participated in the #write31days writing challenge. You have to write and publish a blog post everyday for 31 days.  The month of October.

It is training for writing a book, which is a dream of mine.  A dream I will start soon.  This is great practice.  The difference is writing is writing and blogging is a whole nother monster.  There is so much more that goes into blogging.

I can compare it to cooking.  You can cook, and enjoy it. Blogging is like cooking for twenty people, all by yourself, and cleaning up the kitchen, all by yourself.  And a writing challenge is like doing all that, thirty-one days in a row.  By day twenty, exhausted of cooking, and it isn’t fun anymore.  It’s a burden.  But still, you cook because you said you would.

Let me say, I enjoy blogging.  I like writing my words, taking pictures that help tell the story and I enjoy putting it all together.  Weekly.  Not daily.  Definitely not daily.

So, why do I do the challenge if it is so horrible?

That’s a good question.

Last year, I remember saying I wouldn’t do it again.  It was hard and about this time of the month, a good twenty blogs in, I had a meltdown and was tired.  It happened again last night.  I know my husband tires of me saying, “I have to go write.”

This year, when I received the email for Write 31 Days,  said no.  Then a friend of mine, who I have encouraged to write, asked me about it.  Christine asked if I was going to take part in the challenge. I told her no and she said she wanted to do it.  She then asked me to do it with her and we could rally each other on. I was at Target when she asked, and with all the Target-wonderfulness surrounding me,  my judgement was clouded and I told her yes!

How could I urge her to write and say no to a writing challenge?

I couldn’t.

Christine is doing beautifully, by the way, and has been in Paris for part of the month.  Read her blog series here.

I am, for the most part, glad I accepted the challenge.

Like last year, filled with excitement and gung-ho at the beginning of the month, I began writing.  I love to write so why wouldn’t a writing challenge be fun? It is exciting, planning out your blog posts, getting new ideas.  Getting great feedback.
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And then you hit a wall.

Life happens and sometimes it is hard to take part in life and write blog posts everyday.

“It’s hell writing and hell not writing.  The only tolerable state is having just written.” -Robert Hass

And, I have people around me saying just quit.  Stop the challenge.  And, I have people around me, and not around me, who stop reading my blog posts.  I’ll admit–it’s a lot!  It’s a lot to read.  If it is a lot for me to write, I can admit it is a lot to read. (if you have read all twenty so far, I love you for your support and time!)

Some of the blog posts in this series, I am proud of.  Most.  Some are okay.  The blog post from yesterday, was pretty crappy. I was tired.  I was done.  I was down.  I had a great day and then at 9:00 p.m., had to go write.  I had to dig deep and hit the keys and spit some words out to post.  Dig deep!

Well, yesterday my shovel broke, apparently, because I didn’t dig too deep.  I will admit–the post from yesterday is bad.

So, does this writing challenge really help you become a better writer?

How does this prepare you for a novel?  In the middle of writing your novel, if you hit a wall, you take a step back, you put your shovel down.  You don’t write crap just to write.  That would be a novel that would never sell, right?  So does this writing challenge help?

I am not sure.  Completely do not have an answer.

What I do have is a drive to not quit.  So, I will forge on.  Power on.  Dig deeper.  I will write.  I will blog.  Will you read?

I hope for you a shovel that never breaks.  I hope for you a will and a love to forge on!

love and blessings~dd

**if you are reading this post, or any post–thank you for your support! I truly appreciate it!

What I do have is a drive to not quit. So, I will forge on. Power on. Dig deeper. I will write. I will blog. Will you read? Click To Tweet

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