Welcome to Blaugust 2021

Time for Blaugust!

Welcome to the start of Blaugust! This week, August 1-7, has been deemed “Welcome to Blaugust Week”, and is defined by Bel as follows.

The idea behind this week is to give folks time to spread their wings and get used to that daily blogging idea. For the Veteran bloggers, it is a great time to make a few posts related to helping New bloggers get started. These could be tips or tricks or just discussions about what helps you get started. Additionally it is a great time to get connected to the Blaugust Discord and meet the community as a whole.

I’m going to try to be more active in Discord this year, but Discord as a whole can be draining for me. So I may lurk more than anything. That said, I am more than happy to answer questions directed to me via Discord or Twitter!

My advice for folks this year’s Blaugust is simple.

• Don’t be afraid to write micro-posts (aka microblogging). Micro-posts allow you to create small pieces of content—some images, a short paragraph, video links, etc. I’ve written some before (like this post), and other blogs, such as Nomadic Gamers, eh!, make them a part of their repertoire. If you’re going for thirty-one posts this month, long paragraph-laden things may not be possible for each day. And that’s okay! Micro-posts are just as valid as long posts.
• Lists are also a valid type of blog post. I mean, how many of those “10 top…” posts have you read online? These are valid content that is obviously popular if sites (e.g.: Buzzfeed) focus on this type of content. Even big-name magazine brands create content like this. It’s not a way to avoid a post. It’s valid content. And they may not always take the form of “Top #” lists. Sometimes they’ll follow like my past advice…

Past Advice

To advocate for lists being a valid type of blog post, pretend the first section of this blog post doesn’t exist. I’ve written quite a few of these advice posts before, and instead of repeating myself, I’d rather just provide the content for those who have interest in what I’ve said before. I’ve even provided a quick quote from each one as a TL;DR if you prefer.

• Impostor Syndrome (July 30, 2018) – It’s a thing. But remember, “the fact that you decided to blog (or stream, or just be a content creator in any sense), whether it was yesterday, or ten years ago, is a huge accomplishment. It may seem like it’s something that everybody does, but I think that’s because we’re in the thick of it.”
• Use Tags on Social Media (August 1, 2018) – Bel has a lot of content to sift through to count at the end, so make it easy on him! “Tag your posts on social media [#Blaugust2021], and consider adding a post counter at the top (or bottom) of your posts.”
• Chronic Illness and Content Creation (August 1, 2019) – If you struggle with content creation while also dealing with chronic illness… know that “YOU. ARE. DOING. THE. BEST. YOU. CAN. It won’t necessarily look like someone else’s best-they-can, and that’s okay.”
• Shared Trauma from COVID Still Exists (April 3, 2020) – Collective trauma, like COVID “can make you feel “unproductive”, but really, you just getting through the day is productive enough.”
• No Apologies Necessary (April 4, 2020) – Don’t worry about posts apologizing for not blogging or creating content. “As a reader, most of us don’t care to read apologies—we’re still here, reading, so we just want to get into what you’ve been doing!”
• Productivity is a Sham (April 28, 2020) – Relaxing is just as important as creating content. “Too much focus on being productive can leave you burnt out. This can happen in any area of our lives, so we need to also make time and space for ourselves to relax and enjoy what we’re doing.”

This is post 1/31 for Blaugust You can find out more and sign up over at Belghast’s post!