This is it! The last day of the Blogathon 2010. I feel like a post of reflection is the only way to close off 31 days of 31 posts. So here are my top 5 lessons I learned from the Blogathon:
1) If you have a food blog and you mess up a recipe, you can write about it anyway. I know food bloggers who write original recipes can’t do this. But my blog is about loving, appreciating, and experimenting with food, so I don’t think I need to get recipes right every time. Though I hope there aren’t too many of them, I can write about mistakes too. I like to think of them as possible inspiration for readers (is that right?), so you know if you don’t get something right in the kitchen, try to make something out of what you have or learn some lessons from my mistakes.
2) When posting regularly, it’s good to have a plan. I’ve read that bloggers should post at least 3 times a week, and that it’s good to plan out what you’ll post. Some people have a monthly calendar of postings; some probably have an idea of what they’ll do weekly. This becomes really important when you’re blogging every day. I used themes and started looking at everything food-related as a possible blog entry. If I found a great blog that I liked, I asked if I could interview that person. If my Dad was making pork before Mother’s Day, I took pictures and interviewed him later to get tips. It’s amazing how the ideas just start flowing when you think ahead.
3) Interacting with others is one of the best parts of blogging. Most bloggers probably know this already. But it took a group of more than 100 bloggers to help me realize that commenting on other people’s blogs, interviewing others, and linking to other posts are some of the fun things about blogging. Which brings me too…
4) The power of guest posting…I had wanted to try guest posting for a while, but the Blogathon really pushed me to do it. Now I know that guest posts bring fresh ideas and new voices to blogs. I had my guest blogger Kenny on Sundays who wrote about food and art in a way I never could. Then Celena asked me for a chocolate recipe, had her friend pair it with beer, and wrote about it. (This technically isn’t guest posting, but her experiment did bring two blogs together for a post.) And while I had been wanting to add more food and writing content to My Morning Chocolate for a while, it was Joanne Mason who came up with the clever idea of using food as inspiration to write. Brilliant! We all have food memories, and she conjured some up for readers in the comment section of her post.
5) Blogging is fun! I have had some moments where I’ve forgotten this, mainly on days when I’m not inspired to cook or write or I don’t know how to write about something I’ve already cooked. ”I don’t know why I write this blog at all,” I’ll say to Kenny. He reminds me that I love it, and of course he’s right. I love it because my blog is so many good things for me: a place to practice writing and generating ideas, an opportunity to connect with others like you, a reason to learn more about food, which I love. Tough as it was, the Blogathon also reminded me of that. I feel like I have fresh inspiration for the summer now.
Thank you for reading during the month of May, and thank you to Michelle Rafter for organizing this event. It’s been a lot of fun. My Morning Chocolate will now have 3 to 4 new posts a week until the Blogathon next year. We’ll be back later this week -see you then!
Blogging is fun but 30 straight days is long off for me. My site is young and my posts scarce, but if you would like to guest post on my site, you are more than welcome. Love your site.
I think your blog has a great title and concept. Anything with “chocolate” in it is sure to draw readers. Good luck with the next 11 months and hope to see you in Blogathon 2011!
You’re so right about #1. This makes you human. I’m much more likely to identify with someone who makes mistakes (like me) than someone who is the “guru” or “expert” (not like me).
Jen, I don’t know what I would do without #1. It makes my blog possible.
More than anything, this year’s blogathon taught me that it takes a village to raise a blog. The experience wouldn’t have been the same without Ron Doyle creating the badges, Rebecca Allen helping organize the Google Group, Bill Lascher guest posting with me, Jackie Dishner inspiring me to leave comments as many places as I could, Fiona Chan and Andrew Nielsen showing you can be a faithful blogger no matter what else is going on in your life (she – high school mid terms and he – getting married!) and Alexandra Grabbe sending me the perfect photo for a wrap-up post I’m running later this week. We freelancers live such isolated work lives, this was an opportunity to do something together. Thanks for being part of the community.
Michelle Rafter
Jen–amen to number 1!!! They are the best blogs. I look forward to reading more here.
Alexandra, Sara, Michelle, & Babette: Congratulations to you too! I’m so glad that #1 is a hit. Cheers to writing about mistakes!
Wendi: I hear that. Good thing it’s fun to write about mistakes, and there’s always a take-away in there too.
Iron Cook Carl: Thanks for stopping by! I’m looking forward to checking out your blog this week.
I like all of your list, especially numbers 3 and 4. I hope to do more of #4 this year.
Jen,
Love this! Especially #5. I, too, was reminded how much fun writing a blog could be, and the energy, inspiration and ideas that can come from communing with a group of like-minded writers!
And I like that it’s okay to make mistakes too — or as Jackie said once in her blog’s comments section: that do-overs are allowed.
You’re so right about #5. I do sometimes forget that it is fun. I ran a series that I found fascinating, but it was hard to put together. I’m still not entirely satisfied with it, but in the end I enjoyed it and it’s out. And then right after that a topic came up that totally energized and inspired me. Guest posting was a boatload of fun, and I’m scheming how to do it again!
@Kathy and @Joan: I’m glad #5 resonated with you! I usually feel guilty about that one, but luckily the feeling doesn’t last too long. Congratulations to both of you on Blogathon completion!
I absolutely adored our finding our names at all the blogs each time I’d visit. That was so fun to see familiar names. It made the blogathon feel like home, like neighbors stopping in to say hi.
Jackie, I hadn’t thought about that aspect of the Blogathon. But it was nice to recognize many of the people leaving comments and interacting. I hope we keep it up!
Hi Jen! So glad to connect to you during the blogathon. It was great to know that all month there were so many others out there going through the same motions. I love solidarity in writing.
Cheers!
Christa, thanks! It was great to connect with you too. I can always use inspiration, so I’ll be looking for some on your blog!