Welcome to Blaugust 2023
This will make sense if you read the post
Blaugust Festival of Blogging is finally here. A month long celebration of blogging and bloggers that is open to all. The idea is to encourage those who are just starting out with writing online or those who are returning to the scene after a break. It is also about those who already write online content and who might be feeling a little burned out, renewing their enthusiasm. Blaugust is a community driven event that encourages people to express themselves in the way that is best for them. It doesn’t advocate a “one size fits all” approach and is very much about horses for courses. There is advice, support and activities available and participants are at liberty to do as much or as little as they wish. Blaugust has been running for a decade now and I’ve participated in all previous events as I find it an invaluable experience, each time.
So far over 30 people have signed up for this year’s event and are actively participating. The Blaugust Discord Server has been busy with lots of new faces and the conversation has got off to a flying start. As someone who has been writing online for 16 years, I find the excitement and enthusiasm of all the new participants very invigorating. Blaugust always provides a welcome shot in the arm and reinvigorates my writing mojo, so to speak. It’s also very uplifting to spend time with those who are taking their first steps online. I get the same pleasure from this as I do when I watch a classic movie that I’m very familiar with with someone who’s seeing it for the first time. Seeing new bloggers gain confidence, improve their style and increase their output is most gratifying. The written word is a powerful tool and it is important to make sure it is available to all.
The Magnificent Seven reference coming up
Now it is customary during the beginning of Blaugust to write a post or two offering advice based upon your own experience. I have done that many times over the years on a wealth of topics. Blog rolls, drafting posts, your writing voice, whether to allow comments, website traffic and statistics, motivation, writing schedules and much more. All of which are valid points to consider when blogging. However, today I am going to give just one very straightforward piece of advice. One that is somewhat obvious but is paradoxically the hardest to do. And that is, once you’ve set up your blog with a fancy theme, loads of plug-ins and a quirky domain name, sooner or later you have got to sit down and actually write something. “No shit”, I hear you say. But let’s be honest, wasting time and putting writing off is something we all do to a greater or lesser degree. Procrastination is the thief of time and an international pastime.
How often have you found yourself with lots of ideas buzzing around your brain that you think would make a “crackerjack” blog post. That’s a niche market pop culture reference for fans of The Magnificent Seven but I digress. So there you are filled with creativity and enthusiasm with time on your hands. So naturally you head to your desk, cracking your knuckles in anticipation of the literary masterpiece you are about to bestow upon humanity. And then you sit down to write the damn post and suddenly your keyboard might as well be kryptonite or a two day old fox turd. Immediately that bird on Mrs Coltart’s roof that you can see through the window, has just become the most fascinating thing in the entire universe. You realise that you may have a library book to take back, or you’ve run out of oregano, so you have to go to the store, or else you’ll be condemned to eat bland meals for all eternity.
Prepare for some wisdom comparable to Dear Drooper
Congratulations you’ve just done what 100% of all other bloggers have done. Fear not the solution is easy. You just have to fucking write, you long-eared galoot (other kinds of galoots are available). Yep, that’s the answer. Put your ass in a chair, write some lines, expand upon them and voila, you’ve written a blog post. It doesn’t have to be Shakespeare, it doesn’t have to change the course of history and it doesn’t even have to be of interest to anyone but you if you want. But to be a blogger you do have to write. It’s essential to the concept. Now let us not get into an argument about writer’s block. I do recognise that it is a thing. But it never has been and never will be about not being able to think about what to write. There are endless subjects to inspire you and explore. Writer’s block is about being motivated to write and not wanting to write. There will be times when your heart’s not in it. But you can’t allow something quite so capricious to undermine your writing intentions all the time.
Now if you don’t want to write, then fine, don’t. That’s your prerogative as Bobby Brown said originally before everyone else copied him. Just don’t whine about it later, that you haven’t written anything if you didn’t actually sit down and write something. This is the most practical and sage-like advice I can give to anyone who wants to blog or create any content online. You have to knuckle down and just get on with it, sooner or later. How many other tasks accommodate such a nebulous excuse? I didn’t take out that festering pile of recycling because I am swathed in melancholic pathos. Bullshit. Nope you have to apply yourself to write. Or else you’ll just be forever on the sidelines trying to convince others (and yourself) exactly how good at writing you could be, if it wasn’t for the metropolitan elites, global warming and other “reasons”. The Farage Defense as I call it but that’s a separate blog post.
