Think blogging 31 days straight is hard?
As of the first week in May, Alana Mautone has posted 373 days in a row – and is still at it. Her blog is Ramblin’ with AM, and on it she writes about “upstate NY, flood recovery, gardening, wildflowers, the Civil War, FarmVille, sustainable agriculture, chocolate, the universe, and everything in between.”
Mautone was inspired to blog every day by the 2011 WordCount Blogathon, and afterward it was over, just kept going.
I did an email interview with Mautone recently to find out how she keeps blogging, when she writes and how she gets ideas. Here’s what she had to say:
WC: How many days in a row have you blogged?
AM: 373 days as of today.
WC: When you sat down to write on May 1, 2011, did you plan to blog this long? If not, how did you decide to keep going?
AM: I only planned to make it through the 2011 Blogathon. Prior to that I don’t think I ever posted even a week straight. But the Blogathon energized me so much I joined another blog challenge soon after which required 31 posts in a month, and it just snowballed. I’m not sure when I decided to try to shoot for posting every day for a year. I think it was sometime last September when I realized I only needed to double what I had already done. I’m noting here that I do not write for a living (other than what my corporate job requires in letter writing and emails), so perhaps in a way it is easier for me to blog than for a professional writer who is doing it to make a living. No pressure….
WC: Why keep blogging so often?
AM: In the book, Outliers, The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell, he talks about needing to practice a skill for 10,000. hours to achieve greatness. I hope that, by writing at least 1/2 hour a day, I will grow as a blogger. I will explore that more in my May 16 post.
WC: Do you write every day or pre-write several days at a time?
AM: I sometimes pre-write on weekends for one or two posts. I also pre-write if I am going on vacation. Otherwise, I usually blog each day. Or, if I am posting on a challenge site early in the morning, I will write the post the night before.
WC: What’s your favorite time of day to write blog posts, and how long does writing one usually take?
AM: I get home from work around 5 p.m. on weekdays, and will try to blog between 6 and 8 p.m. in the evening. Writing one usually takes 30 to 60 minutes, depending on how inspired and how tired I am.
WC: How do you get ideas for all those posts?
AM: My initial posts came from writing about my interests, or doing photo essays. Since Tropical Storm Lee flooded the area I live in in September 2011, I’ve had too much inspiration. As of today, I have 59 posts tagged Binghamton Flood of 2011. I will have one or two more this week, as tomorrow and Tuesday are the eight-month anniversary of the flood.
WC: What advice do you have for other bloggers looking to increase the frequency of their posts?
AM: Get into the habit of writing daily. That’s what the 2011 Blogathon did for me – it formed a habit. Next, write about what your passion is. Follow your inner voice. Believe in yourself.
Yay, Alana! You are truly inspiring… Thanks for highlighting her on your blog, Michelle, so we can all learn from her example.
That is amazing, Alana, and inspiring. I don’t blog every day, except for during events like the Blogathon, and I do write about what I’m passionate about. So I’m going to have to do more pre-writing and scheduling. Wow! I think you might have yourself an ebook to write some day. Start collecting your tips now. 😉
Alana basically turned herself into a citizen journalist covering the flood in her area, which is fantastic.
Michelle
I’m not sure when I started blogging daily, but I think it was fairly early in 2011–dates on the posts are off sometimes, as it took me a while to figure how to get from UT to Alaska time and posts are often credited to the wrong day. I use a day-of-the-week theme, and can be anywhere from last minute (weather posts on Mondays) to several weeks in advance (Six Sentence Sundays, quote contexts, some reviews.)
Good for you Sue!
Michelle R.
Congrats, Alana. Blogathon kicked me into blogging last year, too, and seeing you posting day in and day out was the encouragment I needed to keep going. Kudos!!
Thanks for sharing this, Michelle, and for doing Blogathon year to year.
Wow! This is extremely impressive. I blogged every day for about three years, but it was a paying job and not my own blog (and I still burned out). Way to go! You’re an inspiration!
Sarah, I can’t imagine blogging every day for three years, even for a paying client. That’s an enormous responsibility.
Michelle
Thank you, Michelle, and thank you to everyone who posted for their good wishes. And thank you, Michelle (again) for all your work organizing the Blogathon, being our cheerleader, and still finding the time to interview me!
Wow! I’m exhausted just reading about that accomplishment. Congrats, Alana! What an amazing achievement. I love that it just swept you away and you’re determined to keep going. May you keep inspiring the rest of us!
Hats off, Alana! I know I couldn’t blog every day because I want to write other things, as you mentioned very appropriately. The Blogathon does seem like a marathon to me, although I must say I have no problem coming up with ideas, but in the long run the time commitment is prohibitive for me to blog every day. Thanks also for the tip of the “Outliers” book – will have to check that out.
My very first attempt at blogging was this year and for some strange reason I thought it would be easy to blog every day. I guess when you don’t know how hard something is you don’t really think about it.