That’s the question that Kristen Greenwood of GirlSpring asked me when she interviewed me for GirlSpring’s Sheroctober, a series of videos featuring Birmingham area women considered “sheroes” of the city. Girlspring is a nonprofit organization and online publication based in Birmingham, Alabama, that focuses on the issues, activities, and concerns of girls and young women. The “sheroes” interviewed for this series included artists, educators, entrepreneurs, and other professionals in practically every field. And so many of these women are true trailblazers. It is an honor to be included. You can see my video here (and be sure to give me a thumbs up while you’re watching. The shero with the most thumbs up will win tickets to see Janet Jackson live in concert!)
This is it — it’s November 1, the first day of #bloglikecrazy. This month many bloggers across the country and I will attempt to blog every single day.
As we enter this challenge and this month it’s important to set specific goals for the next 30 days. What do you hope to get out of #bloglikecrazy? What other goals and intentions do you have for November? Could working toward these goals help you produce more content for #bloglikecrazy?
For 2018 I’m investing in The Content Planner to plan out posts and and promotion of my content. // Image via Instagram
The See Jane Write blogging challenge #bloglikecrazy kicks off in two days. (If you’re new around here, you can learn all about #bloglikecrazy here.)
I’ve discussed before how I believe blogging every day for 30 days can help you be more creative and more consistent. This challenge can also drastically increase your blog traffic but simply publishing new content every day isn’t enough to do so. Yes, you need to develop an editorial calendar of 30 blog post ideas for November, and you need to find time to write your blog posts, but you must make time to promote your blog posts, too. And this is where so many bloggers drop the ball.
Years ago I figured out that to be a successful blogger I must not only be a writer but also an entrepreneur and thus I need to learn not only from other writers but from any creative person seeking to use her talents to make money and make a difference. This is one reason I love immersing myself in Birmingham’s fashion community. And if you think Birmingham doesn’t have a fashion community you obviously haven’t been following all of the events being hosted by the organizers of Magic City Fashion Week. (You can learn more here.)
One event of the week you definitely don’t want to miss is Friday’s Emerging Designer Competition. Hosted by Ty Hunter and Raquel Smith of Beyonce’s style team, the show will feature the works of five emerging designers competing for a prize package valued at $5,000. The show will also include looks from Macy’s and luxury streetwear by Splashed by DKG. This event is set for 6 to 11 p.m. and will be held at the Goldstein & Cohen building in Ensley.
I had the chance to interview one of the emerging designers who will be featured in Friday’s show — Shannon Warren of the Shan Latris Collection.
Warren’s advice for other emerging designers could so easily be applied to writing and blogging and there are so many takeaways from her journey that we can learn from, too.
Do what you can with what you have. Warren couldn’t sew when she was a kid so she used a hot glue gun to alter clothes!
Read, read, read. Before Warren could afford to go to design school she went to the library and read every book she could find about fashion design. And Warren continues to learn more about and work on her craft. We writers and bloggers must remember to do the same.
And whether she knows it or not, when Warren designs her clothes she actually uses Edgar Allan Poe’s single effect theory! She seeks to evoke a single emotion from her customer with each piece she designs just as Poe sought to evoke a single emotion from his readers with each short story and poem he wrote.
Can you believe that #bloglikecrazy starts next week?! In case you’re new around here, every November I challenge my fellow bloggers to publish a new blog post every day for 30 days. I started doing this a few years ago with the ladies of See Jane Write and soon women — and men — all over the country joined in.
If you’d like to participate, simply use the hashtag #bloglikecrazy when you share your posts on social media and I’ll help you promote your posts. Also, I’ll give you encouragement along the way by sharing blogging tips and post ideas using the #bloglikecrazy hashtag.
Now you may be thinking, “Why on earth should I blog every day for 30 days?”
Good question. I believe blogging every day for 30 days will boost your creativity, your community, and your consistency. I break down each of these here.
Or maybe you’re thinking, “How on earth am I supposed to blog every day for 30 days?”
Well, last week, I wrote a post to help you create an editorial calendar for November. This week I want to help you figure out when you’re going to actually write these posts.
