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Let’s #bloglikecrazy!

Thanks to Carol Marks
for creating this graphic for us!

Today is the day! Today is Day 1 of #bloglikecrazy. I’ll be participating in the challenge with my personal blog, The Writeous Babe Project.

Here are the rules:

1. Visit the See Jane Write Magazine announcement of #bloglikecrazy and leave your name, blog URL, and Twitter handle in the comments section of the article to let me know you’re in!

2. Publish a new post on your blog every day in the month of November.

3. If you’re on Facebook, share links to your posts in the See Jane Write Birmingham Facebook group.

4. If you’re on Twitter, tweet out links to your posts and use the hashtag #bloglikecrazy.

5. Have fun!

You’re free to write about anything you want this month, but if you find yourself struggling with blogger’s block, use these prompts for inspiration.

I’d love for you to also grab the code for the image above and add it to your blog sidebar in case your readers would like to join the fun. (You can find the code to the right of this post.)

Now let’s blog like crazy!

It’s Almost Time to #bloglikecrazy

bloglikecrazy

It’s about to be that time again; it’s almost time to blog like crazy!

Last year I challenged the women of See Jane Write and some of my other blogger buddies to “blog like crazy.” The challenge was simple: for the month of November post new content to your blog every day. That’s a new blog post every day for the 30 days. Sure, it sounds simple, but if you’re a blogger you know that posting every day is a lot easier said than done.

But many ladies of See Jane Write gladly stepped up to the challenge, posting daily and sharing their posts in the See Jane Write Birmingham Facebook group and on Twitter using the hashtag #bloglikecrazy.

Starting Nov. 1 we’re going to #bloglikecrazy again this year. I hope you’ll join us. You don’t have to be a member of See Jane Write or live in Birmingham to participate. You just need a blog and willingness to write.

You may be wondering why you should bother blogging every day. Some people believe that writing daily can kill your creativity or result in sub-par content. While I believe there is some truth in those statements I also believe in the power of practice. Natalie Goldberg, author of Writing Down the Bones explained this notion best:

This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some days you don’t want to run and you resist every step of the three miles, but you do it anyway. You practice whether you want to or not. You don’t wait around for inspiration and deep desire to run. It’ll never happen, especially if you’re out of shape or have been avoiding it. But if you run regularly, you train your mind to cut through or ignore your resistance. You just do it. And in the middle of the run, you love it. When you come to the end, you never want to stop. And you stop, hungry for the next time.

 

This summer I exercised every day for 30 days as I was working to complete Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred workout plan. This meant that one night, after a very busy day and an evening spent at a friend’s birthday dinner, I had to exercise at 10:30 p.m. with a belly full of Indian food. But I was determined not to skip a day. That month I likened exercise to brushing my teeth and in November I’ll do the same with blogging. You don’t skip brushing your teeth because you’re too tired or too busy, do you? (I sure hope not.)

I believe that choosing not to write simply because you don’t feel like will, in the long run, hurt your craft because you won’t learn the discipline and dedication necessary to succeed at writing.

You may be thinking, “But what if I have nothing to write about?”

Don’t worry. I have you covered. Head to See Jane Write Magazine for prompts for each day of #bloglikecrazy. Now, you don’t have to follow these prompts to participate. But these suggestions are here in case you find yourself experiencing blogger’s block and staring at a blank computer screen.

If you plan to participate, visit the See Jane Write Magazine announcement of #bloglikecrazy and leave your name, blog URL, and Twitter handle in the comments section of that post.

Let’s get ready to #bloglikecrazy!

Blogging Is About People, Not Pageviews

A few of the ladies of See Jane Write before our morning walk


I have a confession. 

When I came up with the idea for #bloglikecrazy several months ago I had an ulterior motive. While I, of course, wanted the challenge to get other women motivated to write and blog regularly, I also hoped the project would increase traffic to my blog. And I did see a small boost in traffic, but by the second week of the challenge I didn’t care about my stats. Something much more important and more exciting was happening. Thanks to the number of See Jane Write members participating, women bloggers in the Birmingham area started using #bloglikecrazy to build community. The ladies shared their posts on the See Jane Write Facebook group page and in the process discovered a host of common interests. One thing we quickly learned was that several of us were fitness fanatics. 

So Tanya Sylvan had the great idea of organizing See Jane Move. 

This morning I started my day with a gathering of a few of my favorite women who write at Railroad Park. The weather was absolutely perfect as we did laps around the park for about an hour and then sat down for a potluck brunch. We noshed on fruit, confetti rice and bean salad, and other healthy snacks and talked about nearly everything from personal branding to blog design to DIY manicures. 

Here we are before sitting down for our healthy potluck brunch


And as I sat there I saw a blogging lesson come to life: it’s all about people, not pageviews. No amount of web hits could have created the joy I felt this morning.  

I left the park feeling so inspired by the girl power in the air and very hopeful about the future of See Jane Write. 

See Jane Move was an excellent way to start a Saturday and a perfect way to end #bloglikecrazy. 


Why I Love Being a Woman

Last week Glamour magazine hosted its annual Women of the Year Awards. Honorees for 2012 include the likes of actress Selena Gomez, photographer Annie Leibovitz, Girls creator Lena Dunham and USA gold medal Olympians. (Click here for a complete list.)

As Evette Dionne mentioned on her blog, The Huffington Post’s women’s website, Huff Post Women, captured the spirit of the evening at a reception dinner, asking several honorees and attendees this question: “What do you appreciate most about being a woman?”

This got me thinking: What do I love most about being a woman? It didn’t take long for me to reach an answer.

The thing I appreciate most about being a woman is sisterhood.

I believe in the power of sisterhood.

Most women understand that when we band together we are an unstoppable force.

In my nearly 32 years on this earth in this female body I have learned that your good girlfriends make accomplishing goals more manageable and a lot more fun — whether you’re working toward artistic or professional aspirations or a goal to get in shape.

My #bloglikecrazy challenge is a perfect example.

I’ve now blogged for 19 days straight even though I’ve been juggling my full-time teaching job, freelance writing assignments, and church and family obligations. I’ve also had to make time to develop writing prompts to send to other bloggers participating in the challenge. One of the primary reasons I’ve been able to do this is because of ladies of See Jane Write and other female bloggers across the country who’ve been blogging like crazy with me. Their posts keep me inspired; their energy keeps me motivated.

And what I’ve seen happen this month on the See Jane Write Facebook group page has been fascinating.
I’ve mentioned before that the women of See Jane Write have been sharing their blog posts with the group and have been forming incredible connections, even with women they’ve never met IRL, as they discover things they have in common. But what I’ve also seen is women who were intimidated by blogging or had left their blogs sit dormant for months getting in on the action too. They’ve started or relaunched blogs because they saw we were having so much fun.

All this has inspired me to strive to take See Jane Write to even higher heights and I know I can do it because my sisters will be there to help me along the way.

Crossposted at The Writeous Babe Project. 

Let’s Blog Like Crazy!

I'm not a player, I just blog a lot
Image by J. Money via Flickr/Creative Commons


Since I’m a writer, blogger and feminist it should come as no surprise that Julie & Julia is one of my favorite films. I watched this great Nora Ephron movie Friday night and by the end my enthusiasm for blogging was renewed. 

I started thinking about Julie Powell and other bloggers who have been wildly popular and landed book deals because of their websites. The one thing these writers seem to have in common is that they were willing to do something crazy. Naysayers may call it a gimmick, and perhaps for some it is just that. But when I think about Julie Powell and women like Rachel Bertsche, author of the blog and book MWF Seeking BFF, they were all willing to do something that took courage and discipline, whether that was cooking 524 Julia Child recipes in 365 days or going on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting a new Best Friend Forever.

And so I present a challenge.

November can be a lonely month for us creative non-fiction writers because in November many of our ambitious fiction writer pals are busy with National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.

So I thought, what if we bloggers had a project of our own for the month of November.

Inspired by Tarayi Jones’ #writelikecrazy, in which she encouraged writers to write every day for a month, I’ve decided to launch #bloglikecrazy for the month of November.

Here’s the #bloglikecrazy challenge: publish a meaningful blog post every single day in November. That’s 30 posts in 30 days. 

I’ve tried to do this several times before and failed miserably. But I figure I’d be a bit more motivated if I’m actually leading this endeavor over at my blog The Writeous Babe Project.

So are you with me?

Project #bloglikecrazy will begin Nov. 1. 

Also, if you’d like you can sign up for me to send you writing prompts throughout November to help get those creative juices flowing. Just email me at javacia@gmail.com with #bloglikecrazy in the subject line and in the body of the email simply say “I want prompts so I can #bloglikecrazy!”

So does this mean that after blogging for 30 days you’ll get a book deal? Probably not. But at the end of November you will be more dedicated to your blog and it’s dedication that will help you make your writing dreams come true. 

So let’s blog like crazy!