As I mention in this post, this is the first of 6 posts that will be the finale for my July blog post challenge. The first four posts were all written in either May or June, so some information might not be accurate now, though they were accurate when I wrote the original draft.
I know this was being written at the end of May (May 30th), but only being published now in July, but there’s a reason for that. While I have written a lot of content since I started writing daily, it’s not all edited, and I do believe that some of what I wrote will fade into the background, and serve as practice, not public-facing content.
But as I sat down today, I realized that it would be an excellent way to end July’s challenge. So you will see that there will be similar content over the next 6 days, including today’s post. Today will cover what I learned from writing in May, tomorrow will be what I would do differently in June. Then on day three, it will be about how June went, day 4 will be what I want to do differently in July, and finally the final two days will be about how July went and moving forward. It’s kind of nice. And the writing daily with videos has been such a big help.
Now to talking about May.
It still surprises me that I have made it an entire month. As of today (when writing this), this is my 43rd day of writing daily. I keep track both by the videos that I post on social media, and because I keep track of my “entertainment.” I have a database set up in Notion that calculates the dates, specifically the unique dates, so I don’t get confused when all of the music I listen to (usually around 6 or 7 during a Saturday session). It lines up perfectly and eases my mind when I’m verifying what day I’m putting on the video before I post.
Anyway, May.
I’m so glad that I started really writing when I did. If I were to post every piece I have written from April 18th up to this moment, I would have more than enough to cover July’s challenge. And that, just the thought of that, is such a relief.
However, I did struggle a lot. Because I didn’t really plan out what I wanted to write, and as some post ideas would have required research, I avoided writing about those. I was focused on finishing the writing session, and at the end of the day, it’s not a good way to be a writer. In fact, I struggled so much some days because the words weren’t coming, and I was writing nonsense to fill the space as I needed to continue writing to finish out that day’s session.
Was it worth it?
For the practice, yes, it was. But it felt cheap at times, and frankly, I couldn’t keep it up forever. Actually, it felt exactly like it did when I tried to do a full month of blog posts back in November of 2021 (man, how time doth fly).
How’re the videos working out?
They are so helpful! It does get distracting at times, like right now, I have a fun episode of MAS*H on, and between the struggle to even be writing this, and the episode, the words aren’t coming so easily. It’s easy to type them out, though, that I have noticed over the past month. Even when the words don’t actually come, it’s much easier to type them, and my fingers don’t feel so stiff.
The words aren’t the problem, well, kind of.
The problem that I have noticed is me. Me, I am the problem. Because I try to go off the cuff with what I’m writing, not actually plan it out, AND write something new a day, I’m running out of ideas, and it shows in my writing. It’s not the best way to go about this, and I’m tired of it.
What has worked well?
I switched to writing in Notion instead of Evernote, which helps so much. Mostly from not worrying about losing my writing, but I was also able to organize my drafts much better in Notion than in Evernote. Which also made editing, scheduling, and posting so much easier. For that, I say a big thank you to the team at Notion for creating such a great tool. Overall, I’m so happy with how May turned out, and I look forward to continuing my daily writing sessions.
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