And now, the end is near, and so I face the final currrrrrrrrrrtain...
Sorry. I know I've got a terrible singing voice.
Blog Every Day in May has come to an end, and I learned some stuff!
BEDM is seriously motivating. Although I didn't post every single day (see below) I managed to 20 which I think is pretty good going, especially because before May I'd only managed to post 10 times this year!
It doesn't matter if you don't stick to the rules. I started the month off determined to post every day, and racked my brains to think of ways to stick to the topic. After a week or so I ended up missing a couple of days... and nothing terrible happened. It became much more fun when I gave up on the rules (and anyway, I'm trying not to care about what people think of me)!
Blogging shouldn't be a chore. About halfway through the month I did start to feel a bit stressed about the fact that I didn't have time to read and comment much (I get stressed easily!). I gave myself a good talking to and remembered that it's supposed to be fun. I have a lot of admiration for bloggers like Corrine who manage to work full time, post almost every day and engage with their followers, but that's just not for me!
I should write 'heavy' posts more often. I've often found myself avoiding writing longer posts about more serious topics; partly because it felt too much like hard work, and partly because I worried that I didn't really have anything particularly clever or insightful to say. However, my post-election-rage-fuelled post about mental health funding went down very well, and that has definitely encouraged me to try and write more posts in the same vein.
I love Internet People*. BEDM pushed me to comment more, tweet more and generally engage more online. This has reminded me of how awesome my internetz friendz are... Twitter was the perfect post-election support group, and made for the perfect Eurovision party. The internet: making introverts enjoy 'socialising' since 1999.
BEDM is great for discovering new blogs (and bloggers). So...
Here are a few of the ace new blogs I discovered through #BEDM:
Is That You Darling I love Jane's book-themed posts, and I'm hoping to do a little collaborative post soon!
Zusterschap Collective A feminist lifestyle blog that hosts contributions based on a monthly theme. Funny and refreshing... May's theme was women's bodies and I've been nodding along in agreement a lot!
KezzieAG and Nomad Seeks Home. Two funny, unpretentious diary/lifestyle blogs. I love finding and reading blogs like these!
...there are many more and I'll definitely be continuing that list in my next 'links' post!
*A friend once described me as an 'Internet Person' and I bloody loved it.