everyday in may recap

it's done. a goal i set and a goal i achieved.

what worked

• planning my posts ahead of time. looking at my calendar and knowing what was coming up and what i could write about.
• staying flexible. i started with some ideas and used sticky notes to work out the weeks. but i moved the sticky notes all over the calendar depending on my mood, inspiration or time i could devote.
• consistent posts like menu on monday, just a thought on tuesday and 5 things on sunday. those are  easy to plan around.
• no excuses. even if the post went up at 4:30pm on a saturday,  even if i thought no one was going to care if i missed a day, i was not going to let a day go by without writing. this was something i set my mind to.

what i would like to do differently

• write my posts ahead of time. i would love to get posts written and ready to post before the day they are posted. i've done it before but it takes planning.
• photos. i need to have a better set up for taking photos of things.  my house doesn't get a lot of sunlight so i'm always struggling with exposure and correcting on my computer.
• variety. i'm not a food blogger but i like to write about food. i'm not a photographer but i like to take photos. i'm not a professional crafter but i like diy projects. maybe i need to focus on one thing...or maybe not. i don't think i fit into one category and not sure i need to.
• my writing style. i find myself using the same techniques over and over - read bullets and repeated words. it's time to change things up around here.

what i got out of it

• overall i call this a success. it was a practice that i did everyday. i can look at my archives and see 31 posts in may. i only had 8 in april, so that's progress.
• i saw what people responded to. it was interesting looking at the stats over the last month.  the most read post was this one. if i didn't post a link to facebook i didn't get very many readers. only a few people read this one but it was one of my favorites.
• it inspired me to write more. i was constantly thinking about writing and what ideas i could come up with. i looked for inspiration and read and listened to anything that would give me that.
• accomplishment. like running a marathon or planning an event or having summer goals, this gave me something to shoot for and work towards. i don't think every piece was genius but i was honest and i captured thoughts and details of our lives. that was the goal. 

is blogging a dying art? i guess it depends on why you do it. for me it's about telling our story, that's why i will continue to do it. i found lots more stories i want to tell.