I’m going to Blog Every Day in May

Blog every day in May? Am I mad? Perhaps so. But that’s the plan. I’ve accepted the challenge set by blogging powerhouse Elizabeth Sellers, aka Rosalilium, to give my blog a kick up the arse by attempting to post every day this month. Day one, done!

The reason I’ve signed up is because I love writing. I’ve invested some time in self-examination lately that’s helped me get to the core of what it is I’m good at and what I love doing. I have felt for a long time that I’d lost touch with what it is that drives me, what I love doing, and even what I’m good at.

I work as head of communications for a healthcare company, and have been in similar roles for 10 years now. Before that I was a real life journalist on women’s magazines. When I look back at the work I feel most proud of, what stands to is the writing. A newsletter I wrote for one charity particularly stands out. An annual review I put together at another.

In my current role I feel like I don’t have time to just write. Today a colleague asked me to edit a letter and it struck me – this is what I’m good at. This is what I feel confident about. This is the skill I have that helps others. I can take or leave the strategies, the managing staff, and particularly the political bullshit that is part and parcel with working in any organisation. I just want to write.

That’s why I started this blog, and for a while I was on a roll, but it’s all to easy to find that life gets in the way of blogging. Sick child, tough week at work, or extra freelance work filling my time – whatever the reason my energy have been sapped and I haven’t been blogging. Frankly there’s only so much staring at a screen a person can do. But I want to blog, I really do.

My other issues is that I’m a perfectionist, and I want my blog to be perfect too. Not only do I strive to craft the words as perfectly as I can – I edit and re-edit until I’m happy – but I also want each post to have a stunning image, to be peppered with catchy sub-headings and be each engine optimised to within an inch of its life. But here’s the things, sometimes that means it feels like it’s far too much effort and I end up not posting at all. Not writing at all. And that doesn’t make me happy.

So I’m letting go of all that. Much of what I post this month will be a stream of consciousness. Free writing. Realistically that’s the only way I’ll get a post out every day. There might be images with some post, there might not. There are sure to be typos and spelling mistakes because I’m only going to edit each post once (Note: I’ve already broken that rule with this post!). None of that matters. I want to write, I want to establish a habit of writing every day, and I want to connect with other bloggers – that’s what excites me. So here we go.

Here’s my first post of the month. Welcome to the challenge.

If you want join in the Blog Every Day in May challenge with Rosalilium it’s not too late to join. Click on the image below to sign up now!