Stop. Collaborate and Blog.

Another late post, I am sorry. I’m a very busy lady with very important things to do, and sometimes blogs are hard. Also I didn’t get a lot of sleep on the weekend due to Relay for Life which involved walking a lot and also sleeping in a tent. Cancer. What a bastard.

When I did PPOM last month, blogging was so much easier. Topics were still tricky to think of, writing was still a long process, but motivation came easy, inspiration was never far away, and publishing posts felt even more rewarding than usual. Plus more people got to discover some of the blogs I read all the time, and more people than usual got to read my stuff too. Those are two different things you guys, I swear.

I guess blogging can be a lonely process, really. While yes, it can be seen as a desperate attempt to connect with others screaming, “look! Look what I think! Reeeeead my wooooords”, the groundwork is still all done alone, usually late at night, in the dark, eating chocolate and weeping. Ask any professional writer, this is how it’s done. But I’m a people person, I like doing things with others, just ask them. But seriously, I think the loneliness of writing has always been one of my biggest stumbling blocks. That, and laziness, and procrastination, and the other stuff that always seems to get in the way.

I discovered last month, however, that blogging doesn’t always have to be so lonely. You can chat about topics with people beforehand, giving each other encouragement and feedback, you can collaborate with others on a theme, you can comment on each other’s finished work. And it’s friggin great, and NOT something I want to let go of.

And that’s where you come in. I’m going to be very busy over the next few weeks, and will definitely struggle to keep up with my own weekly schedule. But for some reason, I feel the need to put a blog in front of people’s eyes every Sunday (or close to). It just might not always be my words for the next few weeks. Basically, I’m on the hunt for guest bloggers to take a Sunday or two off my hands. I’d been keen for people who already have blogs and those who just want to give it a go to… you know, give it a go. I have guest blogged for other people a few times and it is super fun and a little scary but always rewarding. If you’re keen, please get in contact via facebook or at humdrumplum [at] gmail [dot] com. I promise I’ll look after you, I won’t just throw you in the deep end. All topics welcome.

And further, after my crazy month or so has died down, I want to collaborate with you. If you have a blog, or would be keen to start one, let’s write together. Perhaps monthly even. We could have topics of the month. We could have an internet book club, or film club, or whatever. I want to round up an army of people with words to write, and unleash our words on the unsuspecting world. It’s the first step on my list to conquer the world.

So don’t be shy, send me a message/email saying “hey! I want to write a thing!” and we’ll go from there. 

Help! I need somebody!

Readers, bloggeroos, lovers. Whatever it is you’re called… I need your help.

not just anybody...

You may have noticed (you probably haven’t, I’m probably being paranoid) that my blog has been coming to you later and later every week. Sometimes it doesn’t reach you until Mondays. Also, and I know I probably am just being paranoid now, but you may have noticed the quality is getting shittier too. The truth is, my friends, that blogging is getting harder and harder for me. It’s not that I don’t have the time, it’s not even that I don’t like it (I love it), it’s that it feels like there is some inspiration box of ideas in my head, and at the moment we’re down to a paperclip, two bits of fluff and the last bit of scrunched up paper that says, “write a blog about how you’ve run out of ideas”.

I know, in my heart, that this isn’t true. Inspiration doesn’t work like that, there aren’t a finite number of ideas and I haven’t used all mine up already. If I had, I’d probably be dead. But I do think that writing once a week means that good ideas, great blog posts seem to be few and far between. They swim in a sea of posts about my own, little life. My most popular posts are ones that aren’t about me. You guys love reading about Disney, Translink, Harry Potter and growing up. Obviously, I always write from my own perspective, and my own experience, but I understand why the more relatable posts aren’t ones exclusively about my life. My life just isn’t that interesting. On the other hand, I’m sure you guys can understand why I do often write about myself. When casting around for inspiration, it’s much easier to stop in my own living room, or in my own head.

I am a big believer in quantity. Obviously, quality is very important (and it’s why I’m having this freak out), but I really do believe that making myself write a blog every week has made me a better writer. If I were to just write whenever the fancy took me, I would never write at all. You can’t just sit around waiting for inspiration to hit, because it won’t. That’s a fallacy. For me, anyway, there’s no creativity phone and you can’t just sit around waiting for it to ring. You’ve got to pick it up, punch in numbers randomly until you find something worth talking to. Maybe inspiration just comes for some people, but I have to push for it, and more often than not I write without it. And making myself write regularly has made me *find* inspiration, and that’s great. But even still, I feel like I’ve been pushing too hard lately, like I’ve damaged the part of my brain that comes up with ideas.

So I’m completely conflicted. A part of me wants to stop blogging for a while. Give my brain a rest and try to let ideas come to me later. Another part of me thinks that’s stupid; I should keep at it, because keeping at it for the last year or so is what has made me better. I think maybe the answer is that I need to switch it up. I need to get a new style, a new project, maybe even a new blog. My big idea at the moment is to pursue an “overanalysing” theme. I really enjoy doing those kinds of blogs, and people seem to like them. So I’m wondering if I should just throw myself in to *only* doing those kinds of things for a while. You know, watching and ripping apart Disney films, other kids movies, TV shows, stuff I haven’t seen before… etc.

And this is where you come in. I write for you guys, so I want to know what you think. I’ve made up a very quick survey and it would be amazing if you could do it. I estimate it will take you no more than a couple of minutes, and it just covers a few questions about who you are, why you read this blog and what you’d like to see in the future. If you could please take a few moments to do this for me, I will love you all 5eva. 

This is the link to the survey, please help!