You know, I wrote about this a week or two ago, I think, but I’m going over it again. This will be my fifth year doing this in some for or another, and it wasn’t until earlier this year that I began to realize how much a part of me writing has become. That, and because I’ve had to field several question while mentioning and promoting the event, and I felt they were pretty valid and worth talking about.
“What is Blaugust?” is probably the most common. It’s the one that inspired this entire post, actually. I eventually came to the realization that there are two main answers. The easy answer about what it literally is, and my personal answer about what it is to me.
The first answer is that’ it’s a celebration and promotion of blogging through participation. To encourage both beginners and old hands to write and promote the idea of writing. Seems to work, too. I mean, I’m here. I may be a bit quiet, but I keep coming back, year after year. I’ve seen others that have come and gone, come and stayed, or at least expressed interest and been open to the idea. It seems to me that it does what I presume it’s meant to do.
The second answer is a lot more about what my participation has given to me. I’ve written many times that my original intention in participating was to take a skills I thought I was kinda okay at, writing, and really refine and hone it in an attempt to make a career change. I didn’t know what I was after then, but I knew something was wrong and needed to change. Blogging, like many of the odd hobbies and skills I’ve picked up over the years, was an expression of that yearning for change.
What I didn’t realize at the time is that I had no real outlet for my thoughts and emotions. As blogging became a habit, a routine, part of my life and identity, it also become that creative expression I was missing. It gave me a place to show, process, and think through ideas and feelings that had never had a home before. Enough so that it eventually took over the content I was producing and made me uncomfortable with doing it publicly. Still, over the years I’ve written the odd draft post here and there specifically for that purpose, and maintained a daily diary blog on discord for a while.
In the end, it’s an important enough part of me and how I function that I feel like it’s my obligate duty to at least participate this little bit, though I long to return to my daily gaming posts I started with and always have. It’s just a matter of finding the right schedule and time to make those things happen.
“What is considered a blog?” is another one I’ve had a couple of times. There are a lot of different types and forms of expression and blogging out there, and I think I accidentally intimidated a few people with my approach to blogging as a way of writing. At the end of the day, I feel like any regular expression of yourself online is a blog, even if it isn’t what I picture first. I try to remind those folks that there’s nothing wrong with blogs that share their crafty accomplishments, or even memes they like. The primary goal is to express yourself!
Lastly, Blaugust is also a community in its own right. I used to be quite active in the discord channel once upon a time, including posting all of my post links there. I’ve even pointed some people that way outside of Blaugust season because they expressed an interest in writing and blogging, and it’s a good community full of people far more experienced and knowledgeable than myself. A great place to ask questions and get started regardless of when the event itself runs. If anyone is catching this at random, the discord community can be found here.
Y’all take care! I’m going to return to the grave I crawled out of to write this and consider my next move.
Hey, it’s Blaugust time! The goal is to simply promote and stimulate the blogging community by encouraging people of all skill levels and backgrounds to post. The official post can be found here, the community here, and it’s never too late to start.
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