{"id":535,"date":"2012-05-31T00:04:29","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T04:04:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/?p=535"},"modified":"2012-05-31T15:07:51","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T19:07:51","slug":"ten-things-i-learned-by-participating-in-the-2012-blogathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/ten-things-i-learned-by-participating-in-the-2012-blogathon\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Things I Learned by Participating in the 2012 Blogathon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was already 11:30 and I needed to post by midnight. We were on the road driving home but there was no way I\u2019d reach my office computer in time. My plans to post daily during the 2012 Blogathon were about to go up in smoke.<\/p>\n

After three times trying, I still couldn\u2019t remember my password. One of the symbols in it is above the 2 or 3 on my computer keyboard, but that didn\u2019t help because I was trying to use my husband\u2019s Iphone.<\/p>\n

First, it took me a while to figure out roughly what I wanted to say.<\/p>\n

Then the satellites weren\u2019t strong enough to sign into my blog software with the cell phone.<\/p>\n

By 11:30, I still couldn\u2019t remember my password exactly and I didn\u2019t know how many chances I\u2019d have before being shut out completely. I gave up.<\/p>\n

I turned the phone on again five minutes later and tried signing on again. A second time got me in. I successfully posted. It was one minute to midnight. Yoo hoo!<\/p>\n

After that experience, the rest of the month went swimmingly. Not only did I learn that I can write and publish something every day for a month, but I can even do it using a mobile phone.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s going to be an accomplishment I\u2019ll be celebrating when I turn 49 in a few months.<\/p>\n

Mobile blogging is the best of what I learned by participating in the 2012 Blogathon, but nine more lessons follow.<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are at least 250 other bloggers crazy enough to take the plunge to post every day for a month. It was fun seeing what these other writers were doing with their blogs.<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All my favourite mystery writers are women.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blog posts look a lot nicer if they include words and pictures.<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not all types of images can be used well on blogs. It takes a while to figure out which sizes and styles work best.<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 WordPress software doesn\u2019t always function the way it looks like it functions. I still don\u2019t know whether trackbacks actually track to anyone, although I think pingbacks work.<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes software doesn\u2019t do what you want it to do.<\/p>\n

7)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Wordles are fun to make.<\/p>\n

8)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Planning the month\u2019s posts ahead of time would have made the experience more rewarding than it was, because I would have had a better idea of what I wanted to accomplish in the month writing-wise. That would have enabled me to link the posts for the contests to other career goals. I would also have known to share daily posts on the Google listserve and I could have solicited guest posts and participated more fully in the schedule for the contest.<\/p>\n

9)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to participating again next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was already 11:30 and I needed to post by midnight. We were on the road driving home but there was no way I\u2019d reach my office computer in time. My plans to post daily during the 2012 Blogathon were about to go up in smoke. After three times trying, I still couldn\u2019t remember my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2buQs-8D","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":303,"url":"https:\/\/traceyarial.com\/blog\/en\/blogging-combines-publisher-and-writer-roles-into-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":535,"position":0},"title":"Blogging Combines Publisher and Writer Roles into One","author":"Tracey Arial","date":"May 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A writer friend mentioned on a listserve today that she plans to blog every day this month as part of the 2012 Blogathon, a contest set up by reporter and editor Michelle V. 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