Afterthoughts on the 31 Day Challenge

Was it just 31 days ago?  It's hard to believe!  Churning 31 articles for the whole month of October as I join The Nester and the thousands of challenge takers, is definitely no easy task for a first timer like me.  I maintain 3 active blogs right now and you know how infrequent I get to update all of them.  And I had this crazy idea to do the 31 days of writing challenge for the 3 blogs!  Preposterous!  Good thing I had better sense than that, so I ended up doing it over at iHeart Good Health.

Here are the highlights of what I went through doing this challenge:

• After a couple of weeks of visiting The Nester, I decided I want in.  Now the question is, which of my blogs will I enter for the challenge?
• I decided on a certain theme for the 3 active blogs I have now.  I even managed to have a post list for each theme.  Crazy huh?  Well, it just the planning stage.  
• The decision: Do it on just one blog.  So the fit and strong series was stamped for approval (by me.)
• Introduction was easy peasy.
• 3rd day, I was thinking I may have made a wrong choice but there's just no backing out anymore.  That's the rule of engagement (at least for me).
• Scouting for updates from other challengers.
• Seeing challengers giving up after a few updates.
• I've been wanting to throw in the towel in the middle of the challenge.  But I'm at a point where I have already gone that far to give up, but dragging along because I was only halfway...16 more articles
• Gasping...
• Doing some minor edits on the remaining post list.  That list is a lifesaver, by the way.
• Doing some personal pep talk. I remembered my initial commitment.  Nobody forced me on this.  I had to at least prove to myself I'm not a quitter.  If I can't do this in a writing challenge, what more in real life situations?
• The last 3 days were just so sweet...like seeing the finish line in a race.  Just a few more steps.

And now, I have accomplished it!  I had doubts but I finally did it (pats herself).  

Would I do it again next year?  

• Nah...
• Maybe...
• Definitely...

I don't really know by next October.  It's too soon to tell. But right now, I think I deserve to take a break and go back to my regular once a week writing routine...or maybe get the hang of writing more often. 

Writing a daily series has its advantages:

• There's always a fresh content.
• Fresh content drives crawlers to the site.  I've noticed a boost in views and from a variety of demographics.
• Some readers may really dig the theme of the series, so they visit for the updates.
• It kept my mind busy, always on the go.  
• It's a good training, really.  It stretched me in a lot of ways.

The downside on the other hand is that:

• The particular post doesn't get enough exposure, since the newest post would be replaced by a newer one the following day.  
• That said, the comments for each post were now divided into the various posts in the series, instead of being lumped into a single post.
• Some readers may not be interested in the series or theme at all, so they skip the whole series.

It was a crazy challenge, but a good test of my commitment, not just to the challenge of writing, but for living out the challenge personally.  I guess it's a good exercise of having a strong, tough mind. I think I came out a better person, somehow.