Figmentations

Okay, time is about up!  The “100 Articles in a 100 Days” contest which I wrote about in my last post is as good as over. 

While I started off with high hopes of accomplishing what I now realize was an overly-ambitious goal of completing this contest in about 1/3 of the allotted time, not surprisingly, that didn’t happen.  But that’s okay.  I’m still glad I gave it a go. 

Surprisingly, I didn’t realize that I would learn as much as I did in such a short period of time.  If you are curious, here’s what I got out of my brief participation in this challenge: 

What I learned about Article Quantity:

• Writing one article a day (or 5-7 per weekend), and establishing that as a habit is do-able (and that was the whole point of this contest to begin with anyway).
• Writing 5-articles-a-day is not really sustainable for more than a couple days in a row, especially if you have a full time job in addition.
• Writing 10-articles-a-day is not advisable if you want to have a life, too.
• Rushing to meet a contest goal was challenging at first till I realized I didn’t want to forgo quality for quantity.
• Writing for quantity forces you to be efficient, thus eager to cut 700 word articles into two 350 word articles.  Creating bite-size reader chunks makes sense as we’re writing articles here, not books.
• Personally, while I still feel like I’m short-changing the reader if I write less than 400 words, I am gradually getting used to the idea that for article writing it is okay, and actually advisable, to just give some pointers and not try to write exhaustive articles, e.g., to leave the reading wanting more.
• Constantly coming up with new ideas and new angles that are interesting and not just rehashing what you’ve written before is a skill and an art that is worth mastering.

What I learned about Writing Topics:

• This is the first time I wrote on topics that I knew something about without doing additional research; turns out I know about: social media; success/happiness; writing/communicating; self-sufficient/do-it-yourself type of advice; among a few others.
• I have unique experiences and insights that others might benefit from reading about, or might relate to and are worthwhile sharing.
• There are things I know stuff about that I can share that I might not necessarily post on my blog, so article writing provides another writing outlet.  Yet, at the same time, if my article-writing goal is to direct traffic to my blog, not all topics I write about are what my blog will be about.  Something for me to still sort out.

What I learned about the Writing Process:

• Some articles write themselves, others are a labor in love.
• Sometimes editing and proofreading can take as long as writing a first draft, sometimes not.
• I now know better how to repurpose other things I’ve written. Re-writing can improve a piece.
• Rearranging sentences and paragraphs and/or cutting awkward phrasing can really help improve the flow of an article.
• I think I prefer to publish posts as a steady stream rather than batch bursts.
• SEO doesn’t interest me, I especially prefer more natural titles. We’ll see if I change my tune on this over time.

What I Accomplished:

• I qualified as an Ezinearticles Expert Author with Platinum Status.
• I found some good like-minded people to follow on Twitter via the #HAHD hashtag.
• At least one of my #HAHD articles got reprinted (see screen snapshot here) and was Tweeted, whereby I found a few other writing sources to follow on Twiter.
• I got more familiar with the resources available from Chris Knight at Ezinearticles and from Jeff Herring.
• 24 Articles now exist that otherwise would never have been written.  I realize that I have more to write about than I thought I did.

 
Even though I didn’t “win” this challenge, I know that if I never attempted it, I would never have learned what I learned. I even inspired myself to write an article on “Why Commit to (Seemingly) Impossible Goals”.  I, too, am curious to see what the next 25, 50, and 75 articles will be about. 

By the time I hit 100 articles, while this contest will be long over, I know I will be much closer to accomplishing my goal which is to determine the best focus for my blog.  For now, I’m content to be a bit eclectic like The World’s Strongest Librarianwho just had the high honor of writing a guest post on Problogger entitled: Better Questions Than “Do I Need a Mentor?” and “How do I get one?”.

I’ve decided to enjoy the journey.  I enjoy writing. I will continue writing.  I’m glad this contest came along since it got my juices flowing in a new way; I now feel freer and stronger in my writing; and I know of many more writing options and resources to imbibe in.

Thanks to the contest sponsors: Chris Knight, his Ezinearticles Team, and Jeff Herring!