Tired of blogging? Try this

Do you ever get tired of blogging?  The effort of thinking of new topics to write about, spending time commenting on other sites, keeping up with your feeds, investing in social media networks, interpreting your stats, decluttering your blog, thinking of ways to boost your rss subscriber count...

Me too.

But as an experiment I typed the first paragraph of this post with the thumb of my left hand.  Now that was tiring.  Actually I meant to type the whole post like that but I got frustrated at the time it was taking me and the ache in my hand.

Which takes me to the point of this piece. 

I’ve been aware for a little while now of various messages in the blogosphere about the Blog for a Year competition. 

I’d seen bits and pieces of encouragement to vote for Glenda Watson Hyatt, author of the Do It Myself blog, and left-thumbed blogger.  And to be honest I’m a bit of a resister.  When someone suggests I should go and vote for someone I automatically think ‘why?’, ‘why not someone else?’

And maybe you’re like me.   So I’m not going to tell you to go and vote for Glenda.  I’m going to ask you to do some other things instead:

• Try typing a post with the thumb of your left hand

• Check out the Do It Myself blog

• Look into the Blog for a Year site.  Read why Glenda wants the opportunity to get paid to blog for a year.

• Consider the message she wants to put across, and whether you think that’s something worthy of support.  A short extract, if you really don’t have time

Glenda Watson Hyatt shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy to motivate and inspire others to think about how they perceive their own situation and their own world around them. She does all this by typing with only her left thumb!

My reason for wanting to write this kind of column/blog is to alleviate people’s fears of those with disabilities in a non-confrontional and humorous way.

• Explore the other front runners.  Make your own mind up about who you vote for.

• Once you’ve made your choice – bookmark the site, and remember to vote every day

• Tell your readers.   I know a lot of you write blogs yourselves.  I wonder how many readers we could reach between us? And between the readers of your readers?

• Think about other ways to spread the word.  If you were Glenda, how would you raise awareness and generate support?

• Catch yourself when you get tired and weary.  Go back to typing with the thumb of your left hand.  And put things back into proper perspective.

Comments

[Glenda Watson Hyatt]

Wow Joanna, thank you! And I'm impressed that you tried typing with your left thumb. Thank you.

[Joanna Young]

Hi Glenda, you know I feel for you trying to find ways of pushing your campaign without bugging people - figured it might help if some others did a bit of promo for you :-)

Good luck with the final push

Joanna

[Lis Garrett ~a writer's woolgatherings]

Now she is someone for whom I would vote! Typing only with your left thumb ~ whew. I totally forgot about the Blog For A Year contest. I actually have my profile on the site, although it needs updating. I was even #5 for awhile. But then a "popular" blog came along and completely blew everyone out of the water. I was left feeling quite frustrated. I don't think the winnings ever reached what the host had intended, and I'm not sure the contest gained a lot of support. Too bad ~ it's a fantastic idea.

[Joanna Young]

Hi Lis, it is a good idea, though I think it's kind of hard on participants to find ways to 'encourage' people to vote for them - esp when they need to remember to vote each day.

I can't quite see how the money's going to work out either as the winnings pot seems very small - but I think Glenda's looking at it as crossing one bridge at a time...

Joanna