Blog Ahead Challenge – Planning Ahead for October

Last year was a different kind of year, and a very stressful and time-consuming year with work. I was flailing and fumbling throughout the spring, summer, and fall. I contemplated giving up my blog because it was so much time and I was struggling to bleed it out of a rock. And then I’d get sad thinking about giving it up, so I near about killed myself keeping on. That part hasn’t changed much.

Except now I’m of the “EH” mind. Didn’t get a Tuesday post done and realize it on Thursday? Eh. Didn’t do a WWW Wednesday post? Eh. Didn’t get that book read when I wanted to? Eh. Waylaying writing a couple of reviews? Eh.

But one thing that helped me tremendously last year was the Blog Ahead Challenge. Anna over at Herding Cats and Burning Soup, which is how I feel teaching sixth graders who hate to read and write, came up with this terrific idea. We do all these summer read-a-thons and fall read-a-thons and have a ton of reviews to write. For most of us, we have kids who go to school or we work in schools, so our lives revolve around the academic year. By the time the truly cool weather sets in here in Texas, I’m about fed up counting down the days until Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, which is why the Blog Ahead Challenge is so important for me.

I participated for the first time last year and I am so thankful  I did. That momentum kept me going into the late spring, and then as the school year approached state standardized testing and the other plethora of spring responsibilities that English teachers have, I slowed down a little and kept that going through the summer. So now I’m ready to gear up for the challenge again because it has helped me survive half the year!

Currently I have a couple or three reviews written, and an oddball of my weekly posts from as little as one week in advance to three or four.  You can forget about discussion posts, because I’ve been lacking in creativity and am suffering from a major time suck. But come October, I hope that all changes!

The Blog Ahead Challenge runs throughout October and anyone can participate.  It does require you to have a blog and it is open to everyone (newbies, veterans, reviewers, authors). There is also a  Facebook Group where we can all interact and encourage one another during the challenge.