How To Blog Every Day For a Year

Image via Flickr/Creative Commons

This month I am striving to publish a meaningful blog post every day for 30 days. I’ve never been able to pull this off in the past so I must admit that I’m a bit nervous, especially since I’m leading this #bloglikecrazy challenge.

But then I look at bloggers like Jen West of The Jen West Quest and I’m reminded that anything is possible.

Jen West blogged every day not just for a month and not just for a season, but for nearly two years!

She started her blog simply as an accountability tool to lose weight.  “I was in desperate need to find motivation and excitement in the process of such a mundane task,” West said.

But in the process of losing weight, West gained an intense love for blogging, which she discussed with me recently and offered great advice for those of us ready to #bloglikecrazy. 

Jen West
Photo by Angela Karen

You blogged every day for over a year. Was this something you set out to do or did it just happen?

When I first started my blog, I committed 100% to blogging every single day until I lost every pound that I wanted to lose.  Four and a half months later when I achieved my goal of losing 47 pounds, I decided that I still loved to write on a daily basis.  I continued on to blog every day for almost 650 days.

How did you manage to do this? How did you find time to blog daily? Did you have a certain time of day in which you would write?

I found that with a daily commitment, writing in the mornings made it much easier to knock out.  My brain is at its best when I first wake up.  Plus, it's a great feeling to know that you've finished it as you go on throughout your day instead of rushing through it later on.  I also gave myself an hour a day to write, edit and post.  Having a time cap made me concentrate better.

Did you ever face writer’s block?

Yes, I faced writer's block often.  I would have really "on" weeks where I could write with ease, then others I would really struggle with content.  I found that the days I struggled, though, were the days I had the best posts.  I forced myself to dig deep, because it wasn't an option to skip.  When I get stuck I ask myself questions like, how am I feeling right now and why? What are my current goals and dreams? What are my plans?  Where am I in life and what's in the future? What do I love?  You can always find things to write about when you have passion and are in touch with yourself.

I remember when you decided to stop posting daily you mentioned on your blog that it was actually difficult for you not to post as often. Why was that?

When I stopped writing every day it felt like a big chapter of my life was closing.  I actually still wonder what it would be like if I had continued on.  But here's the thing: I can always start it back up again.  I will never stop writing in my blog. The daily part was just an exercise in discipline more than anything else.  I write for myself, and I should do it as much as I want to.  I'm at a similar place with exercise in my life, it is no longer about a schedule, but for an experience.

And at the end of our interview West reminded me of something that we can not only apply to blogging but anything meaningful and healthy that we do for ourselves: “You will never regret it once it's done.  It might be a challenge in the beginning, in the middle and in the end, but damn if you won't feel good once you're done. Blogging is a confidence booster, and most importantly a reminder that you are worth the time and effort!”

Crossposted at the See Jane Write blog.