Write everyday for 28 minutes for 28 days. #28daysofwriting
via Tom Barrett
Tom Barrett has started up #28daysofwriting again. This is my reflection on the idea of a habit and a sustainable blogging practice.
Further reading:
🎙️ Read Write Microcast #007 – Sustainable Blogging
Hi Aaron,
Firstly, I hadn’t really heard of Microcast. Nice idea.
And as for the idea of sustainable blogging — it’s interesting food for thought!
And speaking of food, do you know what it reminded me of? Diet or exercise challenges. Like a 28 day detox or workout program. Then what? Probably nothing. Probably healthy habits go out the window!
Is this the same as a blogging challenge? Maybe. Last year Edublogs ran Edublogs Club as you know. The intention was to provide prompts to get people blogging each week. From what I can tell, it looks like there was a lot of involvement for maybe ten weeks? Then life got in the way and participation rapidly declined.
Anyway, maybe like a healthy diet, the best approach is to make it manageable and not too strict or intense if you want it to be long lasting?
I hope others have something to add to the conversation!
Kathleen 🙂
Thank you Kathleen for the reply.
I agree about the comparison to food and exercise. It is about stretch goals and I think that 28 days is not that. I am not sure about #EduBlogsClub. I felt that some weeks were compelling, but other weeks were a little contrived.
Personally, I think that you need to develop your own reason about ‘why’ to blog. This is something that should change and evolve.
For an explanation of a ‘microcast’ I recommend Chris Aldrich’s Microcast about Microcasts.
Aaron
Thank you, Aaron! You always have so many good suggestions for reading.
I know what you mean about the club idea. It obviously worked for some people, but personally I prefer to choose my own topics. My issue isn’t coming up with topics anyway; I have a long list. It’s just time! Although I have been thinking I should try to write shorter posts! 🙂
I wonder Kathleen if there is a place for both shorter and longer posts. That is one of the reasons that for this second site. It is all a little bit more fragmented and unfinished. Almost a starting place for bigger ideas.
You could use a different post format to do this …
Ohh that is an interesting thought, Aaron! I’ll certainly ponder that idea.. 🙂
Hey Pal,
First, I dig the microcasts — and they have me thinking a lot about sustainable blogging practices, too. Here’s why: For some people, blogging is a nonstarter because they feel like whatever they publish has to be perfect. If you aren’t already a strong writer, that creates barriers — You have to write for hours to get your words into a form that communicates your thinking accurately. Then, you have to edit for hours until it feels right.
But something like a microcast is far more approachable. You record for two minutes and hit publish.
What’s even more valuable about YOUR microcasts is they become a model for others that the content you post on your blog DOESN’T have to be highly polished. When the folks we are supporting see that we are willing to put work up that isn’t “perfect,” it becomes a heckuva’ lot easier to sell the notion that their work doesn’t have to be perfect easier.
That’s important in today’s day and age, where blogs are getting slicker as writers and thinkers use them as the primary vehicle to sell their own ideas.
As I’ve mentioned before — I don’t hold anything against people creating remarkable content because it is their business and their blog is their marketing vehicle for drumming up new gigs. That’s increased the overall quality of what is freely available to me.
But the consequence is that as new thinkers see more and more highly polished content, the notion of what a “blog” is changes. It used to be that quick, transparent reflection that wasn’t perfect was the norm rather than the exception to the rule. Now, the people with the biggest followings — and therefore the biggest influence on our notions of what a blog should look like — are almost universally creating stuff that is beyond even my ability to create.
That means blogs are becoming less and less approachable for the average teacher. The exemplars that we see and use and imagine when we say the word “blog” are being created by professionals. It would be like expecting someone to pick up tennis after watching Roger Federer win the Aussie Open. More likely, we’d be intimidated because we know that there’s no chance of emulating his performance.
All this to say that I’m inspired by the notion of microcasting — and doing more of it on my blog. It’s sustainable because it takes away the writing component that can paralyze so many people. It’s quick because each “session” is only a few short minutes long. And it models a “publish > polish” approach to reflection on the web.
Any of this make sense to you?
Bill
PS: What tool/service do you use for your microcasts?
Thank you Bill,
I did not necessarily mean that microcasts are the sustainable future, but I definitely manage to think through some of my thoughts and ideas with them. If I blogged them, they would take 10x as long. Words take time.
I know that Richard Wells uses voice to compose his posts, but then he publishes in words. Misses the human element.
I started Microcasting because I felt I needed to work on my ability to think on the fly, as well as the power of the voice (not quite up to the stage of vlogging). I will be honest, it has taken time and is not something that I would have done when I started blogging. My more confident with the written word. I remember adding a few contributions to podcasts and I would read off a script. Just sounds stale.
In regards to my workflow, I just record a quick note on Voxer using my phone and then download this once at my computer. Not meant to be complicated and definitely not ‘professional’. Just a thought, often recorded in my car. I don’t have one of those swish home studios (or even an office). I also share using Huffduffer, which creates an RSS feed to listen as a podcast. This therefore avoids additional plugins etc.
My inspiration has been John Johnston. However, I do like Chris Aldrich’s take on it as a starting point.
Hope that makes sense,
Aaron
Also on:
Hey Pal — what service are you using for your microcasts? I dig them.
Thanks Bill for the comment. I replied back collect.readwriterespond.com/microcast-007/… The short answer for my #microcast workflow is @Voxer & @huffduffer, not sure what @johnjohnston uses?
Thanks Bill for the comment. I replied back collect.readwriterespond.com/microcast-007/… The short answer for my #microcast workflow is @Voxer & @huffduffer, not sure what @johnjohnston uses?
Looking forward to tinkering with these, Pal. I appreciate the share.
Looking forward to tinkering with these, Pal. I appreciate the share.