11 Lessons from the Blog Challenge | Day 27/30

Three prompts remaining before we close the curtains on what has been a ride for the books and it feels bittersweet. I will no doubt miss doing this but I also miss my regular life.

From the moment I saw this challenge, I knew I had it in me to pull it off. What I didn’t know were the hardships that follow.

One day I will write about the nonsense that I go through just when I'm about to publish anything on my blog. That's if Kenya Power would grant me uninterrupted power supply. 😡🤬

— Lila (@Writel) June 18, 2019

Challenges in the Blog Challenge

• Life’s ironies have made sure I woke up to no power. Odd coming from a place where electricity has never been an issue – until I started writing. How convenient is that Cardi?

• Power outages ESPECIALLY when I’m just about to hit publish were the norm this month. There’s a time my phone had only 5% battery charge and I wasn’t aware. Kenya Power punished me by doing what they do most. I ended up posting at 6 pm. *insert multiple cuss words* 

• My phone completely refused to publish a post this one day I was in the salon. Luckily I had somebody at home to do it for me. It just wanted to be published on WiFi  *add on to the cuss words* 

• During blackouts, of course Safaricom would take the cue and I couldn’t access mobile data no matter what. It’s almost as if writing is not my calling folks.

• Sometimes I would experiment writing drafts directly on WordPress instead of Trello and on those days WordPress’ saving button stopped functioning. I had to rewrite posts at times. Dark times.

• The big one was my utterly useless keyboard. It swung across the room multiple times. I haven’t been able to replace it yet since I’m looking for a completely different brand. It was a disaster and patience truly has nothing on me.

My Trello Editorial Calendar

Lessons learned from blogging daily

It’s safe to say I may have enjoyed blogging but NOT the posting process. Sometimes we lose focus on the bigger picture. Ask yourself what did I learn today? Will this prompt/topic help in honing my creativity skills?

1. Just do it

Just start sounds cliche but there’s so much power in taking up something and doing it. Ignore all the negative thoughts in your head of fear, doubt or imposter syndrome and start the challenge. Everything falls into place eventually.

2. Be easy on yourself, your opinion counts

Sometimes I stay away from a topic I am passionate about for fear of backlash or that I may look out of depth. It is for this reason Audience of One by Srinivas Rao will always be my holy grail and a reminder to write for myself first before anyone else. I bore it all this month from being less harsh on myself but there’s still room for more. You have so much knowledge to share.

3. We have the ability to write just about anything

Most of the prompts were topics I’d never write about before. Call me a faux expert now.

4. Deep down we all have a niche

It contradicts my previous point but I learned that as much as you can write on anything, there are some you enjoy more. This was fully demonstrated on the 2 days I had to tweak the prompts to write. Could have been more if we are being honest.

5. Imperfect action is better than perfect

It creates momentum. The following steps reveal themselves once you take the first step and this build your confidence over time. I take a week or two to come up with the final form. I couldn’t afford that luxury this time. I am happy I could finish writing anything in one sitting and be confident in my work.

6. Plan ahead, way ahead

This really helped me that first week but life happened. I would write 3 or more posts in advance but couldn’t keep up. As you are aware, I am writing this at the very last minute. Time management is something I thought I would ace with flying colours by the time I’m through but those were dreams sold.

7. Multitasking is a necessity

I dismiss it all the time for genuine reasons. While I didn’t mind being off the social media grid for the most part, other projects I work on have suffered a lot during this month. Sell me work-life balance and I’ll buy it without blinking.

8. That I’m pretty good at titles and captions if I want to

Hire me ladies and gents of the copywriting world.

9. Find your writing voice and develop it

I should play around with my words more often. My writing style is usually a mix of serious and casual with splashes of humour. This is for both educating and creative storytelling. I have seen my writing skills improve in speed and creativity. I want my voice to house more fun elements and be creative beyond words. I don’t know if I’m making sense.

10. Get out of your comfort zone frequently

Self-discipline as a drug cannot be bought. So take up as many different challenges as possible and develop it.

11 Find your tribe

There is a community of people out there who like the same things you do. Go out there and find them.

I have 'met' so many African bloggers in the last 17 days, I am grateful @AfroBloggers

— Lila (@Writel) June 17, 2019