The First of Blaugust

Welcome everyone to the very first day of Blaugust…  the legit and actual month thereof.  It has been a wild ride to this point because as of just a few minutes ago we had a little over eighty blogs signed up and ready to go.  You are all proving that there is in fact a desire for this sort of thing still and that no… in spite of all of the hot takes to the contrary blogging is not in fact dead.  The reason why I did this thing was in part to stoke the fires of our community once more and see who all I could get to come out of the woodwork.  We have lived in this torporous state for far too long and it is time for us to get active again.  Blaugust is in fact a month dedicated to active posting.  We just finished the pre-game week as it were with posts on technical topics about actually getting started.  Now it is time to get out there and write some amazing content…  and with that comes a need for topics.

During this week you should see posts showing up in the community with ideas to keep you going for the rest of the month, and I have a few of my own to add to this.  However I wanted to take a moment this morning to recap just how impressive things have been so far.  First off… there is still time to participate in Blaugust even though the month has officially started.  The idea is about getting active not necessarily about posting every day, so as long as there is still some time left in the month there is time to sign up.  You can check out the official sign-up sheet here and join us on Discord for what is becoming an exceptionally active community of creatives.  There have been many conversations that I have peeked in on while sitting in a meeting this week, that have seemed really awesome.

I think now is probably the time to recap the folks participating as well.  There is a master list that I have been keeping updated if you want to incorporate it into your content or the amazing Chestnut has been maintaining a twitter list of the folks active on that platform.  Now for my own lists…  folks participating.

The Community of Mentors

• Aywren – Aywren Sojourner
• Bhagpuss – Inventory Full
• Braxwolf – Gaming Conversations/Beyond Bossfights
• Chestnut – Gamer Girl Confessions
• Detached – A Hobbits Journey
• eldaeriel – StarShadow
• Grace – Moonshine Mansion
• Grace – Moonshine Mansion
• Izlain – Me vs. Myself and I
• OceanMariee – Soul of the Forest
• Ocho – Casual Aggro
• Paeroka – Nerdy Bookahs
• Psychochild – Psychochild’s Blog
• Stargrace – Nomadic Gamers, Eh!
• Syp – Bio Break
• Telwyn – GamingSF
• Wilhelm – The Ancient Gaming Noob

The Awesome Folks Participating

• Abbi – Mmosey
• Ald – Ald Shot First
• Alli – The Parent Trope
• Anupama – yasashiijapanese
• Arc Cavalier / Arc – Arc’s Oddities
• Ashgar – Ash’s Adventures
• Atheren – Athernes Adventures
• C. T. Murphy – Murf Versus
• Cali – Diary of a Guild Leader
• Capsulejay – Tales from the Backlog
• ChaosConstant – Symphony On A Chip
• Data_Error – ThisThingIsNeat
• Elio – The Path They Walk
• Elio – Built on a Daydream
• Endalia – Princess in a Castle
• Galactrix – Self Distract Sequence
• Goodhand – Fresh Eyes in Gaming
• Heattanu – Heattanu’s Game
• Jamie Hughes – What’s Occuring
• Jeff Norman – MMO Syndicate
• Jen – Book of Jen
• Jeromai – Why I Game
• Jess – Calamity Jess
• Joar – Wow Alt Addiction
• Joseph Skyrim – JVT Workshop
• Joy2Day – TechJoy2Day
• Kluwes – I’m Not Squishy
• Magen – Magen Tales
• Mailvaltar – Mailvaltar – MMOs and other stuff
• Marathal – Deez Wurds
• Massacred Insect – Glyffe
• Matt – Geeky Dad Fitness
• Max Nash – Cinemaxica – Everyone’s a Critic
• Moderate Peril – Contains Moderate Peril
• neschria – Municipal City
• Nogamara – Armagon Live
• Ocarina Farmer – Ocarina Farms
• Pasduil – Thinking Play
• Pizza Maid – Pizza Maid
• profesorbeej – Professorbeej is Awesome
• profesorbeej – RunningShoes.tv
• punFLOWER – Simply Janine
• Rakuno – Shards of Imagination
• Rambling Redshirt – Beyond Tannhauser Gate
• RandomGamerX – RandomX
• rumorsmatrix – barely readable diary
• Sandrian – Aeternus Gaming
• Scarybooster – Scarybooster
• SDWeasel – Unidentified Signal Source
• Shadowz – Shadowz Abstract Gaming Blog
• Sharlen Grey – Gray’s Cozy Nook
• Shintar – Going Commando
• Shintar – Neverwinter Thoughts
• Stroeb – Galumphing
• Stropp – Stropp’s World
• SunnyBunny – Can I Play Too
• Troy – TroytlePower
• Tupapaonline – plan b better
• UltrViolet – Endgame Viable
• UnwiseOwl – leaflocker
• Ventium – Still a work in progress.
• Void – A Green Mushroom
• Welshtroll – Welshtroll
• Wolfy – Through Wolfy’s Eyes
• Zapp – Leeterati

In 2014 the first running of Blaugust we had 55 folks sign up and participate.  In 2015 we had our biggest year to date with 88 participants and in the last official running in 2016 we had 62.  At this point we have completely eclipsed two of the years and given the patterns that I have seen in the past of folks joining in mid month I fully expect that we will be blowing that 2015 number out of the water as well.  The level of support I have gotten in this initiative has been staggering, and I want to take a moment to everyone who is helping to make it an extremely lively place to be.  I’ve been attempting to pop my head into the proceedings as often as time allows but things have been sorta insane in my life the last few weeks.

One of the hardest parts about blogging is the fact that there are some days you are just going to have a completely blank mind.  The harder you try and materialize your thoughts so you can condense them into printed word…  the more they seem to fly around in your head at incomprehensible speeds.  Then there are days when you have too many things you want to say and they sort of log jam somewhere between your brain and your fingers.  In those cases it is good to have a backlog of topics that you can draw upon in order to force some sense of focus.  Here are some topics that I have kicked around in my head before but never actually written about.

Ten Random Topic Prompts

• Write about the first time a game made you cry.  This could in theory be substituted for any sort of media… a book, a movie, a play…  just write about the first time you found yourself completely caught up in the story and those walls fell.
• Write about your first online gaming experience and why it was positive or negative in shaping your opinions of online interactions going forward.
• Go find a random screenshot that you like and write about what was going on in your head or in the game at the moment you took it.
• Write about how you got involved in your first guild, and the sequence of events that prompted you to finally accept an invitation.
• Write about your three favorite items from any video game ever regardless of genre.
• Write about any goal you have achieved in the past and what it was like to work towards it and eventually get it.
• Write about some of the positive or negative interactions you have had with the blogging community.
• Write  about someone you met through gaming that has turned into a friend that transcended a single game.
• Write about times where your gaming life has clashed with your real life obligations and how you have handled that.
• Write about something you really truly love be it a Movie, Television Show, Piece of Music, Video Game or literally anything else you are super passionate about.

Finally in closing… today is an auspicious day not only because it is the official beginning of the month of Blaugust, but also because it is my 20th wedding anniversary.  It is just staggering to think about that it has been twenty years since our wedding.  I am super happy to be sharing this journey with my navigator…  because everyone knows I have zero sense of direction.