Blaugust 2019

It is that time again, time for another running of the festival of blogging known as Blaugust. Several years back I had this idea of challenging other bloggers to do a full month without missing a post. However over time that has morphed and mutated and taken on other festivals that are no longer running… to turn into what was Blaugust Reborn last year a sort of one size fits all festival for blogging and all serialized content.

The why is pretty simple. We live in a time when blogs are going dark and the hope is to keep infusing the community with a fresh lease on life. Those of us who have been doing it for over a decade now can easily lose hope. It sometimes takes a fresh batch of whippersnappers to keep us engaged and interested in making sure that the community thrives. Blaugust lives on as the inheritance of so many other great initiatives that have come before like the Developer Appreciation Week or the Newbie Blogger Initiative. If you have a blog that is waning in frequency, or if you ever thought of creating one… this month is the perfect time to put those plans into action.

The Schedule

Last year we started this concept of having themed weeks as a sort of ladder to hold onto as you move through the journey. These are by no means mandatory participation, but do serve as a bit of a scaffolding to help you think of things to write about as we move through the month.

  • Blaugust Prep Week – July 28th – August 3rd: This is a time for those of us in the community who have sorta figured this blogging thing out to help get you started with some tips and tricks style posts. Additionally this is a time to sign up on the Discord and start mingling among the folks. It is designed to ease you into the month with some helpful advice.
  • Topic Brainstorming Week – August 4th – August 10th: This is a time to for mentors to throw out ideas for posts to help you when you run out of things to talk about. This is something that hits all of us and having some familiar topics to revisit often times helps to defeat the tyranny of the blank page.
  • Getting to Know You Week – August 11th – August 17th: Tell us about you and your preferences as a gamer or whatever it is you happen to like doing. This is the time to dip into the well of stories and tell us something interesting that has either happened to you or something about your specific footing in your real or digital life.
  • Developer Appreciate Week – August 18th – August 24th: This one is specifically targeted at the gamers among us, but could be re-purposed to talk about any industry. The idea is to give appreciation for some of the folks who have created the things that you love. In the past we specifically talked about publishers and game studios that create the games that we are enthralled by, but it could be authors or artists or anyone who creates something that you love. It is a good time to give some thanks.
  • Staying Motivated Week – August 25th – August 31st: The final stretch. The idea is to post some help to keep folks motivated as they run towards the finish line. Also some general tricks and tips on how you keep motivated if you are one of the more seasoned veterans of the blogging community. If you are fresh to the initiative you could talk about some of the ways you have kept yourself engaged and creating content.
  • Lessons Learned Week – September 1st – September 7th: A reminder that the goal is to refresh the content creators out there and not necessarily to run a sprint. Some folks are going to cross the finish line and immediately go dormant for awhile, and others are going to want to talk about the experience. Creating a space to hold those discussions and hopefully keep folks from dropping off the face of the earth immediately following the event.

The Awards

We are more or less keeping the same structure as last year for the awards because in theory I think they worked fairly well giving folks lots of different targets for participation. The daily blogging thing is not really for everyone, and even myself I have backed off to only doing week days… and even then allowing myself off a day here or there because life got in the way. It is perfectly okay to start out with gusto and try for the Rainbow Award but ultimately end up with a Bronze, because as you go through the process it may or may not be as easy as you think.

  • Newbie Blogger Award – You did it, you created a new blog and by god we are going to sing your praises for doing it!
  • Bronze Award – You made at least 5 posts during the Month of August 2019.
  • Silver Award – You made at least 15 posts during the Month of August 2019, go you!
  • Gold Award – You made at least 25 posts during the Month of August 2019, you are a badass!
  • Rainbow Diamond Award – You did it, you posted every single day during the Month of August 2019 and deserve accolades.

Mentorship

One of the benefits of having done this at least once before more or less in this same style… is that we have existing infrastructure! We already have a batch of mentors ready to help the process, but if you feel like you would be best served in that role we are always open to more. Ultimately mentors should have at least two years of blogging experience under their belt in order to gauge the ebbs and flow of content creation in front of a live studio audience. We aren’t expecting perfection, just a willingness to share the lessons you have learned along the way with fledgling participants. For those participating, Mentors will be clearly marked as such in the Discord and can likely share some sage advice along the way.

The Details

  • The Sign-Up form for Blaugust 2019 can be found here. Only those who have signed up will be given credit towards the awards.
  • The Invite Link to the Blaugust Discord can be found here. Participation in the Discord is entirely optional.
  • When you share your content please use the hashtag #Blaugust2019 for tracking purposes and to make it easier for those watching along to see new things.
  • Mingle with your other Mentors and Participants because this is a community event, and part of the fun is getting to know the community. These folks represent a social structure that you can lean on for advice in the coming years. I personally deeply value my ties with other bloggers that I have built up over the last decade of doing this thing.
  • Welcome to Blaugust 2019 and lets all have an amazing August creating content together!
  • If you want an archive of all of the various logos and such, check out the newly created Media Kit page which will be the final resting place of this content.

25 thoughts on “Blaugust 2019”

  1. Signed up! I hope I could keep up with the schedule but I’ll try my best to post something on my blog during the month of August.

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  3. Sounds good. I plan to get up a post to spread the word before the end of the week. I am having one of those weeks where I wasn’t sure what I would be posting on Sunday, but now I think I will have to push some things out as I have too many things on my list already.

  4. Going to prep for this and get back on track with my writing. Even signed up as a mentor. Been writing for 12 years and no one filed a restraining order yet so…

  5. Yay! I just signed up. I ticked Mentor just for the heck of it although I don’t think I have a lot left to say about blogging that I haven’t already said a hundred times. Always willing to repeat myself though.

    Due to being off work I’ve been posting almost daily for a while now. Not too bothered about keeping that up all the way through August but since I’ll most likely be home the whole month it could happen. I also might be around on Discord a bit more than last time since I’m sitting in front of the PC most of the day right now. I’m guessing last year’s Discord sign-up is still valid?

  6. I got a bit sidetracked with IRL and other stuff this time last year, so I didn’t get to participate quite as much as I’d have liked. Was looking forward to this announcement because I’m hoping to have a bit more time this year to put into it. Thanks always for organizing all this!

  7. I won’t be able to participate this year. Sadly I have lost a lot of motivation to talk about WoW. I guess what it has come to is being not overly enthusiastic about the current state, and I’ve gotten tired of talking to the wind with suggestions. I cannot even muster a sound critical argument.

    Best of luck to all participating.

  8. So very much looking forward to giving this a go! Not sure if I’ll be able to maintain a daily post pace, but I’ll give it a go.

    Question though: Newbie sign-up for literal brand-new, created for Blaugust, blogs? Or is there a time period you had in mind for that? I signed up as Participant, but thought should clarify just in case. 🙂

    • I maybe should have clarified, I sorta added that last minute. I was thinking new bloggers or at least ones with less than a year under their belt.

      • Ok, in that case — consider me in the ‘newbie’ camp instead then Bel. 🙂 Haven’t hit first blogoversary just yet, but I am at least fairly confident that I will this time, and this event will certainly help!

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