Blaugust 2021 On the Horizon

Good Morning Friends! It is that time again, time to begin talking about Blaugust and as is our way around here I am officially announcing the rules of the upcoming event. For those who might not know what Blaugust is, the idea is pretty simple. Several years ago I started challenging my blogging friends to post something new each day during the month of August. Over the years the concept has morphed and bent, but this time around we are returning to the original concept of limiting the posts and event just to the month of August.

Why We Do BlaugusT

The why is pretty simple. The blogging community is nowhere near as large as it once was. Many of us have aged out of blogging with real-world responsibilities or just moved on to other time-consuming hobbies. Blaugust gives us a chance to infuse the community with a fresh lease on life as we court new bloggers to join the fray. Those of us who have been carrying the torch of blogging for decades now, can sometimes lose hope as our blogroll loses a few voices each year. I’ve come to learn that getting out and mingling and mentoring a new crop of fresh bloggers can give us the perspective to stay engaged and hopefully make this community thrive. The thing is… it has over the last several years as we migrated from “just blogs” to a bustling Discord community that takes place year round instead of just during this one month.

The Schedule

In past years we have had the concept of “themed” weeks and we are continuing that forward for 2021. However I have pruned back things a bit because the entire “month” had started to spill out over the course of six weeks. These themes are not mandatory by any means and serve as a guide post to give you some ideas if you falter on trying to come up with a topic.

• Welcome to Blaugust Week – (August 1st-August 7th): The idea behind this week is to give folks time to spread their wings and get used to that daily blogging idea. For the Veteran bloggers, it is a great time to make a few posts related to helping New bloggers get started. These could be tips or tricks or just discussions about what helps you get started. Additionally it is a great time to get connected to the Blaugust Discord and meet the community as a whole.
• Getting to Know You Week – (August 8th-August 14th): The idea behind this week is to let t he community know who you are and what some of your interests are. This is a great time to dip into that well of stories and tell us something interesting that has either happened to you or something about your specific spin on blogging.
• Developer Appreciation Week – (August 15th-August 21st): The D.A.W. or Developer Appreciation Week is an event that used to happen in our blogging community but fell by the wayside. The idea behind it was it was a week to show our appreciation to the people that make all of those games that we love. The thing is over the years we have grown past just being a “gaming” thing, so for other communities it might be a time to reflect on your favorite Authors, Musicians or just Creatives in general.
• Staying Motivated Week – (August 22nd-August 28th): You are getting close to the final stretch. The idea here is to share some of your secrets on how you have stayed motivated while blogging on a regular basis. You might share some tips or ideas you have for making topics happen when you are feeling uninspired. If you are fresh to the initiative you could talk about some of the ways you have managed to keep yourself engaged this year.
• Lessons Learned Week – (August 29th-September 4th): This week is a reminder that the goal of Blaugust is to refresh the content creators out there for the coming year, and not necessarily to grind them so hard that they burn out in the process. 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. This is a space reserved to have that cooldown lap as you process your thoughts about what just took place. Please note this year any posts in July or September will not count towards the Blaugust Awards (some wiggle room granted for timezones of course).

The Awards

It has become a tradition to hand out awards at the end of this process. The truth is for me these have become far less important than the interaction that happens within the community. That said I do see them adorning the sidebars of many blogs out there, so I am going to keep the tradition alive and well this year. For this more “classic” edition Blaugust, we are going to be limiting the contest aspect to only posts made within the month of August 2021. I will of course be adjusting slightly to account for the wild variety of timezones we will have participating in the event. For me the fact that you have signed up and you are joining this initiative is enough, but some folks are going to want to push for higher recognition.

• Newbie Blogger Award – You did it! You created a new blog and we are extremely happy to welcome you into this raucous community. As a result we are going to recognize your efforts just for signing up.
• Bronze Award – You made at least 5 posts during the Month of August 2021.
• Silver Award – You made at least 15 posts during the Month of August 2021.
• Gold Award – You made at least 25 posts during the Month of August 2021.
• Rainbow Diamond Award – You did it, you posted 31 or more posts during the month of August 2021.

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. If this sounds like you, please reach out to me on Discord and we can talk about your desire to become a Mentor.

The Details

• The Sign-Up form for Blaugust 2021 can be found here. Only those who have signed up will be given credit towards the awards or included on any of the blogger lists.
• The invite link to the Blaugust Discord can be found here. Participation in the Discord is entirely optional but also a great way to bounce ideas off the existing community.
• When you share your content please use the hashtag #Blaugust2021 for tracking purpose and to make it easier for those watching along to see the new content.
  • We also highly suggest that you utilize the “Share Your Content” channel on the official Discord.
• Mingle with the participants of Blaugust 2021. Get out and see the blogs, read the posts, and comment frequently! These folks represent a social structure that you can lean on for advice in the coming years. I deeply value the ties I have made with other bloggers and started this process as an attempt to cement those and build new ones.
• If you are so inclined there is a “Gaming Together” channel on Discord for those impromptu grouping activities. I believe last year there were a few games of Among Us that sprunt out of that channel for example.
• Welcome to Blaugust 2021. As always if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
• If you want an archive of all of the various logos and such from this year and past years of Blaugust, please check out the Blaugust Media Kit page.