I love an impending New Year, don’t you? It’s the perfect time to be making lists, like this one -
Blogging Goals for 2010!I've limited myself to
five goals; nothing too dramatic, but all in the hope of making August Street a more useful part of my creative life next year.
1. Post weeklyThe practical part of my brain is craving some kind of blogging schedule... otherwise weeks pass by and tumbleweeds start rolling in. Weekly posting may sound like a no-brainer to some, but it’s kind of laughable for me sometimes (just being honest here). So to be credible I'm aiming for one or two posts a week, not forgetting my '
Just a Minute...' round-ups on the
29th.
2. Stay on topicI would define August Street as a creative blog majoring in garment sewing. But in reality, I’m just a girl with too many hobbies… Who wants to be limited to just one anyway?
Inspiration and creativity depend on each other, so branching out into numerous creative paths is helpful, and they usually have an obvious or indirect relationship with my big love of sewing. So, how to manage so many themes and not just waffle on aimlessly? Well, maybe less topics per post. Or... this brings me to the next goal:
3. Master my categoriesChoosing labels or categories for a post can be tricky sometimes, especially when a post contains a gazillion different ideas (refer to ‘waffling’ above). Lazy labeling just won't do anymore; I can't find a darn thing in my Archives when I need to, especially with the miscellaneous labels I’ve used like 'life' or 'fun'... that could mean just about anything. So, a general overhaul of my labels/categories is on the cards.
4. Subscribe/Follow less blogsThis is a tough one – can it really be done?
If you’re like me, every time you discover a new and exciting blog your mouse-hand just can’t help itself and within seconds you’ve ‘
Followed’ or ‘
Subscribed’ to the shiny new blog and it is now clogging up your feed-reader with the other 3000 unread posts. Restraint is definitely called for here.
And finally... this one's the biggie:
5. Less 'show and tell', more confidence in the here and now(And I don't mean less photos, oh no.)
I have discovered something about blogging: I began August Street as a yardstick for my sewing escapades, a way of pushing myself to do more, and more importantly… to
complete things. There’s nothing more satisfying than declaring “I’m finished!” and crossing it off the list, then showing it to the world because you love it so. But in reality this has proven counter-productive for me. I have inadvertently cornered myself into a “
work faster and finish it" scenario which is ridiculous. I am the champion of slow-sewing after all (one or two garments a year is about my pace) so it was a light bulb moment to realize that this kind of blogging has added to my already high expectations.
So in the
early stages of learning to sew and tailor garments, the production line and overall rate of completion is
slow. It's often fraught with self-doubt and wanting to know how to do everything yesterday. So I really do admire experienced sewers with the skills to whip up a garment in a weekend… oh yes, I’d like to be at that level one day.
Until then, this goal is all about shifting focus away from the finish line, and on to the actual experience and the process of learning to sew. Oh, and aiming for more confidence in telling it like it is: at the level that I am at, mistakes and all. And as always I love people commenting with a better way to do things… how else do you learn?
What do you think... do any of these goals ring true for you?
Do you have a list of blogging goals for the New Year? I'd love to hear them.
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