Blogging Motivation: 5,000+ Words A Week Challenge Is On! | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

Gen Y Finance Journey

How I Lost Weight Eating Pizza 11/11/12 – 1,152 words

Working in a Group 11/13/12 – 1,093 words

Where You Buy Matters 11/14/12 – 1,055 words

Demographics Affect Your Benefits 11/15/12 – 831 words

Is the World Ending? 11/16/12 – 902 words

Week 1 Total: 5,033

Post edited 4:30 am – November 18, 2012 by Edward Antrobus

If You Can Read, You Can Cook

11/11 – Salsa Dip: Recipe Sunday305 words

11 -16 Cold Canning: Tips & Tricks663 words

Subtotal 968 words

Edward Antrobus (now a .com!)

11/12 – I Bought a Computer725 words

11/14 – How to Sell a Computer2025 words

11/17 – How to Survive the Night Shift1283 words

Subtotal4033 words

Total5001 words

Just squeeked by!

First week has been an epic fail – this is right, guys, I never do things half heartedly. So here it is:

Post 1: 827

Post 2 – 873

Post 3 – 137 (the rest was an infographic)

Total: 1,837

Of course, John wrote for The Money Principle as well (but this doesn't count).

Please note, though, that this is not how much a wrote – I write loads for my job and it is being rather mad at the moment. Next week will do better – now back to writing.

Maria

Week One 11/11 – 11/17

SavingAdvice 

"Giveaway Advertisers" 11/12/12 593 words
"Free Turkey: 12 Ways To Get One For Thanksgiving" 11/13/12 1709 words
"50 Things I Am Thankful For $100 Giveaway" 11/15/12 1246 words
"10 Reasons To Avoid Black Friday" 11/16/12 1622 words
"New, Crisp Bills Save Money" 11/17/12 502 words

NationalParksBlog

"Cholla Cactus Garden Joshua Tree National Park" 11/11/12 381 words
"National Park Free Days 2013" 11/15/12 489 words

Timesharetrap

"Timeshare Mold Risks" 11/11/12 555 words
"Timeshare Lawyer Fraud Scam" 11/14/12 413 words

StrangeWaysToMakeMoney

"Strange Ways To Make Money" 11/11/12 550 words
"City Gold Mining" 11/17/12 553 words

HelloKittyHell

"Hello Kitty Macy's Parade New Balloon" 11/13/12 182 words

BloggingAwayDebt

"10 Things I Am Thankful For This Morning $100 Giveaway" 11/15/12 1226 words

Total Words Week One: 10,261

Since a lot of people are having problems getting their word counts, I thought I would share my thoughts on my week one experience, since I am the king of short content. I had a class in college where we were graded exclusively on the length of our writing (History of Physics); I got a C. 

Normally, I write until I get my initial thoughts on the topic and then I'm done. I've had recipe posts under 100 words, and most of my other posts have averaged in the 300-500 range. Over 500 words was a long post for me. For the challenge, I know that's not sufficient. So after I finish my first draft, I reread it thinking about what else I might have to say on the topic. Sometimes what I write originally isn't even what I intended to write on the topic.

My post on working the night shift is a good example of this. I originally meant to talk about things like caffeine and diet, but the first draft was all about sleep schedules. So I added a section on food and drink and that took me from 700 words to over 1200.

Financial Samurai said:

Currently wondering: Why it's so hard to let go and publish a new post the very next day. Hard to not keep a post up at the top position when you've worked so hard on it. Would you mind reading a new post five times a week on one site if posts are so long? Spreading content to more than 2-3 blogs is difficult.

For me, it's not about keeping it for any length of time based on how long I've worked on it or how much I like the post.  I personally like to have a queue of posts available so that I can keep a steady stream of content.  I find that on days that I work, I also write more often than not, but on days that I'm not at work, I don't write.  Period.  It just doesn't happen.  So the long Thanksgiving break will mean no content.  The week between Christmas and New Years, no content.  Starting the in the spring when we are camping again will mean no content anytime that we pull out of the driveway.  It's important for me to not go dark during those periods. 

Starting off the spring of 2012, I had about a month of content (roughly 16-18) posts.  Because of the various camping trips, I exhausted my entire supply of advance posts by the end of the summer, luckily doing so on our various trips.  If I hadn't built up content, that would have meant that I would have had that many days over the summer where I would have been dark. 

So, for me, there's a balance.  Once I get back up to my desired level of advanced written posts, I'll probably be much more liberal with publishing content immediately, adding days, or doubling up on posts.  But, my goals include having a backlog of posts, and I have to balance that with all of the other motivating factors. 

Hopefully this makes sense

Very impressive output from you guys!…

I could maybe hit that total if I included all of the documentation and emails that I write in my day job :-)

But from blogging alone.. no chance.

But I admire those of you who can generate that amount of content!

-j-