Why I Joined A Blogging Challenge For October, 2017
Public discourse is weighed heavily in favor of people who don’t think before they speak.
Despite being decent individuals, average people and many businesses feel compelled to offer bad advice, ill-informed rumors, and unhelpful opinions. Yes, many things they say are also correct, but that doesn’t justify the wacky garbage that often comes out.
The most thoughtful, caring, and intelligent citizens pause and ask themselves whether they might be wrong, or change their minds, or cause the wrong effects by speaking up.
So it makes sense for cautious, intelligent, and caring people to challenge their own thinking, test it over time, and think about what effect they might have. Then they can confidently share what they know and add real value to the conversation. But since that kind of process takes time and energy, a lot of people do the next best thing: not say anything at all.
I don’t share my thoughts very much outside of my family. I do believe that people can share their ways of thinking simply by providing an example and being good members of society. Your neighbors notice and start to pick up on your way of life. If you’re lucky, some of your close friends might ask you for more information, and you can finally say something.
But sometimes I just don’t say anything out of laziness. There are many areas in which I have challenged my own thinking, tested it over time, and thought about the effects of my ideas. I could share those thoughts in a way that adds value to others without causing harm or adding to the conflict. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
With all of this in mind, I already wanted to blog more when I heard about a blogging challenge for October, 2017.
How I’ll Handle The Challenge
The challenge comes from Jason Montoya and Jim Karwisch, who started a couple months before me. It involves creating a blog post each weekday for an entire month, with a target word count of at least 400.
Coincidentally, my friend Kate Langsdorf is also testing a writing accountability service that happened to start and end on the same dates as the blogging challenge. The planets aligned for me, and failing to join the challenge would have been so lazy and negligent on my part that my own shame would have weighed heavier on me than the burden of writing. I’m doing it.
No, I’m not going to speak up on everything all at once now. Here are some subjects on which I have knowledge and experience that I’ll likely blog about:
- Marketing
- Satire and comedy writing
- The military
- Books and movies
- Fitness
- Philosophy
To add some perspective, here are some subjects on which I am a complete moron, and should not be writing about:
- College football
- High fashion
- Poultry science
- The names of different colors that look almost identical
- ABC’s TV drama series Once Upon a Time
- Carpentry
When I run out of valuable things to say, I’ll stop blogging. If that doesn’t happen in the first month, I’ll be glad. As far as topics go, I think I have enough to fill the period. If I do stop after partially finishing a challenge commitment, maybe I’ll use the prompts towards my fiction writing, which I’m doing behind the scenes during the challenges anyway.
Regardless, I hope that the challenge helps me share some valuable ideas, allows others to use the ideas, and encourages readers to spread the same positive impact.
