This week’s Blaugust 2019 theme deals with topic generation — in other words, how to keep coming up with new ideas to write about. That can be a really tricky thing, especially for writers starting out. After you get done with that initial batch of posts that have been sitting in your head… then what next? How do you keep on coming up with ideas, especially when you worry that it’s all been done and said before? I’ve seen this happen to so many bloggers, where there’s a strong, excited start and then a quick drop-off into complete silence. That’s not just a blogging thing, that’s a writing thing. Writing takes a lot of time and effort and discipline, and you can’t just keep going based on that initial enthusiasm. You have to build up your “writing muscles” and develop a good schedule and pattern to help you go the distance. For me, one of the most important aspects of this is to always be thinking of new ideas to write … [Read more...] about Blaugust 2019: Beating writer’s block with a flurry of ideas
Blaugust 2019
Blaugust 2019: Game blogging tips and tricks
Welcome to the official start of Blaugust, the annual month-long festival of games blogging. Part of the fun of this event (hat tip to Belghast for organizing it all, by the way) is encouraging the blogging community as a whole with some advice and support from us more “established” writers. Bel gave us a general schedule of theme weeks, and so the topic of this week has to do with offering up general tips and tricks for becoming a strong blogger. In no particular order, here are 20 that come to my mind for anyone who cares: Always put a picture at the top of your post so that it’ll show up when the post tweets out And yes, you need to link your blog to however many social platforms you want to promote it on, especially Twitter Use appropriate tagging to help promote that post, but don’t overdo it! If you think of an interesting post idea, make sure that you at least write it down somewhere or start up an empty post with just the title prompt — even if … [Read more...] about Blaugust 2019: Game blogging tips and tricks
Join the MMO blogging scene with Blaugust 2019
For a few years now, the advent of August doesn’t just mean hot weather and a countdown to school days: It also means that Blaugust is back. Blaugust is an annual festival of blogging created by MMORPG blogger Belghast, who has taken it upon himself to rally and encourage writers to get their thoughts out for everyone to enjoy. This month-long event is designed to get people writing regularly while providing mentorship, writing prompts, and a sense of community. “Several years back I had this idea of challenging other bloggers to do a full month without missing a post,” Belghast wrote. “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.” It’s pretty fun, and Bree suggested we mention it here because many of the writers here at MOP originally got our start writing our own MMO … [Read more...] about Join the MMO blogging scene with Blaugust 2019
Blaugust 2019 – Festival of Blogging
It’s almost that time of year again. The summer is heating up and August is quickly approaching. And for bloggers, that means it’ll once again be time for Blaugust! If you run a blog, or want to start up a blog, it’s the perfect time to do it! Here’s what you need to know. About Blaugust Blaugust is the brainchild of fellow gaming blogger Belghast, who originally started it as a blogging challenge during the month of August. The idea was to try to write a post for each day of the month. However, as the face of blogging has changed over time, so has the structure and goals of Blaugust. I think he says it best, so I hope he doesn’t mind if I quote him: Last year, I took on the role of mentor for Blaugust, and joined the Discord group. However, timing was rough for me as I had just spun up my FFXIV RP blog on Tumblr and was heavily into fiction writing. Sadly, I didn’t feel as if I gave Blaugust the attention it deserved, but Bel seems forgiving of … [Read more...] about Blaugust 2019 – Festival of Blogging
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 … [Read more...] about Blaugust 2019