Final NanoPoblano 2022 Post

Nov. 30, 2022

We made it! Last day of NanoPoblano! How do you feel? Did you have any goals? What was your experience?

I’m going to start by answering question 2, then question 3, and finally question 1.

Did you have any goals?

Yes, a few goals.

1. Post daily. My primary goal was to post every day in Nov. 2022. Check! I was able to schedule almost all of my posts this month and post a cheat post for Pepper Day. That’s pretty darn good, without having a lot of saved content.
2. Content quality and variety. My secondary goal was to post quality content on a variety of topics. I used all of my book reviews. I only plugged my jewelry shops twice. I introduced Grumpy Grammarian and Table Topics questions as I looked for ways to be interactive and post daily. Cheat posts were also limited (better than previous years). There were more personal posts than I’d like, so I’d have to keep thinking of other content to fill the days (for next year). I did pretty well on this goal, too.
3. Taking initiative. Taking the initiative to visit other blogs that are also participating is a goal I’ve had since I began participating. It appears that I performed better on this goal last year than I did this year. This year, I recall visiting 1 blog in which I was able to “Like” the post. I’m not sure what it is, but my internet browser blocked my ability to “Like” posts from a handful of bloggers. Non-blog world became too difficult to manage, so taking initiative ended very early in the event for me.
4. Reciprocate. For regular visitors/Likers, I committed to visiting and liking their posts, too. I also committed to commenting on at least 10 posts per blogger and tried to be a good commenter (something thoughtful or promoted converstion). I didn’t kept count, but I did the best I could.

I did well on my first two goals and have a lot more to improve on my latter two goals.

Next year, I need to remember to paste my Blog category when I enroll, so it would be easier for others to find my NanoPoblano posts. I should also paste the pepper, too.

What was your experience?

It was a positive experience. When I posted about struggling on topics to post, Revis Edgewater, a fellow blogger, talented writer, and published author, introduced me to random question generator. A handful of bloggers, such as Twindaddy, used the prompts from one challenge for NanoPoblano. Talk about doing double duty! There were several bloggers who helped in this endeavor, so there’s a positive community participating in NanoPoblano if you’re on the fence about participating next year.

Bloggers are also understanding. When I reciprocate, I’m lumping my reading at night when I’m dead tired or occasionally when I unexpectedly had time. Some of my comments don’t make sense and may not be grammatically correct or concise. Most of the time, Liking a post was all I could muster. I’d skip logging in for a few days and bloggers didn’t forget about me.

Having some kind of content schedule was helpful. Grumpy Grammarian came on Mondays. Book reviews on most Tuesdays. Sandwiches questions came on Thursdays (with the exception of Thanksgiving, a last minute change) and Sundays. Therefore, coming up with content for Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays was more manageable for me. A note on sandwiches questions: I wanted people to participate like a discussion, but it didn’t turn out that way. The first two posts weren’t very popular, so I began writing my response to those questions, and the number of views improved. At least I got positive feedback.

How do you feel?

Relieved, because I don’t this added pressure of coming up with content and scheduling all these posts anymore. A little sad, because the community is kind of disbanded until next year. What kept me going were bloggers who were better time managers, scheduled all of their posts for the event, and visited every day. It created an expectation that someone is coming so I should have something worth reading ready. I also like the structure of having a Cheer Pepper Team and bloggers doing what makes blogs successful.

Hope to see you again next year, or better yet, sooner than that.

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