Blaugust!

It’s been a week since I started my Blaugust journey. As with every event centered around a month of activity, at this point maintaining a consistent writing habit feels like a very doable thing. Being a NaNoWriMo veteran, there’s part of me that feels some similar feelings as I go through this practice of daily writing with the knowledge there are others on the internet participating in the same activity. It’s always the time after where things go off the rails.

My brain is still reveling in the novelty. Will this be as exciting and interesting to me in three weeks? I’d like to think so, if only because my brain will be happier with me for putting words down somewhere. But, the satisfaction isn’t always a guarantee.

I’m not sure why I decided to just dive headfirst into Blaugust upon discovering it existed, that’s not the type of thing I used to do. In fact, a few years ago I would probably have been a bit of a completionist about the whole thing and decided to mark it on my calendar for next year so I could prepare, and make sure I had something set up for every day of the month. Instead, I’m wondering if I will have enough motivation to do extra posts for a few days to make up for my late start and my missed day, but I’m not too concerned about getting 100% on the achievements board. Funny how priorities shift like that.

I’m glad I was curious enough to poke around Mastodon a week ago and realize this was a thing. I’m still trying to find my niche though, because it’s definitely not gaming, it’s barely knitting, it’s hardly reading… it’s mostly writing. It feels a bit self-aggrandizing to say this is a writing blog, when I don’t have a library of work to point people towards. Writing is always the thing I wish I took more time to do, which means Blaugust is a great excuse for me personally to just write.

I’m also slowly coming to the realization that, as with every hobby I undertake, this could just be something I do for my own enjoyment, and that’s the entirety of its purpose. I’ve encountered so many people who take up a craft for fun, and then they decide to turn it into a side hustle, I come from a family who does it as a very committed second job. But, every time I’ve tried to monetize a hobby, my desire to interact with that thing shrivels into nothing. It’s not like it’s unsatisfying to get money for doing something well, but the moment money interposes itself between me and a craft it’s like the dopamine gets cut off or something, and I just can’t engage with it anymore, and that’s definitely not what I want for this place.

I want to be able to talk with people online, especially because where I live, I feel like I’m missing out on some important conversations. I’m a bit wary of having those conversations in this space, but… its got to start some time.