DEV Community

365 Days of Blogging Challenge

Patryk Jeziorowski on May 10, 2021

Everyone sometimes struggles with consistency. Do you want to develop a good habit but often fail after a few days? Well, you are not alone. To he...
Collapse
 
grahamthedev profile image
GrahamTheDev

A great challenge but before you embark could I simply suggest something.

Instead of an article a day maybe focus on writing a certain number of words a day.

Otherwise the standard of your articles is going to go down and down as time goes on.

Quality over quantity.

It is still something that is easy to be publicly addressed and monitored.

As most posts, if you are writing daily, are going to be short why not set the goals as 500 words a day.

Then once a week check the word count, if you are not at 3500 words then send the money.

It gives you flexibility to write in-depth pieces when you want to that way (you could write one 3500 word article or 7, 500 word articles).

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Good point. Sure, this approach may lead to me writing longer & higher quality articles.

I'm wondering how to make the process public and transparent. Maybe I'll push drafts of my articles to a public Github repo. It's gonna be easy to track the history of my writings there :)

Collapse
 
grahamthedev profile image
GrahamTheDev

It isn't a bad idea, but just consider that your drafts may contain some stuff that you prefer not to go public (as you have mis phrased something just to get the idea down and it could be potentially inflammatory - it all depends very much on what you are writing about, if it is just purely about code and development you will be fine, straying into politics, religion, gender issues etc...probably best not to have a public record while you formulate thoughts and ideas and haven't had chance to check your writing cannot be misinterpreted!)

I mean, if you want a rough and ready way to do it just write on dev.to - at the end of one article point to a page for the next article (saved as draft as you then have a public URL) and then people can follow along that way.

If I were doing this challenge, I perhaps would dedicate the first few articles to building a custom blog that allows people to see when you worked on what. A fun way to have loads to write about initially and a fun way to be transparent!

There is no reason these couldn't be short posts (what framework you chose for back-end, what (if any) you chose for the front-end, libraries you explored for syntax highlighting, including a daily word count graph etc.) obviously it all depends on your experience levels and stuff as to how you frame those articles.

Anyway just a couple of ideas, I hope this goes well for you as a fellow "newbie to writing" who hasn't quite nailed down a schedule (but I am close 😋).

Thread Thread
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

I am writing using roamresearch.com app. I'll not be writing about coding exclusively. I'll be writing about whatever I feel like to write about, about things I'm currently doing/learning, about things I think may be helpful to others. I don't really care about numbers - I'll be writing for myself, but at the same time with the intention to give as much value to the readers as I can.

Some of the posts may be about fetchings CPU usage metrics from Pods in Kubernetes and others about productivity tips, biohacking, philosophy or whatever. I'm pretty geeky, so the posts are going to be connected to the software industry no matter how hard I'd try to avoid it :P

Probably I'll write privately in the Roam app and publish only 'ready' drafts to the public.

Thread Thread
 
grahamthedev profile image
GrahamTheDev

I think that the smart way to do it.

I know you want to share every detail with people but at the end of the day if each week you produce 3500 words or more it doesn't matter how you got there (one sitting or several days). It requires very similar effort levels and you still have "your money where your mouth is" to keep you on track!

Bear in mind that 3500 words per week is the same as writing 2 novels (180k words!), so nobody is going to begrudge a tiny bit of "slack" in your original idea of daily writing for if you need a break, so I think weekly updates is more than enough.

Before you set your goal in stone, just bear in mind the time it takes to research subjects, that is the bit I see a lot of people forgetting!

Thread Thread
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

You are completely right that research takes time. I'm currently exploring the Zettelkasten method to combine consuming content with writing. You may find this short article useful shime.sh/use-zettelkasten-to-write... or read "How to take smart notes" by S. Ahrens if you are interested in this topic.

Collapse
 
lorenzoblog profile image
Lorenzo

100% True

Collapse
 
kallmanation profile image
Nathan Kallman

I don't need the money but good luck! (I thought I was doing well for posting at least once a week for over 52 weeks 😅)

When holidays come around make sure you've written up a backlog of articles that you can just click Publish and enjoy the rest of the day without stressing about losing $1000!

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

BTW article a week for 52 weeks is a great result, congrats!

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Thanks for the support and tips!

Yeah, I'm planning to build a buffer of at least 7 articles in advance so I can take a break from writing for a couple of days if needed.

Collapse
 
siddharthshyniben profile image
Siddharth • Edited

Best of luck! When are you starting though?

And, that's a lot of money. Instead of money, maybe you could give listing credits (if it's possible) because some of the younger people here (like me) might not even have bank accounts.

Currently I'm on a streak of one/two posts a week since I joined DEV. Just yesterday (or something) I got the 8 week badge

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

The best answer to 'when are you gonna start?' is always TODAY! :P It's tempting to put it back, but I don't want to start the challenge with excuses.

Sure, $ can be substituted with listing credits, I don't mind, the 'winner' will choose.

Collapse
 
tselmek profile image
Antoine Jésus

Writing articles can be really draining, I think sometimes it might be more interesting to choose quality over quantity. In any case, I find your goal really motivating and I hope you find what you're looking for through this achievement :)

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

After reading this comment dev.to/inhuofficial/comment/1ebni (and a few others) I'm thinking about replacing "1 post a day" with "x words a day" to mitigate the problem of quantity > quality.

Collapse
 
arunkc profile image
Arun K C

This is such a great challenge 👍
I have just started contributing to open source, and my current streak is 28 days (almost 1 month 🎉). I'm planning to contribute daily even if it's on my own project or other open source projects.

I will be checking out your articles daily 😁🚀

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

If you want to play with Rust and open source, feel free to take a look there -> github.com/Qovery/RedisLess

It's a project that was started by the CEO of the startup I work on :) We started coding very recently, so it's not too complex yet to grasp and contribute!

Collapse
 
arunkc profile image
Arun K C

I haven't worked with Rust yet. But still, I will check out this repo 🚀

Collapse
 
codeboi profile image
Timothy Rowell

I'm gonna get that $1000!

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Thanks for the support haha :)

Collapse
 
jeremymoorecom profile image
Jeremy Moore

Good deal. Myself I would shoot for 1 per week. What about quality vs quantity... Sure a few posts containing a few snippets of useful code is nice to have every now and again, but a whole site of small blurbs.... Thinking of the user aspect, this of course will help with SEO.

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

I'm thinking about replacing "1 article a day" with "x words a day" as suggested in this comment -> dev.to/inhuofficial/comment/1ebni

Collapse
 
samuelroland profile image
Samuel Roland

Wow, that's a big challenge and stress maybe. Don't forget to set daily reminders to not forget them. I've tried to So if we want to earn these $1000, let's comment a lot to increase probability haha...
Good luck !

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Thanks! Yeah, I plan to create a buffer of a few posts in advance and try to automate publishing them here, otherwise, it would be way too easy to fail.

Collapse
 
mellen profile image
Matt Ellen-Tsivintzeli

I once wrote a limerick a day for two years. It becomes quite the chore to think up things to write. Good luck to you!

Collapse
 
danidiaztech profile image
Daniel Diaz

I support you.

(But 1000$ in my account just sounds too sweet. 😁 )

Collapse
 
Sloan, the sloth mascot
Comment deleted
Collapse
 
siddharthshyniben profile image
Siddharth

Trust. That is everything

Collapse
 
theshikharmalik profile image
Shikhar Malik

Thats an ambitious goal, just dont get sick. All the best !

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Thanks!

Collapse
 
jeantiston profile image
Jean Tiston

This seems tough. Best of luck! Although, how would you define an article? Like how many words or paragraphs should it contain for it to be considered one article? One article seems a bit vague.

But this is a wonderful idea. I do hope you see it through 🙌✨📝

Collapse
 
egilhuber profile image
erica (she/her)

That's quite a goal! Do you have a blogging roadmap for article topics and queueing posts?

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Not yet, maybe it's a good topic for tomorrow's article though! Thanks for bringing this up.

Collapse
 
codeboi profile image
Timothy Rowell

Ok. sounds good!

Collapse
 
ohbob profile image
Roberts Ozoliņš

Good luck with the challenge

Collapse
 
b3ing_anoop profile image
Anoop Gupta

Sounds great!!!

Collapse
 
marcelgustin profile image
Marcel Gustin

Props if you can make it! Already interestet to see the blog posts 👍

Collapse
 
jjablonskiit profile image
Jakub Jabłoński

Hope it goes smoothly

Collapse
 
matjones profile image
Mat Jones

This is ambitious lol

Collapse
 
waldo profile image
Waldo

Great. Sounds good!

Collapse
 
hekitakai profile image
Hekitakai

This seems to be quite challenging task, easy to burn out.

Nevertheless, good luck!

Collapse
 
doabledanny profile image
Danny Adams

Best of luck!

Just gave you a follow on Twitter, will be great to see your progress :)

Collapse
 
codinghusi profile image
Gerrit Weiermann

Stay healthy :)

Collapse
 
dev_emmy profile image
nshimiye_emmy

Wish you the best of luck mn!

Collapse
 
pranjalg131 profile image
Pranjal Gupta

This Proves
Even ancient Problems require modern solutions 😂😂 but , I wish you good luck on your journey

Collapse
 
winstonpuckett profile image
Winston Puckett

Have fun!

Collapse
 
mahmoudalfall profile image
mahmoud-alfall

prepare for questions about your blogs

Collapse
 
levideang29 profile image
LeviDeang29

Just here for the ka-ching $$$ 🤑Just kidding! Haha.

In all seriousness, good luck!

Collapse
 
kashyappandya profile image
Kashyap Pandya

Take care of yourself while doing this, you got this.

Collapse
 
tlacalv profile image
Tlacaelel Leon Villaseñor

I want to start writing, I find it difficult and daunting, viewing your commitment motivates me to start doing it, no matter how small I start, good luck in your journey!

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

That's great! Feel free to join the challenge, ofc. you can change the numbers if you want to start small! :)

Collapse
 
asies23 profile image
Asiesjhot Singh Chandowk

I hope it won't be too exhausting

Collapse
 
arturssmirnovs profile image
Arturs Smirnovs

:)

Collapse
 
biomathcode profile image
Pratik sharma

Yeah Bro DO IT!!!

Collapse
 
hritikagarwal profile image
Hritik Agarwal

1000$ per missing post...🤯 and that too for 1year🚀, Salute!. Wish you all the best for the challenge.

Collapse
 
salarc123 profile image
SalarC123

👍

Collapse
 
aalphaindia profile image
Pawan Pawar

Nice one!

Collapse
 
nithish_13 profile image
Nithish Kumar

Great Work!, All the best 🙌

Collapse
 
rophilogene profile image
Romaric P.

Give me money :)

Collapse
 
grocker42 profile image
Grocker

Why one article a day would it not be better to publish high quality blog post every week ?

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Yeah, a lot of people are suggesting it, I think I'll follow the advice from this dev.to/inhuofficial/comment/1ebni comment! :)

Collapse
 
bijan profile image
Bijan

Well I can't say I hope you don't forget to post haha, but good luck!

Collapse
 
chaderenyore profile image
chaderenyore

You Commented first so you could pick yourself aha😂😂
Anyways I will be monitoring you, am in.

Collapse
 
kmonsoor profile image
Khaled Monsoor

I'm gonna spend z money in a public health related project I'm involved in ...
but my heart is with the OP for him to succeed. 🤞

Collapse
 
codeboi profile image
Timothy Rowell

or is it random?

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Random

Collapse
 
codeboi profile image
Timothy Rowell

Dang it!

Collapse
 
juliang profile image
Julian Garamendy

Goodhart's law

"When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart's...

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

I'll take a look^^ Thanks!

Collapse
 
imohgenius profile image
Michael Etokakpan

Wow, I salute your courage

Collapse
 
urielsouza29 profile image
Uriel dos Santos Souza

In Brazil $1000 === R$5261

Collapse
 
the_dinessh profile image
Dinesh

Where shall I share my ACCOUNT Number with you?

Collapse
 
bizprat profile image
Prateek Anand

Please share your strategy and case study also, so that we can follow your rules to be a efficient blogger.

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Sure! A quick tip I can give now:

  1. Read a book "How to take Smart Notes" by S. Ahrens
  2. Take a look at roamresearch.com/ app - it allows you to write in a way that is much closer to how your brain works. You can build a graph of interconnected nodes that represent your thoughts and knowledge.

I'll write about it for sure and describe my case study, I'm happy you're interested to know the process :)

Collapse
 
codeboi profile image
Timothy Rowell

So does that mean I get it if you forget to post b/c I commented first?

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

Thanks a lot <3

Collapse
 
bazeng profile image
Samuel K.M

I published my first article yesterday. I realized in the course of my work i learn a lot, and felt if i would blog what i learn by teaching others i would even understand the content better

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

For sure! That's why many people started blogging - to understand the subject more deeply.

You learn much more when you explain things to others and "fetch stuff from your brain" rather than try to cram it into your head.

Collapse
 
kingy20444765 profile image
Kingy

All the best wish you best of luck

Collapse
 
_abhishek36_ profile image
abhisheksharma

Good luck man!

Collapse
 
theweelab profile image
Than Phan

Not comment for $1000, just good luck and hope your bank safe! Btw where I can see the blog?

Collapse
 
pjeziorowski profile image
Patryk Jeziorowski

I'll be posting here - cyberwritings.com/

But also here on dev.to + hashnode + medium most probably.