Today officially marks my 300th day of blogging. Three hundred days ago I made an internal pact with myself to blog every day for a year. I should point out that Julie, Julia had not yet been released, so I can confidently assure you that I was not influenced by the movie.

So why did I make this pact? At the time I was unemployed (originally, I was leaving one school to work for another; the school I was moving to canceled the position at the last minute on the heals of Patterson’s projected state-aid cuts). I thought writing a blog would help me keep up my skills, hone my research skills and force me to think; frankly, I was also secretly hoped I would blog myself into a job. I was also trying to stave off depression….I am a workaholic (or should I say thinkaholic) who is happier when facing daily challenges and a scheduled work day.

These are a few things I learned over the past 300 days…

• Tenacity…it can be difficult coming up with a new topic on a daily basis. I have learned that I can be pretty stubborn once I establish a goal.
• Online community is important. I soon realized that I need to Twitter, read other blogs, and explore if I hope to find anything (I feel) is worth sharing.
• Family members, people I work with and member of my PLC inspire me daily!
• I am not nearly as clever or original as I would like to be
• I learned to loosen the reins of perfectionism…initially I wanted every post to meet a level of perfection that I could not maintain when life got busy.
• Sometimes you have to cheat to achieve a goal. I learned that I could cheat and write posts ahead of time and still schedule them to appear daily. OK…now you know my secret…but, hey my daughter got married this year and I did start a new job!
• It’s fun when you can use your last name as a title for your blog…I have to thank my dear husband for that I suppose.
• My family and friends don’t really understand this blogging thing. I don’t think they have even read any of my postings.
• If you twitter about your posts they are more likely to be read. When I am too busy to Twitter my post comments and hits go down. I try not to just Twitter about my posts (BORING and bordering on rude, in my humble opinion).
• Spammers exist in the comment world….and they increase as your blog becomes more popular.
• People read old posts and still comment on them.
• No matter how many times I check my posts for grammatical errors, I still find errors when I re-read them.
• Writing a post about grammar is very nerve-wracking!
• People like to read about fun stuff, as well as Web 2.0 resources, etc….comments seem to run highest when I write about photo generators and tools that enhance, motivate, or make you smile.
• It’s OK to establish weekly threads in your blogging….I enjoy sharing my Top 10 Sites on Friday and my Motivational Posters on Sunday…I am still creating something new to share, but I have established a direction for those days.
• I tend to alliterate a lot when I create titles for my posts.
• A blog can be a great repository for information you might like to revisit…I use the search feature of my blog a lot when I am helping teachers find resources.
• It is far more challenging to blog daily when you have a full-time job!
• Not all blogs are memorable or notable…I wish they were.
• Having a bird feeder outside my office window is a distraction (that’s one reason I tend to write late in the night..no birds to watch).
• Blogging is easier than dieting and exercising (I definitely need to direct some of my tenacity and stubbornness in a more healthy direction).
• It is very difficult to discover and write about a Web 2.0 product or site that has not already been featured in a blog written by someone else.
• When I am tired I tend to ramble (consider this post a perfect example).

By the way, I don’t think blogging factored into my new job. On the other hand, the research and knowledge I gained while preparing my posts probably didn’t hurt.