It’s Finally Winter

Winter is probably my favorite season to live in. Although it takes a toll on my health, because of my sinus, I still love it. Probably one of the reasons I love winter so much is the fashion, the coats, boots, and beanies. All those comfortable clothes, hot drinks, just make this a lovely season. Another reason I have gotten to love winter, since last year, is because of the Afrobloggers winter writing challenge.

This year, I have been open about my issues with writer’s block. I have had this constant block since the beginning of the year, highly attributed by all that was happening around me. Early in May, I had decided that a blogging break was what I needed, at least to kind of sort out a few things before I came back to writing. But here is the thing, writing has always been my face escape from reality, and taking a break from it felt like I was slowly killing myself. Plus, a lot of my friends thought I would just keep extending the break until the blog was long forgotten.

Naturally, I got scared by that thought. So, in May, I decided that it was time to come back. I figured that it was also time to amend the relationships within the Afrobloggers’ community and return to my family. And it felt great. What was even better was that I made the decision right before the #WinterABC begun. Thus, it just felt right to join the challenge for the second year.

why I’ve joined the challenge this year

The biggest reason is that I want to write more. Like I’ve said, I have done less writing this year which not only has affected me, but also my blog. Affected me because I had actually vowed to myself to be a better creative this year and instead of progressing, all I have done is regressed. And maybe, through this challenge, I can actually redeem myself.

My blog, on the other hand, has suffered because of the less traffic. This year, I had set the goal to get 50,000 views on the blog. Six months in and I am stuck on 7,000 because I just did not care to promote the blog like I did last year. Now, I am deeply dissatisfied with myself all over again, but hoping to do better.

The second reason of joining this year was the serious FOMO. I swear, I had the fear of missing out on an event that brings a lot of creatives together. I figured, that was enough to kick my butt and have my mind working.

am I prepared

Sort of. I have had friends help me plan out on the content to write during the month, but I will not lie and say I have it all figured out. Also, I will not lie and say that I have blog posts already drafted and just waiting to be published. I will be writing as the day comes, because I wanted to assert a lot of genuineness to this challenge. Plus, it kind of feels good not to have it all planned out.

Also, have to thank the Afrobloggers team for giving creatives the freedom to create based on the stories they want to share. A great idea to have guiding themes but not have set out topics for the challenge.

a little pledge

Last year, on the first day of the challenge, we were meant to take a pledge. And although it is not required of me this year, I figured I should. Because, the pledge is my word to commit to the challenge until it is done. My small commitment that I will write during the 22 days of the challenge. That seems like fun, and so here it goes…

I, Louisa Msiska, pledge to blog for 22 days of June. I commit to writing, reading, critiquing, learning and helping others.

That sounds heavy, but feels good. With that said, let the challenge begin baby.