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Why Doing the ‘Blog Everyday in May Challenge’ is Like Watching Adult Movies
Friday, May 31, 2013 at 11:00AM 
As the Blog Everyday in May Challenge comes to a close, I won’t miss it one bit. Hosted by a photographer named Jenni at Story of My Life, the blogathon invited bloggers – many of them women – to get back into the joy of writing by posting something daily this month.
There were even 31 “prompts” to help curb any writer’s block or blogging anxiety that might result from the pressure of coming up with new ideas each day. I liked the premise and the goal seemed promising, so I joined in but with each day that passed, it felt like the type of isolated experience that one would get when watching an adult movie a.k.a. porn.
People consume movies at the R rating, and below, much differently than they would movies rated NC-17 and above to XXX – understandably so in certain circumstances. It’s a kind of dirty little secret that you wouldn’t be caught dead discussing with your co-workers or the cashier at the gas station. We’re quicker to shout out and celebrate our plans for watching the latest Hollywood and Indie flicks that hit theaters nationwide.
We’ll buy $22 tickets to see “Iron Man 3” in 3D; we’ll stand in line for hours to get advance tickets to “Star Trek Into Darkness,” discuss the impact that “42” has on modern day culture, with our friends over Sunday brunch; we’ll even tweet about our plans to see “The Hangover III” and post Instagram photos celebrating our kids’ enthusiasm for all the “Epic” swag they want at the mall. These same behaviors are seldom, if ever, extended to pornographic movies.
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A lot of men and women won’t even go to adult theaters to watch porn. Instead, they obtain adult movies via mail-order, online streaming, a street DVD bootlegger, hotel rooms or whatever friend provides access to borrow from their “goodie” stash.
No one, presumably in their right mind (according to society’s standards), would openly pop in a porno at any family cookout, graduation party or evening dinner with significant others, just for entertainment purposes. As a result, many people watch (and enjoy) their adult movies alone, when no one else is around or less likely to catch them “in the act.” They admire the stars, follow the action scene by scene, make loud outbursts, and eat their popcorn or whatever tickles their fancy -- by themselves.
The general movie-going experience of viewing something exciting for the first time, surrounded by friends and strangers alike, is reduced to solo viewing sessions that are filled with angst and solitude. If you can imagine how isolating watching porn can be, you will have come to understand my experience as a participant in the Blog Everyday in May Challenge. The only difference is that I treated this blogathon like one would approach his or her night out on the town during opening weekend for “The Great Gatsby” – from obtaining tickets to merging with the crowd of excitement when the opening credits roll.
I announced my plans to join in on the (intended) fun of daily blogging in May, complete with the posting of this blogathon’s official badge. I visited the blogs of other participants and commented on their responses to Jenni’s prompts. I also added my posts to the Linky lists and made attempts to keep up after falling behind on some of the days. That was until I looked around and realized that nobody was “watching this movie” with me. I was sitting in a theater (blog) full of hundreds of seats but my fellow Blog Everyday in May Challenge participants (moviegoers) were not there with me. Do you know how boring it would be to watch “The Great Gatsby” at a multiplex theater, by yourself?
At best, you would probably doze off and miss a few parts of the flick. At worst, you would likely start texting your friends or get up and leave to go do something else that, at the moment, appears to be much more enjoyable. This sorta describes what happened in my failed quest to blog everyday in May with the rest of Jenni’s pack of ladies (and gents).
Over the last few years, I’ve done enough blogathons to get a good idea of how the lay of the land is shaping up with regards to level of participation among the signups.
The first week, if not first few days, of any blogathon usually indicates the height of what it has to offer participants throughout the entire run of the challenge. Based on the lack of interaction with participants, I sometimes either forgot that the challenge was still happening or lacked interest in mustering up enough energy to be active in an event that left me virtually empty handed in terms of engagement.
Even movies that bombed at the box office still had more action that I did this month, as it relates to the challenge. Although I was entertained and even inspired by the strength of participants whom I was already familiar with when the challenge began (such as Paula's Place), I did not enjoy the overall show. Here is the kicker tho -- I don’t even care about the fact that I didn’t finish this challenge. I was trying it on for size, like a pair of jeans or shoes that one would hope to to rock really well!
So, I am not disappointed in falling short of completing it at all; in some ways, I view the experience as a slight interference with my Post A-to-Z Road Trip as in, I could’ve been doing something better with my time. That is why the Blogging from A-to-Z Challenge and blogathons like it (Darren Rowse’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and maybe, The Lamb Devours the Oscars, even) are dominating the online space where active engagement among participants of these monthly challenges is concerned.
My aim is not to put other blogathons up on some pedestal nor sound like a spoiled A-to-Z Challenge brat. I’m just calling it like I’ve experienced it among all of the ones that I’ve been involved in. That said, the Blog Everyday in May Challenge showcased similar characteristics of blogathons that were a waste of time for me, from a general standpoint. After doing a handful of online events including NaBloPoMo (multiple times), Wordcount Blogathon and now the Blog Everyday in May Challenge, to no avail, I’ve decided that these particular activities are not for me. The “community” aspect that they boast upon is pretty much nonexistent, in my experience.
Know that this post is not meant to deter anyone reading this from joining any of the blogathons mentioned here – including the Blog Everyday in May Challenge. Of the several hundred participants who joined in on this May challenge each day, I’ve yet to see any visitors (I checked my analytics before writing this post) or commenters that have come here from the Linky list or my own comments on participating blogs – save for Wayne at Wayne's Wonderous Website.
The Pros in a Nutshell - It did introduced me to two blogs that I will return to and continue to read, including Erika’s life adventures that stretch from here to overseas and back again at Chimerikal (she rocks, by the way! If you haven't read her blog, I recommend paying it a visit).
The Cons in a Nutshell - This challenge left much to be desired in terms of meeting new people, growing your readership and getting back into the groove of making writing a fun activity again instead of a chore. I’m not motivated to continue to write for a group of people who won’t even stop by to say hello. I’m also not interested in participating in any group activity that appears to benefit only those who are either first in line on the Linky or have already built a relationship with other participants – including the host, prior to the start of the challenge.
Since I’m from the “blogathons are what you make it” school of thought, it would be silly of me to avoid recommending the Blog Everyday in May Challenge to other people who might be interested in joining as a participant in the future. Did it work for me? No. Would I do it again? Probably not.
Like any event or activity, however, I still think that those who are interested in this challenge or any similar blogathons (NaBloPoMo, etc.) would be best served trying these events out for themselves to determine if it’s a good fit. Your experiences could be different, even better, than mine. In fact, I hope they are – because my guess is that you’d rather be in a packed theater cheering on Captain Kirk’s crew than in a hotel room browsing through the Playboy TV’s ON Demand catalog!
What is YOUR most favorite blogathon that YOU participated in, to date?
Do YOU prefer watching movies alone or in the company of someone else?
Reader Comments (10)
I really liked the April A to Z challenge because it was so flexible and I "met" a lot of cool people through it. I look forward to doing it again.
This is a well-written review of the challenge. I didn't participate. A-Z is the only blog hop challenge I've ever joined so far and I enjoyed it because it was flexible and I discovered new blogs (like yours) and "met" new people, some of whom actually stuck around until after the challenge was over.
Alison,
It's great when a blogging challenge is such a pleasant experience that you want to do it again. That's what the A to Z is all about and nothing beats it, IMHO. Thanks for joining this discussion on blogathons and such.
Dee,
Thank you very much for your feedback on my take on the "Blog Everyday in May Challenge." I do remember meeting you during the A to Z...you've been one of the most active participants, which is cool. It's delightful to be among a group of bloggers who are in it for the long haul, as you mentioned, staying around to even complete the Reflections posts.
Hey Nicole,
You had me at the title...good one!
Sounds like you had a bummer of a time with this May challenge. I'm sorry you felt so alone! Must have been totally disappointing after the "scramble for a seat and share your popcorn" of the A-Z. No, you don't sound like a spoiled A-Z brat, you were just sharing your experiences.
It might cheer you up to know there's an award waiting for you at my place.
Tina @ Life is Good
Tina,
Nice move with a Jerry McGuire throwback and yes, I've come so accustomed to that feeling of scrambling and histerics that the joys of a "full house" brings, it was discouraging experience to have been met with a different crowd in May. Thanks for the award, I'll be picking it up sometime later this afternoon :)
My favorite blogfest was A to Z Challenge two years ago. Honestly, I think I'll probably only take part in small blogfests from now on.
That way, my input is one or two (maybe) posts and visiting blogs. If no one stops by, at least I didn't commit too much time to it.
Misha,
Your plan for participation in future blogfests sounds like a wise one. The mini fests including those daily (such as Alex Cavanaugh's "First Loves blogfest" and Mina Lobo's "Theme Reveal") or weekly ones definitely provide more bank for your blogging buck during times when you don't have a lot of energy to tackle a 30-day one or times when your schedule and/or mental juices don't permit much leeway to warrant a full commitment to a larger blogfest. Both small and large ones have their benefits and drawbacks. The trick is finding the ones that you have fun doing!
The A-Z challenge is fun, but I notice the participation gets lower every year. I still like it for the community, but it's hard to engage with new bloggers. We've hosted a few blog fests and I'll use this to figure out how to make them more interesting. Good insights Nicole.
Maurice,
Your use of my insights to spice up the future blogfests and blog hops that you host has made the participation and my assessment of it more worthwhile, as in, something good comes out of the no-so-good experience. The decreased numbers of participants in the A to Z Challenge is something that I noticed as well; becoming a host helped me to realize that the new implementation of guidelines for conduct and the subsequent policing of signups to weed out those who are spammers and advertisers/marketers, etc. is one of the largest factors in the trimming of the participants.
As the challenge continues, it gets more refined and I think that can work to the benefit of all participants who are there to meet and engage with their fellow A-to-Zers, like you :)
I love your views on this. I read a post on another blog and the person expressed similar views. It was my first time participating and I was a little disappointed as well. I did get some visitors to my blog but most of the time my link was way at the bottom and no one bothered to click it. True I didn't have a chance to visit many other blogs but the ones that i dI always tried to leave a comment. Some did not even respond. I'll try to participate in other challenges but I'm relatively new to blogging so I don't really know where to look.