Done. Finished. Finito. The End? Certainly not.
When I first set a goal of blogging for 30 days straight, I had a lot of reasons:
- My blogging history this year had been abysmal at best
- I had always liked Spotlight Toronto’s 30 Days of wine feature, to which I contributed a few posts. September just seems like the right time to celebrate all things ON wine.
- I had lots to say but just never seemed to get around to posting
- I wanted to write, but seemed roadblocked by making each post “perfect”
- I figured if I set a goal I would push myself to finish it
- I felt stuck, or in a rut
Reaction to my idea ranged from “You’re an idiot”, “What the f@#* were you thinking?”, to others asking what had motivated me (to which I think I replied “Stupidity?”). In the midst of building my cellar, working on some outdoor building projects, and a super busy period at my day job, I also signed up for WSET3. At this point I was even asking myself “What the f@#* were you thinking?”!
When I started, I had an inkling that I would ask for help from other Ontario wine lovers/bloggers/friends. My Q&A interviews and guest posts ended up contributing 12 posts, which certainly made coming up with content for the others much less intimidating. I had more help at the end than the beginning, which was good as I started to realize the WSET3 course load is not insignificant!
I don’t think all the posts were great material. Some definitely felt rushed and I had to end some more abruptly that I wanted to, but it was important to me to get something out that I felt was “good enough”. “Shipping” as Seth Godin calls it, is more important than perfection. In the end, nearly 16,000 words were written. Experiences and photos were shared. And you all know a little bit more about Mark, Gary, Rick, Krista, Calvin, Paul, Kari, and Bethany. I really appreciate those folks who took time out of their busy schedules to help me with this little project!
So what’s next? I really liked the Q&A posts, which helped even me know a little bit more about my fellow Ontario wine supporters. There’s a few others in the community who I would still like to do that Q&A with, so I think I will continue those when I can. And who knows…maybe next September I’ll do it all over again!
I feel invigorated, and I am setting a more regular blog update schedule going forward. Mission accomplished!