I knew, going into Blaugust, that I would be taking vacation the last few days of it. I thought I might be able to keep the posts going while I was in California, but I didn’t quite manage it.
The problem I have with any of these challenges is that, as the event goes on, I worry more about making a blog post than about working on the content for such blog posts. I only have a little time each day for gaming, writing, or anything else I want to do, outside of work, being with my family, practicing mandolin and so on.
My theme this past month was supposed to be about playing and reviewing PS2 and other retro games from my backlog. I almost immediately realized that was impossible; either I’d be cutting and pasting someone else’s review (bad!), or I’d just be writing reviews based on at most the first hour of gameplay (also bad!). I did manage this a couple of times, but it was clear it wouldn’t carry me through the month.
Instead, what you got was an eclectic collection of posts based on whatever I was thinking of that day, and maybe in there is more or less an overview for the kind of things I like to game about — along with a little, toward the end, of my love affair with California. I love Connecticut, too, but Connecticut doesn’t drag you out of your car and beat you over the head with its over-the-top natural beauty like California does. I have a few more posts about California to write about, too.
I do regret not spending enough time reading other people’s blogs. I’d made a promise that any blog I saw on Mastodon, I would read it and boost it. I followed the #Blaugust2024 hash tag to make sure I got them all. In the end, I think I missed most of them. I apologize. The blog posts I did read were generally fun and well-written. I hope everyone keeps on blogging (and it would really help if you could keep on using the hash tag, at least until I can follow everyone individually!)
For me, the next blogging challenge is Advent of Code, over the month of December, which is so very close. I failed to finish that, either, in 2023, due to the death of my beloved chocolate Maine Coon, Lannister. He was fading fast the week before Christmas and passed the day after, and I really didn’t feel like doing programming challenges or writing about much of anything. I should probably finish up the last few puzzles.
Anyway. I’ll finish up my California posts this week. I have the next game in my Malifaux league Friday, so I’ll be writing about that. I still have the Thunderjaw to finish, and I found a game in California that I have been looking for for a very long time.
Happy Blaugust, to those who celebrate 🙂
Bah! There are no rules (except apparently using AI) to Blaugust blog posts! With that said I totally get the desire for quality over quantity. Personally I am inbetween; I have some low effort posts every Blaugust just to hit that sweet Rainbow Reward award level but try to keep them to a minimum. At the same time I have some cyclical posting that some consider low effort (such as Screenshot Mondays) but personally think its valuable to keep posting so having little tricks like that help.
Also, like you, I didn’t spend as much time on other blogs as hoped. I started out strong but ran out of steam on visiting other blogs since so many didn’t post regularly and thus I was just visiting the same ones over and over.
I knew I was going on vacation, I could have put something up. My own fault!
I do greatly enjoy reading just gaming experiences, stories of what you’re upto in games and things going on around you meanwhile and such, for what it’s worth! These kinds of posts would likely work a little better for a Blaugust-type event than regular reviews.
Yes, you’re right! Plus, since I hardly ever seem to finish games these days, reviews would just be a little… difficult 🙂 Thanks!