Whenever I’ve seen other bloggers write about their participation in blogathons, I’ve broken into a cold sweat. The thought of blogging daily — for a month — has always sounded about as appealing to me as going back to daily newspaper journalism. (In other words: Hell. No.) I’m a little, well, anal, when it comes to research and backing up statements, and I can percolate an idea forever before writing about it. So it’s always been hard for me to pound out blog posts at a quick rate.
But for a long time now, I’ve been trying to get a handle on exactly what I want this blog to be, how it fits in with my paid writing work, and how it can be monetized so it is my paying work, or at least part of it. Along with that, I’m looking for more ways to engage you, my fantastic and far-flung readers, to learn from you, and to share your stories with others who are out there challenging and changing the culture around kids and food.
So, for the month of June, I’m going for it. I’m going for it twice, actually, signing up with two different blogathons: The 2014 Freelance Success/WordCount Blogathon (organized by a freelance writers’ group I’ve belonged to for years), and also BlogHer’s June 2014 NaBloPoMo.
I figure if I’m forced to blog every day (or at least most days), then maybe this will all start to sort itself out. Seems like a good idea now, anyway. Ask me again in 30 days.
I’m not exactly sure how this will play out. I’ve got some posts planned, but a lot of this I’ll do on the fly. One thing I can promise for sure is that I won’t be sending fluff or gimmicky crap your way. So if you get my posts by e-mail or RSS feed, please don’t run away! I’ll do my best to keep it real around here.

Hi Christina just wanted to say I am one of those bloggers from the June NoBloPoMo. (Try and say that without sounding like you have marbles in your mouth. 😉 )
Great post and excited to be coming back to your page this month to see what you have to share.
Writing can daily at first kind be kind of scary and a little frustrating if you are a person that likes to do a lot of research and getting your materials in order.
One of my little secrets is I “percolating” while I sleep and I keep a running list of notes and bookmarks of things I might talk about coming up soon. I also pick a day to gather all my research materials for the week along with creatives I might need.
I am sure you do a lot of this already, but thought I would share just in case. The best part of getting out of your comfort zone is that fact that you always get a great deal of learning about yourself from it. Wishing the best of luck this month and looking forward to dropping back in soon.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Gen, and for your words of advice. Every bit helps! Looking forward to checking out your blog and seeing you around the blogathon this month.
I love to read anything you write! Very much looking forward to some new material.
Aw, thank you, Ashley! Your comment made my morning. 🙂