#Blogjune 2013- unplugged, embedded, and over!

Blogjune is a challenge in the truest sense, and there is always a sense of relief when it ends. At the end though, I am always grateful as my RSS feed (thank you Feedly) expands with new blogs to read!

As a librarian who blogs, I don’t always blog about libraries, and I am always amazed at how people will maintain the momentum of publishing  great posts related to libraries.  Hoi’s library quiz, asking questions about librarianship was a great example, as was Peta’s A-Z of library terminology. Michelle’s Connecting Librarian’s reflective posts are always an inspiration. The concept of the embedded librarian was discussed with applications in information literacy provoked a great deal of interest.

Looking at the real world and discussing its applications to libraries is always inspiring. Ellen’s series on signage and its library applications and Janice’s posts on GovHack certainly made me reflect about the need to seek ideas from outside the library sphere.

People’s experience with MOOCs and online learning and the ANZm23things posts prove that we are still passionate about extending ourselves and enhancing our professional and geek skills.

While this is a challenge which is librarian driven, I really love the personal posts about people’s interests and their families. Seeing people’s families and pets (cue the emergency pet blog post), Tony and Penny’s learning to crochet, and people’s travel and shopping experiences are great to read. Fiona’s musical challenge is always a highlight of blogjune for me, and seeing and hearing about where people live is always a pleasure.

The inevitable book collection posts saw people show off their cookbook collections and show off their book collection, one book at a time :).

There were lots of posts on the craft of writing and wondering about what to write when your ideas dry up. The solution to keep on writing regardless and you will not only write your way out of a slump, but generate a blog post was done with gusto :).

One post which struck a chord with me was Con’s first post on being unplugged. It’s definitely something I have to do more often, if only for my eyes which get a wee bit strained looking at a screen. I feel significantly calmer if I haven’t been in front of a screen all day as well.

I loved reading everyone’s posts and looking at people’s image posts on Tumblr. I did find it tricky to comment sometimes (grrr with captcha and other blogger hoops), but I find the interaction of commenting fosters collegiality. I thank everyone that took the time to leave comments on my posts :).

I was thankful for other people’s post to inspire me and memes certainly helped. I was also able to finish off several drafts in my folder- most of the book reviews were for #AWW2013, so my posts had a double purpose for being published.

The last week was hard for a myriad of reasons. I wasn’t so much losing my desire, but I was operating out of my comfort zone. I was staying at my parents and blogging from my tablet or my phone. A close family member also passed away and much of the blogging energy was diverted.

The strange thing was, blogging had become a habit and and I needed it. It helped me escape from the week that was quite tumultuous. I have always found reading to be a refuge and reading people’s posts was a part of that refuge.

So thank you for reading, and thank you for blogjune.