Guest post by Dawno

Once in a while, we like to hand the reins over to a guest blogger and see where they take us. This time, one of our blog partners, Dawno, takes over to talk about inspiration…

Dave presented me with an opportunity to contribute as a guest blogger a while back, and ever since, I’ve been trying to come up with something I thought was worthy of the wonderful Rings & Things blog audience. Well, the other day I realized that I’d been looking for ways to stay inspired, not only in designing, but for blog topics as well.

…guest blog post

I went through a bit of a dry spell on my blog earlier this month, and by deciding to focus on a new series of design ideas and posts, I think I’ve got my groove back. Then it occurred to me, why not write about that for Rings & Things?

So, to give a little background, in January I did a series of 18 Valentine’s Day projects, the first one was inspired by my Rings & Things Blog Partner goodies for January. One of the sets of gunmetal filigree Dave sent were heart shaped and perfect for a Valentine’s Day design. Indeed, many of the next few posts featured items from that great goodie bag.

This month I’ve started a new series about using up the stash of beads I have accumulated instead of constantly buying, using and blogging about new purchases. Not that I’ve been able to quit buying beads altogether – that’s just asking too much! One of the great things about being a blog partner for Rings & Things, though, is that I can still look forward to new beads to play with when they send a new month’s goodies!

I can foresee an entire calendar full of series I could do. And, “Hey!” says the little voice in my head “Maybe actually *making* a series inspiration calendar would help keep me focused and on track.” What a concept! I need to listen to that voice more often. By the way – that thought just came to me as I was writing this, so I haven’t done it yet.

Back to the “calendar of series ideas” I think you can see where I’m going with it. For example, March has St. Patrick’s day, April usually has Easter, and also the Vernal Equinox or first day of Spring. May is great for a look ahead to summer; patriotic designs for Memorial Day wouldn’t be out of place, either.

I could go on and on. The focus might be the birthstone of the month or a holiday or just something like picnics, sailing, or a day at the beach, for the month of August. And lest I be too U.S. focused, I could start researching the holidays and seasonal traditions around the world…or do a different series each month about different countries…man, the ideas are endless! I’m getting excited and inspired to create and write about it already.

One thing I will say in closing, as a blogger to those of you who also blog, I wasn’t certain how much my blog’s visitors increased as a result of running a series. I hadn’t been checking my stats lately, since I decided that I’d rather enjoy the act of blogging and stop hoping I might actually grow an audience, as well as wondering why I wasn’t. I guess I could try a bunch of SEO tricks, or, if I had time, do more marketing of myself.

But, at the end of the day, I just like writing how and what I write, and sharing who I am and what I love to do. I’m enormously grateful for the 40 or 50 visitors a day I average, and especially to the ones who comment frequently. (Dave, Tish, Lisa, Davinia, Ruby, you keep me going!) Thank you, again, Dave, for the opportunity to chat with your audience, hope there was a bit of inspiration somewhere in all that for them!

Thanks, Dawno, and I hope our readers will find extra inspiration in your ideas about running blog series as well as letting themselves just enjoy blogging…