Looking for a fun, festive writing challenge during December? Itching to make aesthetic edit-with-me videos on your NaNoWriMo project?

Maybe you want one last nudge of practice in your creative outlet before starting the new year!

Well, today I’m going to talk about what Blogmas and Vlogmas are all about, and how you can participate!

HOW DO YOU PARTICIPATE?

You may have heard of Blogmas before. It’s a fun writing challenge for bloggers, and you can find it (along with many other writing challenges) in my “Writing Challenges to Keep You Busy for a Year!” post.

Basically, for either the entire month of December, or up until Christmas (the final day being the 24th), you write a blog post daily!

It can be about anything festive or holiday related. However, like with many writing challenges, you don’t have to stick to any strict rules.

Whether you wanna stick to the holiday theme, follow a prompt list, or just wing it: it doesn’t matter, just write.

Plus, you aren’t restricted to just Christmas-themed posts. You can write about whichever holiday(s) you celebrate!

You don’t even have to post anything if you don’t feel like it, make it a journaling challenge instead if you’re more comfortable.

BUT if you don’t have a blog, and you’re interested in starting one, here’s my step-by-step guide on how to create a free WordPress blog!

HISTORY (OR LACK THEREOF)

I’m gonna be blunt here, I have no idea where Blogmas came from.

I looked through other people’s blogs, I searched around for “Blogmas origin” (which Google unnecessarily corrected “Blogmas” to “Vlogmas”), and I used the google tool option to search “Blogmas” within specific dates: no one could tell me where it came from or who came up with it.

All I could really find was Blogmas being mentioned since as early as 2006.

I wasn’t blogging, or even really aware of blogging, around that time. So if anyone reading this does know where or when Blogmas came about, please comment on it below! I’d be interested to know.

VLOGMAS

Unlike with Blogmas, I could actually find out the origin of Vlogmas.

According to the websites CyberLink and Filmora, the first ever Vlogmas upload was done by Ingrid Nilsen (a.k.a. TheGridMonster) on December 2nd, 2011.

Vlogmas is the along the same lines as Blogmas, but instead of writing a post for every day of December, you’re recording a vlog and posting it every day.

Again, it can be holiday-themed, about your daily life, a get-ready-with-me type thing, maybe a write/read with me, or just whatever you feel like.

That’s the fun, creative part!

WHY SHOULD YOU DO IT?

You don’t have to, actually.

Surprised?

Look, you don’t gotta do any writing challenge if you find it more hindering than inspiring.

These types of things are supposed to help jumpstart good writing habits, be a challenge to test your skills, or be something fun to do.

It’s not supposed to be another thing you throw on top of an already flaming pile of to-do lists.

Trust me, I speak from experience.

However, if you find yourself with enough energy and time, this could be a fun experience.

You can find community in others taking part, you can attract new readers (or watchers) to your creative outlet of choice, and improve your skills by creating 24-31 new pieces of content.

It’s a win-win-win!

And I wish you well in your writing endeavors.

Thanks so much for reading, happy holidays, and happy writing!