From the Beyond Bylines Team: Our 2020 Blogging Resolutions

People have been making New Year’s resolutions for over 4,000 years; they’ve evolved from ancient Babylonian promises to the gods to today’s introspective self-improvement goals.

As we usher in a new decade, the Beyond Bylines team is contributing to the tradition.

Here are our writing aspirations for 2020.

Stephanie Donovan, senior customer content specialist  

Looking back on 2019, some of the Blogs We Love topics I wrote about ranged from technology blogs (Artificial Intelligence and Technology) to environmental and nature blogs (Climate Change, Autumn, National Parks, and Lake). My personal favorite topics to dive into were Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Climate Change. I’ve had a number of responses from readers on the AI post in particular, so for 2020, I’m going to try to stretch my comfort level and explore some topics that are outside of my comfort zone. Cheers to a new year!

Oscar Duran, account executive

As a blogger, I’ve evolved in my writing over the years. This last year was my first time writing for Beyond Bylines and it was a great reminder of how much I enjoy being part of a writing team as well as a writer in general.

In 2020, I hope to take a more guided and strategic approach to developing my writing and using blogging as a way to dive back into storytelling.

Jennifer (Davids) Flynn, senior customer content specialist

I did a lot of writing in 2019 — for 2020, I’d like to develop more of a consistent writing process. I’d also like to learn more about the editing process in general and what to do after the piece is written, like selecting multimedia and sharing to social.

Kim Garrison, web engagement project manager, rooms

For 2020, my resolution is to generate more ideas for blog posts.

It’s always been a huge help to have topic suggestions from editors and other members for inspiration, but I would like to contribute more by coming up with additional topics to write about. Supplementing additional photo-related ideas also will encourage me to write more frequently for the blog.

Erienne Muldoon, senior customer content specialist, Virtual Press Office

My blogging resolution for 2020 is to tackle topics that I’ve never written about before.

Being able to bring a professional, creative lens to a personal hobby or favorite area of interest, like food, sparks joy for me.

In 2019, I was lucky enough to get to write about everything from fashion to press freedom, and I’m looking forward to exploring tough topics – such as election coverage – next year.

Rocky Parker, manager, audience relations

2019 was a big year for me. Being relatively green to the blogging world, I took over management of the blog and its talented group of writers in the second quarter. After getting over the initial fear of the task, I found myself really enjoying working with the contributors, coming up with ideas for the editorial calendar, editing posts, and creating art.

The challenge helped me grow a lot as a writer and a leader. In November, Beyond Bylines was named No. 12 on the Top 50 Journalism Blogs & Websites by Feedspot – the third consecutive year for this honor. I want to do all I can to keep us on that list.

In 2020, I want to continue my growth as blog manager. I want to work with the contributors more to brainstorm story ideas and help them meet their own writing goals. I also plan to improve my social media skills to effectively promote the blog and help new readers find the content that we work so hard to produce.

Maria Perez, director, audience website ops

I’m a by-the-book blogger, so my posts tend to have the same format and style. For 2020, I’m looking to be bolder and experiment with different formats and voices. I really want to get out of my comfort zone this coming year and shake things up!

We can’t wait to share more stories with you in 2020!

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Erienne Muldoon is a senior customer content specialist for Virtual Press Office, PR Newswire’s trade show marketing solutions division. When she’s not advising clients on storytelling best practices, you can find her tweeting about Cleveland, PR, and video games @ECMuldoon.