Who’s up for a challenge?

Since my stroke almost 6 years ago, I have challenged myself. First to say my first word and get my voice back. Then to be able to communicate my basic needs to my family and my medical care team. To then go back into the community and participate in life.

For the past couple of years I have participated in the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Four times a year this challenge is offered by Paul Taubman, the Digital Maestro. Any blogger who wants to increase their readership, improve their website and connect with other bloggers can register and participate. The challenge is to write a post every day for a month, post it on the challlenge site and read and comment on at least two other fellow blogs.

If you already know my story, you know this is a real challenge for me. Not only could I not speak after the stroke, but had significant trouble reading and writing. I have a language disorder called aphasia. And two speech disorders, apraxia or speech and dysarthria.I have used this challenge as a way to improve both reading and writing. I have fully completed the challenge X times and have started X. In the beginning I only focused on posting a blog every week. I’m not completely sure what my goal is for this month’s challenge but I’ll let you know as the month goes on.

Lately I’ve been wondering about my “niche” for the blog and my podcast. I started the blog to document my journey since the stroke. As a tangent I hoped that anyone who happened to find it and read it would be helped (gain some knowledge of what happens after a stroke, learn more about preventing a stroke or understand what is like to live with communication challenges and know that there is hope to live our very life still) I suspected that who I really wanted to connect with - other people with aphasia, apraxia or dysarthria- would not find it and then not read because they like me have issues with reading and comprehension. That’s one of the reasons I started my podcast. And that’s definitely why I started my facebook support group.

One of the things that attracted me to the Ultimate Blog Challenge was the chance to learn how to promote my blog. So far I haven’t reached many people but I’m here and still trying. Let’s see what this month brings.

I’m looking forward to connecting with the other participants in the UBC and sharing more with my faithful readers. I so appreciate your support!

Until next time….