NaBloPoMo

Stargazing with Espen last night. Which has nothing to do with this post, but isn't he lovely?

In case you have been wondering why my blogging rate has kicked into overdrive for the month of November, it is because I decided (on a whim, of course, which is how I make most of my decisions) to take part in NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. It is basically a month long challenge where all participants post daily for the month of November.

NaBloPoMo is also the little sister of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, where people attempt to write a novel in the space of a month. Not something that I am about to undertake! Oh Holy Hannah, can you imagine the run-on sentences and stream of consciousness/flights of fancy in that thing? For the good of literature I shall stick to blogging, I think.

A few thoughts on how things are going, 11 days into the challenge:

• I really enjoy doing a little bit of daily writing. I find that I can jump in faster once I sit down to write, and the words are starting to flow a bit more freely, which makes writing more enjoyable, instead of just a twitchy compulsion that must be fed every once in a while. 
• On the other hand, it's getting harder to come up with topics to write about. I want the things I post on this blog to have a voice of authenticity and to be things I care enough to spend my time writing about, as well as your time as you read it. So posting just to post something and hit my quota is less appealing than taking the time to create a post that really says something I want you to read. 
• It's hard to find the time to write. I either do it in the morning and ignore house and home while the kids get too much screen time, or squeeze it in while Gwen is napping, which is exactly when I should be doing five billion other things besides sitting on my sweet bahonkus, glued to the laptop. Or I write in the evenings while we watch shows together, which means that I keep missing plot points in Castle. Blogging is my thing, my self-indulgence, and I want to make room for it, but I also don't want anyone else to have to make any sacrifices for me to do it, especially not my sweet little family. It's that blasted "finding a balance" thing again!
• I think about blogging and writing a lot. A lot. If something funny or interesting happens, I wonder about making a blog post out of it. If I get into a particularly navel gazey mood, I start writing about it in my head. If I snap a good picture, I look to see if there is a blog post in there. 
• Back to the first hand again, I do enjoy exercising a little bit of self-discipline and working to meet my schedule and deadlines, even if they are largely self-imposed. Seeing that I can meet my goals feels good. Feeling good feels good. 

Anyway, 11 days down, 19 to go! I'm also 13 posts away from hitting my 500th post, which is pretty cool. That's a lot of hours spent picking away at this keyboard. I should celebrate with a new laptop. 

Goodnight!