Day the Last: Thought on Writing a Blog Post Every Day

Well, I did it.  We did it.  Woohooo!!!! All rigght!!!!! Break it down!!!!! 

*Pause for celebratory butt-shaking.*

Now, let's get down to brass tacks.  In list form, because it's what I do best, people.

1. Many, many of us wrote every day, which is awesome.  (No, I didn't count because I was busy making Halloween costumes yesterday and today my dining room is covered up in chopped up khaki pants and green gauze and checking on the posting stats of 70-plus blogs seems crazyface.)  Many, many of us wrote ALMOST every day or at least three times a week, and that's awesome, too. Not quite as awesome as the posting every day thing, but you catch my drift.  In case you DIDN'T catch my drift, here it is:  writing every day when you also have life going on can be hard.  But when writing every day becomes PART of your life, then it isn't quite as hard and makes you realize that if you put in even a tiny bit of effort, you can write more.  I hope that regardless of how much you wrote (or didn't write), you learned something about yourself as a writer.
2. Having said that, I must be honest and admit that there were a few days when I wrote complete garbage.  I can safely say that there were eight entries that had no value at all, or so little value that it's pretty hard for me to understand why I even wrote them at all.  At the same time, those entries are in some ways even MORE valuable to me, because they signal that I was committed to doing this thing and I did it, no matter how time-constrained or tired or worried I was.  See, I'm a planner.  I have a million plans and very few of them come to fruition because I fail to work at them, even a little bit.  So even the tiny bit of effort it took to write a post like this signals something more:  commitment to a project.  I NEED that affirmation, so I'm totally going to claim it.
3. Because of the bigger scope of NaBloWriMo this year, I did a craptastic job of reading your posts.  Or writing my other blog.  Or writing THIS blog, because I was too busy writing my own and reading as many of yours as I could.  I definitely think that next year, we'll try to have a different system set up (if Amy's okay with it) that will involve some categorization of some kind that will make it easier to be readers of blogs.  Not sure what to do about the other blog or any other projects that come along, although I think that my November resolution of staying off of FB so much and working on WRITING instead will help with this.
4. BTW, good luck to all of you who are attempting NaNoWriMo this year.  May your 50,000 words come easy and be good.
5. About posting every day (wheeeee!  Welcome to my Stream of Consciousness!):  I think that I'll keep trying to do this on INH, but instead of writing crap, I'll post pictures.  Believe me when I say that I have so many pictures on my computer that it's pretty ridiculous for me NOT to post them.  And I think that posting pictures not only brings your readers "in," it also allows for some great creativity.
6. I'm wondering if any of you would like to have a monthly (or weekly) NaBloWriMo "reunion."  Maybe every Wednesday or the tenth of every  month, we can write a post specifically dedicated to blogging or writing.  (This would be cheating for me, as I already try to write about writing every Wednesday.)  Let me know what you think, mkay?

That's all, folks.  I'm editing Halloween pictures right now for my I'm Not Hannah post for today and will spend the rest of the day digging out my dining room, shopping, and baking for the month ahead.  I'll miss seeing some of you and look forward to reading more of some of you. 

Thanks for this month.  It has been a beautiful learning experience.

2010 Day 14: I Wrote An Entire Post About Cheese

There's really nothing to say other than that, is there?

Cheese, people.

Cheese.

2010 Day 13: Whoa--Five Days?

Sorry it's been so long since an update here--I find that between I'm Not Hannah, Divining Women, and other writerly projects, this one (which actually takes so little time) gets the brunt of the inattention.

Just wanted to give you all a big thumbs up--you're doing great.  I'm enjoying getting to know some of you and getting to know some of you better.  (Here's a weird thing--I find I'm commenting much less on my NaBloWriMo friends' blogs.  I guess it's because I've known them longer and know that they probably are doing the same thing.  Y'all know I luff you, right?  Right.)  So many folks writing so many words...it actually is inspiring tonight's I'm Not Hannah post.

Writing prompt for today:  Describe your ideal writing setting.  Now--tell us if that's where you do your writing.  In other words, does your current office/nook/den/whathaveyou meet the needs you have as a writer?

2010 Day 8: Gearing Up For the Weekend

Whew.  Weekends are hard, aren't they?  So much to do, so much time needed to be spent spending the time with people you didn't spend enough time with during the week. 

And the laundry.  The awful, awful laundry.

Tomorrow, I'll be spending time at the huge fair that comes to our town for two weeks every year.  It is the only time of year that I wholeheartedly love this town, because I love the fair so much that I would marry it if it wasn't, you know, illegal.  And if I had room in my house for all the llamas and cows and...um...ferris wheels. 

I don't know what I'll post tomorrow.  Pictures of the kidlets from fairs past?  Maybe just pictures from the fair, in general.  Saturdays seem like good days to post pictures:  you take pics of the day, you download them when all is said and done, you slap them down on your blog page, and you're done.

Hope you all have lovely--and bloggable--weekends.

2010 Day 7: Woohoo! One Week!

Check us out!  Many of us have written every day on our "main" blogs, most of us have managed at least five days, and almost everybody has written at least once. 

There are always a few folks who sign up and then feel overwhelmed and can't seem to get up on the horse.  It happened to me at least once.  If you're one of the former, yay!  If you're in the middle, yay!  If you haven't written as much as you planned...well, not yay, because you probably (if you're like me) feel down on yourself (or defensive or frazzled or some other negative emotion.)  If you ever DO feel that way, remember that this isn't really a contest--it's a challenge.  NaBloWriMo is a way of testing yourself, determining how much you CAN write on any given topic if you put your mind to it.  So maybe you've found out that writing every day is too difficult for you.  That's okay, right?  We'd still like to keep up with you or get to know you, so even if you haven't been as verbose as you had planned, you can always start today.

BTW, tomorrow will be the last day I add writers.  I'm thrilled with our turnout--SEVENTY-FOUR at last count--but without a new system, it's hard to process so many.  I got some great suggestions about this conundrum, from "leave the system be" to "oh, yeah, catalog this mess." I think that next year, I'll have an actual (short...very short) form for bloggers to fill out, with some basic categories they can choose to drop themselves into.  The reasons for this are pretty simple:  as somebody pointed out, seventy-four bloggers writing every day (or almost every day) is an overwhelming reading task.  I know there are some of you, particularly those in different time zones, that I haven't gotten to, simply because when I steal a moment to read, you're so far down the list that I give up.  (Perhaps I should start in the middle...:D)  So the topic suggestion for today is one I found in comments:  on Saturday or Sunday, how about a list of the blogs you've read this week that are interesting to you?

In any case, y'all are doing great.  I hope you're enjoying writing and reading as much as I am. 

2010 Day 5: Quick Post Before I Get My Nerd On

My indie movie nerd on, because FINALLY I get to watch 500 Days of Summer.  Woohoo!

How about a post in which you discuss who would play you in a movie?

Glad to see you all...let me know if I've missed adding you--Blogger was weird to me today.

2010 Day 4: A Question For Bloggers

Today, we made it up to SIXTY-FIVE bloggers.  Yes, I'm still adding bloggers if they want to join (and correcting mistakes...sorry, Danette. :(  ) The more the merrier, right?

I was wondering, because I have some sort of awful organizational disorder, if next year, we might want to ask folks to categorize themselves.  NOT because we should pigeonhole folks, but because it might make it easier for folks to find folks who write like them.  OR who DON'T write like them.  OR who write about things that are interesting to them.

Of course, I don't know exactly how I'd categorize myself.  Mommy blogger?  Occasional writing blogger?  Blogger of Aspie issues?  Bemoaner of all things Glenn Beckian-type blogger?  I don't know...it's just an idea.  Let me know what you think.

I've seen a few of you writing introduction-type posts and I LOVE this idea.  I also like the idea of posting the picture that says the most about you.  For me, it'd probably be something like this one:

This is a picture of my father's mother, Evelyn.  We call the land by the river that is so important to us "Evelyn's Eden" in her honor.  I see myself in the way she's sitting and in the curve of her arms and wrists.  But even more, I see my little girl in her face, in that delicate hawk nose and those arching eyebrows.

Anyway, something like that...

Edited to add:  I want to thank y'all for taking the time to comment on each others' posts.  I've noticed your comments and I love the dialogues that are opening up.  Let's all hold hands and sing something soothing in a round.  (Sorry...got a little too shmooshy there.  Sarcasm is my shield.)  Night night.  

2010 Day 3--Give Your Readers A Preview

Hey, y'all!  It's been a crazy end to a crazy week, with Sunday winding up to be just as insane, with a trip to the bookstore AND a case of suspected pinkeye AND boiled peanuts.  (Five pounds, in case you were wondering.)  (The peanuts, not the pink eye.)  (Do you think I'd tell you something that gross?)

My post at I'm Not Hannah is a poem post, but I think Sundays are great days to share your plans for the week ahead.  People love to know what you are aiming to do for next week--and they love to share that info with you. 

I've noticed a lot of you are managing to keep up the pace so far--and nearly everybody has posted at least once.  We are super cool, are we not?  Remember to visit and comment and share the love.

Have great weeks.

2010 Day 2: A Request and Some Suggestions

Holy social media, Batman, we have got ourselves a TON of writers this year.  I'm dizzy from it--aren't you?  We're pretty much a movement, people.

I didn't post a blog prompt today, which is super not-awesome of me, I know.   Busy, busy, busy, yada, yada, yada.  I'll start posting the prompts tomorrow, I promise.  In the meantime, check out Rad's suggestions for being a consistent writer, which are super-awesome:  http://kowthas.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/10-secrets/

In past years, I've tried to read every blog every day, but I doubt I can do it this year.  You guys are doing GREAT so far, and with so many of you posting, it's hard for me to catch everybody.  Do me a favor, would you, and try to swing by folks' blogs and leave a comment if you are so moved.  I know I've said it before, but it really does mean a lot, doesn't it?  Yeah.

Have good nights and I'll see you tomorrow!

Wheeeee!

I've spent the entire day with a busload full of gifted eight-year-olds, having gotten up at four in the morning to do so.  To say that I'm a little...out of it is an understatement.

BUT I was thrilled to see all of the messages and comments and rest assured, if you signed up today and commented or emailed me, I will get you on the official list and have you added as soon as I can.  (Which might mean tomorrow, as I am not entirely sure that I'm not dreaming the writing of this...)

PLUS--if you're coming late to this and want to sign up, please feel free to take the plunge, even if it's a bit late.  Just email me at nothannah at comsouth dot net and let me know which blog you're going to be working on this month.   We'd love to have you.

Thank you all.  Have fun writing and reading!!