Happy October!!!

Aaaaaand....we're off!

While I'm still busy cataloging entries and prizes and prompts and trying to get a button made, I wanted to go ahead and say, "Good luck!"  And "You rock!"  And "Yes, we're all crazy!" and "Wheee!"

The blog prompt for today is "Why do you blog?"  You don't HAVE to write about this.  Most of your readers already know.  BUT--you're probably new to a lot of us, so that's what we're going for today.  I'll have a full list later on in the day.

I wish you all happy, stress-free writing and I hope you have a great time.  Thanks so much for joining us!  I look forward to getting to know all of you a little better.

BTW, if you didn't send me an email with your name and info, it's possible that you aren't on the list yet.  So if you just signed up on the Facebook page or on a comment and don't see your name on the 2011 list, shoot me an email so I can make sure we're all accounted for?

Okay?

Okay.

Yay!

UPDATE 1:  I've started to add the bloggers.  If you don't see your blog up by the end of the day, please email me.  No doubt Excel ate the part of my brain where your entry was lodged.

UPDATE 2:  Back at adding bloggers after the soccer game during which I yelled at River for not showing any hustle only to get her back home and find she has a fever.  AWESOME MOM OF THE YEAR AWARD!!!  Anyway, we've got some more entries, so it's going slow.  Not that I'm complaining.  This is excccceeeellllent.

UPDATE 3:  So the kidlet's fever kept going up, so I took her to the after hours clinic and now she's curled up all hot and uggy on my lap while I type around her.  I WILL get you all on here (you, too, WT...and you can sing if you want), but it's gonna take a bit.  Buttons will come, too.  Promise.

Sooooo Close

Hi, muffins!  There are only two days left until the blogging extravaganza begins.  I'd like to grab a few more bloggers, so if you're up for it, spread the word.

1. I'll be updating here all day long, I think, but I wanted to let you know that we now have a Facebook page up and running for those so inclined.  You can find it by...uh...pressing the button over there on the side, or by following this link:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/NaBloWriMo/203905936342372  Go like it and then we'll chat and tell each other what we're doing in the carpool line.  Or share funny Jon Stewart clips.
2. Every year, I get emails from folks on the 30th worried that it's too late.  Or the 1st.  Or the 12th.  My response is always the same.  "No.  No, it is not.  Join us!  Huzzah!"

An Example of a "No Time for Blogging" Post

Hi, my sweets.  No time for a long post today, just wanted to tell you that I've got all of your entries for NaBloWriMo and I'll be sending out email notifications and/or huzzahs later in the evening.  I'm sorry I don't have buttons yet, but I'll get those out as well.  Note to self for next year:  plan ahead so if awesome stuff falls in your lap, you don't let NaBloWriMo get shoved aside.  Anyway, I'm super, super, super excited about it and can't wait to get started.  Please keep spreading the word, y'all.  You rock.

You know that, don't you?

Happy Harvest Moon!

I'm not sure what that has to do with NaBloWriMo, frankly, but it IS the Harvest Moon, so hum a few bars of Neil Young and write me an email to sign up for the October blog-writing festapalooza.  So far, we have ELEVEN writers!  Woohoo!

 A few quick notes:  most of the folks signing up thus far are not down with the categories.  I'll give it a few more days, but far be it from me to pigeonhole y'all if you don't want to pigeonholed.  (Have you ever wondered about the etymological background of that word?  Like...were people actually stuffing pigeons into holes?  That seems a bit extreme.)  Anyway, I'm thinking the categories are going to be nixed.

I'm considering setting up a Facebook page.  What do you think?  Too much?  It might be a good way for us to keep up with each other during the off-season.

We've had several folks offer up crafty goodness, e-books (Yay, Ms. Amy!!), and header designs for giveaway prizes.  Most excellent!

I know, I know, I don't have the buttons ready yet, but I'll have them up by tomorrow, I promise.

Only a couple more weeks, y'all.  Yay!

Hey, y'all.  It's sixty-eight degrees outside right now, which makes me want to rip off all my close and go skipping down the street.

But this post isn't about a potentially middle-aged lady limping around frightening the neighbors (although maybe THAT would get their attention).  Nope, this is a heads up, my loves, because National Blog-Writing Month  is right around the corner.

What's this NaBloWriMo, you say?  (Except for those of you who have been hanging around the NaBloWriMo water cooler with me for a few years now...y'all go ahead and file your fingernails or organize your CDs or bake a lime chiffon pie for a second.)  Well, a few years ago, the incomparable Miz Amy decided that NaNoWriMo shouldn't have all the fun and she started this here festival of bloggy goodness.  The idea is simple:  every day, for a month, you write a blog post.  Any blog post.  You can blog about anything you want: your hubs, your kids, that weird lady who smells the bananas in Hell-Mart...really, the possibilities are endless.  The only catch is that, for the entire month of October, you write an entry every single day.

Is this challenging?  Why, yes.  Yes, it is.  A couple of times last year, my entries were pretty much:  "I'm tired.  The kids are driving me crazy.  I can't find my tea mug."  It was inspiring, I tell you.  And, in fact, there have been years when I DIDN'T write every day.  The whole point of NaBloWriMo is to increase your posting, but we don't exactly come out with sticks and beat you with them if you miss a day or two.

Now, I say the whole point of NaBloWriMo is to increase posting, and that's true enough.  But can I tell you a secret?  The BEST part of it, for me, is meeting new folks and catching up with old friends.  I don't visit blogs like I used to, but I try to make a point, in October, to visit all of the blogs I can every day.  In fact, one thing I realized while I was writing this is that, somehow, NaBloWriMo has come to mean Autumn to me and has settled itself in snuggly as a part of Visiting Season.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!

Ahem.

I've been chatting with a few of y'all about changing things up a little for this year.  Here's what I've got so far:

• We'll be offering the option to categorize yourself this year.  I'll be coming up with the categories based on who signs up.  You WON'T be forced to enter a category.  If you don't want to be pigeon-holed, we are all about you following your bliss, man.  
• We'll be putting up a prompt every day.  This was a sporadic feature last year, but THIS year, I'm gonna look to you guys for some suggestions.  So start sending them in, yo!
• We're considering doing some prizes this year.  Of course, the prizes will come from...uh...US, so if you're craftily inclined or you have some great talent or product you'd like to share with us, let me know.  For example, I might offer up a header redesign with matching background for your blog.  Or I'll edit some of your snapshots.  Or crochet you a groovy scarf.  The prizes might be random and they might be specifically for things like:  funniest post, most thought-provoking post, et cetera.  

Okay, so are you ready?  Are you set?  Here's what you do:

Shoot me an email at nothannah@comsouth.net with the subject line NaBloWriMo Entry.  In the body of your email, tell me your name, the name of your blog, and the category you feel best describes your blog.  (If you so choose, man.)  If the spirit moves you, include a prompt or two.  If you feel like you might be able to contribute a prize, let me know.  (BTW, vendors who contribute will be able to put up a button on the NaBloWriMo site.)  The deadline for entries is Friday, September 30th.  

In a couple of days, I'll have some buttons you can use on your blog to announce your participation and hopefully spread the news.  We grew by leaps and bounds last year, and I'm hoping to break a hundred participants this year.  Well, not break them.

I've already told y'all, this is a violence-free event.  

I mean, we'd like to have a hundred participants.  

You knew that, didn't you?

Yay!  

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!!

12 Hours...

until October, which means twelve hours til NaBloWriMo!  Woohoo!  Break it down!  (Pause for a celebratory dance around the office while I trip over River, who is crouching on the floor sneaking the crumbs out of her bag of Cheetos.)

BTW, YES--you can still sign up.  I mean, it isn't October yet is it?  Wait.  Is it?  Have I missed a day already?  (I kid.)

The irony here is that tomorrow, on the first day of NaBloWriMo, a day which I should devote to writing a blog so fine that it glitters in the sun like RobPat AND reading your glittery blogs, I'll be on a bus with a bunch of UberSmart Children heading toward Dahlonega.  Which means that I'll be writing my inaugural post tonight after I've finished my chores.

Which leads me to a few things:

•  I've added a page up above (in the tabs above the posts...do you see them) with some tips and pointers and whatnot.  If you have a tip to add, please share it with us and I'll add it.  I do plan on posting a prompt every day.
• Don't beat yourself up if you can't post every day.  Are you a human being?  Okay, so stuff happens and sometimes you can't make all your goals.  DON'T let one missed day ruin the whole thing for you so that you sink into a Pit of Despair and refuse to write any more posts for the rest of the month because you RUINED it.  Just write a post the next day, okay?
• All that said, Blogger has a function by which you can write a post and schedule it to be posted later.  That's what I'll do tonight, in fact.  If you have problems figuring out how to do this, email me and I'll help you out.  I'm not sure if the other blogging hosts have these options, but it's definitely worth exploring.
• Please take the time to read your fellow bloggers' work.  I wasn't lying when I said I've met some amaaaazing people through this.  Just pick a few to read here and there and leave a comment if you feel so moved.  We all love comments, right?
• Drink lots of water.  Hydration is important to brain function.
• Leave your chair occasionally.  I mean, seriously.  Nobody wants blood clots due to blogging.
• Floss.  
• I'm not sure why flossing is important in blogging, but there must be a connection somewhere.

Looking forward to writing and reading with you in the next few weeks.  We rock.

A Blog Post Idea

Hello, duckies!  (It's raining here, so it just seems appropriate, ya know?)  Today over at I'm Not Hannah, I posted one of my favorite poems ("Sestina" by Elizabeth Bishop) plus a few quick paragraphs about it.  This is always one of my go-to "I can't think of a post" post-generators.  It isn't always a poem, of course.  I could write about a favorite book, television show, celebrity...the list goes on.  The great thing about this kind of post is that it draws your readers in...it teaches them something about you and offers a way for them to connect with you. Yay, connection!

I've been thrilled with the responses we've gotten so for for NaBloWriMo.  Once again, it appears we've got a great mix of bloggers.  I'm looking forward to writing with you in--gulp--six days.  If you haven't already, please grab a button (and let me know if you need a different color, mkay?) and use it on your blog.  Spread the word!  Huzzah!  UPDATED TO ADD:  It seems a few folks aren't on the list who thought they were.  Please check the sidebar and if your blog isn't showing up, let me know.  Just putting the button on your own blog doesn't register you--I have to add you via a comment or an email to nothannah @ comsouth.net.  *Note to self:  make registering easier next year...Thanks, y'all.

(It's possible I've had too much chai this morning...)

A Very Exciting Update

I'm so excited that so many folks from last year have signed on...and tickled pink at the newbies who are joining us. 

Some folks are expressing hesitation or anxiety or downright coldsweatFEAR about not being able to post every day, to which I want to say...it's okay, pumpkins.  No pressure here.  Plus, I'm thinking of adding a page of prompts or ideas for those days when you sit down at the computer and say, "Meh." 

Because, you know, "Meh" isn't very exciting.  I mean, it would be a blog post--TECHNICALLY--but it probably wouldn't set anybody's world on fire.

Not that you HAVE to set the world on fire with every blog post. 

As I have clearly just demonstrated.  Yay, me.

A Little Inspiration

My music collection is very diverse:  I love everything from Patsy Cline to Jane's Addiction to the Allman Brothers to Outkast to George Winston.  My blog list is the same:  I read Mommy Blogs and Travel Blogs and Political Blogs and Pagan Blogs and Crafty Blogs and pretty much every variation in between.  Thus, it shouldn't really surprise folks that one of my favorites is The Pioneer Woman.  If you're a blogger, you probably have heard of Ree Drummond and the insane success of her blog.  But there's a reason why she's successful.  Or rather, several reasons.  She laid them out for us the other day in this helpful post, but my favorite tip was the first one:

"1. Be yourself.

Write in your own voice.
Write as if you’re talking to your sister.
Unless you don’t get along with your sister.
Or don’t have a sister."

You see what she did there?  She showed us what she was talking about.  Developing your own voice is tough as a blogger, but here's an idea:  why don't you use October as a time to work on doing just that?

Tap! Tap! Is This Thing On?

Hey, folks!  NotHannah here.  In just a few weeks, it will be October...and you know what that means!  (Gorging oneself on Halloween candy before Halloween?  Taking the kids on multiple trips to the fair and cursing the inventor of caramel apples?  Yelling at Hell-Mart employees when the Christmas decorations start going up before the first frost?)

THAT'S RIGHT!  NaBloWriMo!

The skinny for those of you who haven't joined us before:  you sign up and you pledge to write a blog post a day for the month of October.  That's it.  There's no word limit or expectation, so...technically...one supposes you could write "This is my blog post for October 13th" on October 13th and we would all cheer roundly.  Yay!

If you're interested, shoot me a quick email at nothannah at comsouth dot net (squish it all together and add appropriate symbols.)  I'll add you to our list and away we'll go.

I've been doing NaBloWriMo for three years now and have met many wonderful folks while doing so.  I was so PLEASED when the incredibly busy and wonderfully awesome Amy agreed to let me continue the process while she worked her fingers to the bone.  In the upcoming weeks, I'll be working on buttons for you to add to your blogs and a new layout for this one.

I look forward to reading your stuff in October!

Yay!  (Couldn't help myself.)