Perhaps I'm leading into December with a bit too much drama...because the numbers that participated in NaBloPoMo were somewhere around 6,200...and how many blogs are out there? Sixty million, I think? —ish? So I'm quite sure the blogiverse is still movin' and shakin' and hoppin' pretty good.
But my Google Reader doesn't have smoke pouring out of it like it did almost every day last month. There are posts trickling in here and there, but it's quieter. And it should be. I think many people are taking the day, or the weekend, or the next month off.
I'm sure there are some people who flew through the month without giving it a second thought. And there are some who struggled and toiled and maybe missed a day or two, because sometimes the day just gets away on you. Still others probably thought, "Blogs are stupid. Who'd wanna pay that much attention to a dumb blog, anyway??" (they probably weren't NaBloPoMo'ers.)
When I signed up in late October, I thought, "I can do this. I hope I do this. Can I really do this?" That was after ignoring this particular plot of cyber real estate for a good month and a half, and I honestly wasn't sure. Then...a few days in, I knew I could do it.
Several times during the month, my brain hurt, and my eyes got itchy, and thoughts raced through my head that said, "...what the hell am I going to write about tonight?" And then I found some words. Maybe not Pulitzer Prize-winning, perhaps not even blogosphere-worthy words. But...words. Some of them I'm actually pretty happy with. So it was a good exercise. Peel away the garbage, and at least something I wrote this month made me say, "Yeah. I can hit "Publish" now."
Now I have to see how well I keep up without the structure. Some nights in November, I was scrambling to put a little polish on an entry, and posted it at 11:42, or 11:47, or...11:54. Eeesh! Close calls. I don't have that once-a-day deadline anymore. If I happen to publish at 12:17am, tough shit, right? What I don't want to do is ignore this again...for weeks at a time.
Speaking of structure...the vague foreshadowing that I mentioned in last night's post is ultimately going to foreshadow, um, nothing. (bad use of foreshadowing, isn't it? remind me to take a foreshadowing workshop in the new year.)
As I was poking around on the BloPo forums last night, reading about everyone's victories, someone mentioned something called Holidailies, which is essentially another post-a-day challenge, from December 1 to January 1, on a much smaller scale than NaBloPoMo. As soon as I saw it, I was going to sign up right away, and keep the consecutive streak going.
But then I gave it a bit more thought as I ran some errands last night, came home and wrote that entry and gave it even more thought...and decided not to make it official. I'd love to stop by this blog on a daily basis, but I know I'm going to miss some days in the very near future. Simply because...because. I'm tired. And I'm pretty happy being a NaBloPoMo survivor. (although I'm tired of writing BlahBlahBlahBlah.)
Some people from November are even setting up a Blog365 project, which is...yep, you guessed it...every day for a year. While I applaud their effort, I won't even kid myself into thinking I can do that. I'm firmly behind the whole "writers should write every day" mantra, but writers should also be lazy on the couch once in a while, too. At least, this writer should.
This challenge has been a blast, and I've discovered some writers that make me say, "I wish I knew verbs like that." That's been a huge part of the fun, and I've got a list of about 6,000 other bloggers I can explore whenever I feel the urge, or get snowed in for seventeen straight days.
To the new people who've stopped by to say "hi," or "great post," or "you suck,"...I appreciate the comments. I'll try to suck less. And to those bloggers whose words I've become addicted to...hurry back. Or I'll start lobbying for you to join Blog365 so I get to read what's rattling around in your brains every day.
I'd close this long, rambling wrap-up with an inspirational push like, "Blog on!", but...
...how lame would that be?
"You will never change your life until
you change something you do daily."
—Mike Murdock
"I wish I knew verbs like that."
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly.
For me, I discovered I liked the monthly blogging goal. This month I have the goal of working on something creative every day, not necessarily blogging.
I hope you do continue to blog daily because I like it here, and it's not just because you're from WI, though that does play into it.
SBW
It is okay, I am a blogaholic now. I feel its like the Truman Show with words.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I also thought about continuing the daily post thing for a bit longer, but then decided that daily blogging is keeping me from writing other things and so I chucked the idea in favor of having the ability to write outside of the blogosphere.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, congrats on NaBloPoMo! Fingers crossed one of us wins a prize..:)
Congrats on your successful completion of NaBloPoMo - your performance was exemplary and you blog entertaining. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog because of the challenge but if you don't mind, I'm going to stick around a while.
And anyone who would sign up for a 365 day challenge is just nuts.
SB
SBW...Do you have ties to Wisconsin, other than crossing the border into Hudson to buy beer? *L* Either way, glad to see you stop by once in a while. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteMrs. White...As far as I can tell, neither of our blogs were on the list of prize winners. Personally, I think we got hosed. :O) But it was a fun month even without the reward of a prize.
Scott...By all means, pull up a chair and get comfortable. And thanks for the kind words. I'll do my best to continue to give this thing some attention on a nearly daily basis. (certainly not 365 in a row!)