Monday, August 29, 2011

NaBloPoMo

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The idea seems to be that pretty much anyone's first novel is going to be bad, so you might as well write it and get it over with by giving yourself permission to write "laughably awful yet lengthy prose." Making it a shared event is a lot more fun, too. So a bunch of people (there were 200,000 in 2010) sign up with their intention to write at least a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. That averages out to around 1700 words per day, which is perfectly doable for those with words to spare and a willingness to unite with others in foregoing perfection.

I love the idea. My husband is the one who introduced me to it, and he encouraged me to join in. He forgot something, though -- I don't have a novel to write or the desire to do so. Fiction is also beyond me, it seems, especially sustaining even a semi-coherent plot for that long.

And so, persistent and encouraging fellow that he is, my husband introduced me later to NaBloPoMo -- National Blog Posting Month. Like its novel-writing cousin, NaBloPoMo emphasizes consistency above quality. Fiction or nonfiction, short or long, sustained plot or completely disjointed, and all with a commitment of posting daily for just one month -- that I can do. I decided to try it. Yesterday marked one full month of posts, and I plan to continue through Wednesday to mark a calendar month, too. (That's like posting for two months, right?)

This discipline has pushed me to put words to experiences, and that has been good. Questions have come to mind along the way. Why do I blog? Where does this intersect with other writing, and where is it best to keep some separation? What is worth writing? And how much am I simply adding to the excessive digital noise of our culture? The questions themselves are good to ponder, too.

This paragraph is where I would put a conclusion, something to offer a satisfying conclusion to what has been written already. That's part of good writing, right? But I haven't reached a conclusion in much of this; there are still plenty of thoughts in process. Even more, I've got places to go and people to see, and that is a higher priority right now. And so, happily aligned with the philosophy of imperfect daily posting, I will declare this point to be...
The End.

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