NaBloPoMo

What is it about a name like NaBloPoMo that would ever make me think that I want to participate in such an activity? The clever abbreviation? The funny sound it makes? You'd think so, and I'm not saying that neither of those played a part peeking my interest, but it was really it's similarity in NaNoWriMo that did the trick.

NaBloPoMo...NaNoWriMo... Considering both of these are activities geared toward those who like to toy around with the written word, one might think better names (or at least names that make sense) would have been selected. None the less, apparently November, in addition to being NaNoWriMo, is now NaBloPoMo. And I couldn't help but want to jump on board.

Let me start at the beginning. A few years ago, back when I was living in Massachusetts, I came across a book called "No Plot? No Problem." This book is written by the creator of "National Novel Writing Month" (affectionately referred to as NaNoWriMo), and it's a guide to doing exactly that: writing a novel in one month. For someone like me, this idea is genius. Writing a book is actually a dream of mine. I love to write, and am completely intimidated by the idea of trying to create a cohesive story out of few cohesive thoughts. This book helps to break down the process to make it less intimidating. The author even admits that his first novel is shoved in the back of a drawer somewhere, not worthy of others' eyes. However, with each passing year and with each completed novel, he has gained more and more confidence in his ability to string together a story.

When I read this book, I was intrigued. I immediately wanted November to come around so that I, too, could join forces in NaNoWriMo. However, by the time the next November came around, I was sailing somewhere in Asia with 600 college students and not enough focus to even try to write a chapter. And when the next November came around, I was settling into a new job and a new home in Los Angeles. And really, after that, it slowly was filed in the back of my mind as something I might do someday in life. Now, I could spend hours talking about all of the things in my life that have been categorized in this same file, but that's really venting for another post.

So, this brings us to today when AJ made mention of something Carmen posted in her blog. And when she arrived in my office, we laughed about the post. And when I went to her blog, she mentioned how it is her goal to post once everyday this month so that she can participate in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Well, intrigued by the similarity of the abbreviation with my aforementioned lovable NaNoWriMo, I had to inquire. Sure enough, it was the same pretense with a different writing outlet. Instead of creating a whole novel, all I needed to do was summon the energy to write something witty (or not even witty, but hopefully readable) once each day. Granted, I'm ten days behind, but since that's quite typical for me, I figured ten days late is better than never.

So here I am. Back on my blog. Now let's see how long NaBloPoMo can keep my interest.