It’s November 30th, the last day of National Blog Posting Month, 2012!
Whew. What a relief. For real.
Like last year at this time, I am proud to say that I did it! But with slightly less integrity than in 2011.
30 blog posts
One per day
(though this was where I cheated. I tweaked the time of publishing a few nights when I couldn’t post by midnight because it would have necessitated actual bad parenting)
18,429 words written
An average of 614 words per day (rather less loquacious than last year’s 710)
(But if I’m honest, handfuls of those belonged to my three-year-old, the gang at MPAA, and Siri of the iPad)
Most commented post: The Ladies of Election Day
Shortest post: Some images from today + 1 BONUS (86 words) – lettin’ those images speak for themselves
Longest post: Why I Love Belly Dancing (1,341 words)
Runners-up for longest post: A Post About Beauty (1,008 words), Greyphobia: Why can’t I just love my wrinkles? (993 words) and BANG Book Review: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (991 words)
I had several of the same personal FAQ as last year:
Why am I doing this, again?
Because Sean and Skye said I should. And I’m a sucker for anyone who says I should do something because I’m so awesome. 😉
Aren’t my readers getting sick of me?
Yes, definitely. (Except for Sean and Skye, since they have to like it.) One subscriber even asked, with utmost courtesy, if I could please remove her from the notification list, because she enjoys my posts but she’s just too busy. I fully sympathized. But hey – at least I toned down the word count!
Would I do this again next November?
I could probably be sweet-talked into it… But then again, I’ll be back at work by that time, with TWO kids at home. Maybe not.
The Drawbacks:
- I know I missed some baby smiles while blogging. A is getting smilier by the day, and, much as I love her, Serenity never smiles. (Yes, my MacBook has a name. Yes, it’s a Joss Whedon reference.)
- My house got real, real messy sometimes.
- My “To Do” list got real, real big all the time.
- Nursing baby + NaBloPoMo = many hours of BAD POSTURE.
- When trying to eke out enough minutes for blogging during baby’s nap time, I resorted too often to screen time for E. He was stoked about it, of course, but I felt like a bad mama.
- When blogging makes you feel like a bad mama, it’s just not quite as fulfilling.
The Benefits:
- Again, being “obliged” to use this time to exercise my brain was really good, something to look forward to. And I know it’s something a lot of moms with newborns end up having to neglect.
- I was reminded of how lucky I am to have so much help from family around the house right now: this month, Daddy was home for two weeks, and Auntie Em and Uncle Ben both stepped in often. I might have given up otherwise, because E would have been pretty neglected. Siri would probably think she was his mom by now.
- On the up-side of too much screen time for E… he’s getting really good at Tangrams.
- I love connecting with you Di-hards. Getting to do it every day is a privilege.
- This year, in the NaBloPoMo Soup on BlogHer, I stumbled upon Yeah Write… and it’s totally great, you guys. So great, in fact, that it’s getting its own paragraph AND list.
You see, it’s been nice to feel included by adding my posts to the Soup at BlogHer… but BlogHer is hunormous. Overwhelming. I like to click on a few random posts by other bloggers each time I post something, but with a couple hundred contributions posted every day, one ends up actually feeling anonymous. Yeah Write, on the other hand, is a much smaller community, where each week you can submit a post for possible inclusion in a competitive grid, to be judged by the editors and/or the community members themselves.
Why Yeah Write Is Cool:
- Submitted posts have to be 1,000 words or less. Working on my powers of pithiness is always a good idea, and this was really good practice.
- Everyone on Yeah Write is there to write. (Well, duh.) What I mean is, they are GOOD writers. The past two weeks there have been open grids, unmoderated by the editors and voted on by the community. Each of those two weeks, I read every single submission (35-40 of them) so I could vote properly… and let me tell you, even unmoderated, the standard of writing was amazing. Short snippets from the lives of people I’ve never met – stories beautifully rendered that gave me goosebumps, brought tears to my eyes, or made me laugh out loud. I loved it. (But it’s a good thing the grid isn’t open every week, because I can’t always read that many.)
- This is the first time I’ve really been part of a blogging community. I’ve become friends with a few people through mutual blog-reading in the past, but suddenly I get why it’s worthwhile to join up with a blog-gang like this. The whole group is all over each other’s blogs (especially on submitted posts, of course) and they are full of lovely comments – encouragement and feedback on the writing and everything. Wicked-awesome.
- My blogroll is going to be EPIC! I can hardly wait to update it.
My goals for tomorrow:
- Don’t blog.
- Do some other stuff. 🙂
I’ll be back soon, aiming for 2 posts a week (ish).
As always, a thousand thanks for your readership. You’re the best.
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Yeah Write…that’s the first time I’ve ever heard of this…how do you get on that?
Great post by the way, and I know exactly how you feel…I have met some writers and started following them but there’s so many, it seems overwhelming at times…I’m so proud of you, and me!!! We did it! Novembers OURS!!!
Yay, congratulations, Cindy! I’m proud of us too! Hope to see you at Yeah Write (www.yeahwrite.me – it’s all explained when you get there, very simple to sign up).
Congrats on finishing NaBloPoMo! I had very similar pros and cons, since I also have a toddler and nursing baby. I’m enjoying the freedom to just read my blogroll and not have to write something (anything), even if it’s crap.
I told myself when NaBloPoMo was over, the first thing I was going to do was skip a day. But the daily posting has become a habit, and since I posted at 12:24AM today, I just may end up posting tomorrow (therefore not missing a day) after all.
Congrats to you too, Azara! So glad to have met you(r blog). 🙂 And hey, if you’ve got the momentum – more power to you! You are such a good writer.
I’m impressed! I started out to write every day in November (about 700 words) and I made it four days… So yay, you! That’s my Taurus!
I don’t quite see how you figure that this year’s “average of 710 words per day” is “a lot less loquacious than last year’s 710”, but maybe it’s just funnin’.
Mama, you’re right… I just realized I had last year’s number in there and fixed it. You’re so observant. I guess I was procrastinating on the math. 🙂
if a picture is worth 1,000 words, then your ‘shortest’ post is really pretty long at 3,086.
That’s true, Auntie… I could go back and calculate the shortest post while taking photos into account… but I think I’ll skip it. 🙂
Congratulations, Diana! I am proud of you and all the work you put in to this. I knew you could do it. I really enjoyed your posts and look forward to next year! By the way, I got a notification of this post (which was the first one for months, so maybe one of those kinks is worked out! Must be my reward for reading this month.)
Skye, thanks for reading, as always – and thanks for encouraging me. I’m glad I did it, and I don’t think I would have without that encouragement.
Good job, Di! Although I admit I didn’t read ALL your posts, I did read quite a bit. I totally get the exhilaration of exercising your brain as a new mom…I actually journalled quite a bit right after I had Naomi because I needed to work out (word out?) this huge adjustment in my life. Otherwise I might’ve gone completely batty. And I am so glad I did if not only to look back and relive those thoughts and feelings that can so quickly be fleeting. Plus capturing all the hilarious things that babies/toddlers do for a short phase – it would be sad to lose those memories (I have a mental running list of cute/hilarious things that Naomi has done to write down and I know if I don’t I might forget!). And of course, it’s not ALL about the babies – I’ve really enjoyed reading about your other personal interests and topics has definitely made me feel that I’ve gotten to know you better as a person, because although we see each other on a weekly basis, we hardly have the time for chitty chats!
This has inspired me to write more often – as we’ve recently discoursed, I used to be an avid writer – something I definitely do NOT do enough of as of late (being the last 10 years or so). I also made a mental note to come back and visit some of your links mentioned here.
There is something incredibly satisfying about setting a goal and then kicking its ass, isn’t there?
Mary, I totally think everyone should journal when they become a parent for the first time. It’s such a huge life change, I can’t imagine not needing/having that outlet. And you’re right – the baby’s stages fly by so quickly, you have to capture them or they’re gone. I was just saying to my sister how hard it must have been back in the day when you couldn’t even take pictures of your children as they grew! I’m so glad to have the documentation. I look back and can’t believe how much I’ve already forgotten of the things E used to do… sigh.
I understand about neglecting writing habits. I kept diaries devotedly right through university, and then barely wrote for the next seven or eight years. When I took up blogging, my soul was really happy about it. I’m glad you’re inspired to write more – it’s so good for us. (If you ever start a blog, I look forward to reading it!)
I loved November! And I oved getting each and every one of those emails! Some days, it was the only email I would open 🙂
Aw Chris, you make me so happy. 🙂 Lots of love to you, and the whole family.
Yay! To Go Way! 🙂 It was fun to read your posts before I went to bed. Or before you went to bed, and I stayed up for several more hours, more like! Taking a break to read your posts was always fun, even with the ones where I knew almost everything in them. And one day I will be excited to dive into all the great blogginess you have introduced me to!
xox
emerge, I’m honoured that you read my posts even though you had so much to do. Thank you for always being there. And I can’t wait to read your blog(s)!
It’s been wonderful to read all your November posts. Congrats on completing the challenge….and with a new baby too….now that is amazing!!
Beverley, thank you so much for sticking with me! And it’s true that it wasn’t always easy with the new baby – but last year being at work, it was a lot harder. At least being on maternity leave I can do a few minutes of writing here and there throughout the day…