NaBloPoMo: 10 Things About It For Which I’m Grateful + 3 Other Points

/ Ally Bean
  • It reminded me of why I don’t do a daily blog anymore. Too. Much. Sitting. Still.
  • It allowed me to meet some new-to-me bloggers who were doing this challenge, too.
  • It made me realize how small my world was before the internet– back when geography and genetics were my only links to people.
  • It encouraged some of my lurkers to reveal themselves with a like or a comment.
  • It got me laughing at myself & others as we struggled to do this challenge.
  • It confirmed that posting on Sunday is never worth it for me.  I hate doing it & my readers don’t do Sunday blogging.
  • It gave me the opportunity to write some new types of posts.  For better or for worse.
  • It showed me that despite my disinclination to use YouTube videos in my posts, doing so was well-received.
  • It provided me with a space to share some of my photos that I’d have never posted otherwise.
  • It forced me to re-evaluate whether blogging is worth the bother.  My conclusion?  It is… when done no more than three days per week.

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1. I have to wonder if November is the best time of year for NaBloPoMo.  I understand the history of this challenge so I get why it’s in November.  But honestly, November is filled with lots of other things to do, often involving travel, that make it extra difficult to finish NaBloPoMo.

Instead, I’d like to nominate February as the official NaBloPoMo month.  It’s a short month– with a good heart— typically filled with fewer distractions than November.

2.  I found this year’s NaBloPoMo blogroll to be frustrating.  As I have done in past years, I intended to use it to find new bloggers.  However, when I clicked on many of the links, I discovered the blogger had done nothing– or only posted a couple of days.

I realize that NaBloPoMo uses the honor system, but couldn’t someone at Blogher go through the blogroll at least once and weed out the faux participants?  I, for one, would appreciate it.

3.  I saw quite a few bloggers just do this challenge without signing up.  I joined NaBloPoMo officially because I had hoped that by signing up on Blogher I’d get encouragement from & interaction with lots of other bloggers within that forum.  But that didn’t happen [see points 1 & 2 above] which left me feeling somewhat alone while doing NaBloPoMo.

If I ever do this challenge again, I’m going to embrace my natural inclination to not conform just because I’m supposed to and follow the lead of those who refuse to belong– where ironically this year I found bloggers who were the most supportive of my efforts.

18 thoughts on “NaBloPoMo: 10 Things About It For Which I’m Grateful + 3 Other Points”

  1. I did NaBloPoMo last year (as you know) and I’d no idea that you were supposed to sign up! You are right that November is full of distractions and February would definitely be a better time; a good way to get things moving again after the dull days of January and in anticipation of spring. Didn’t manage it this year due to distractions – really glad you’ve done it, I enjoy reading your posts.

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    • Polly, you’ve explained it well. It would fill in the time nicely btwn dull winter & happy spring. Or at least it would in the Northern Hemisphere!

      Thanks for reading along. I appreciate it. Maybe next year you’ll try it again?

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  2. I have never done it. November is a bad month for me and I really prefer to post when inspired with something of value. Sometimes those who are doing it daily post things not worth reading.

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    • kate, you’ve hit the nail on the head with that thought. I posted everyday but felt like some of it was rubbish. I’m at my blogging best when I go with the flow of my life– and commit to posting here on certain days of the week.

      I like to post on Tues, Thurs &/or Sat, so I check-in with myself on those days to see if I have anything to post about. If I do, I write something. But if I don’t I pass on the opportunity. It’s a schedule/plan that seems to work for me.

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  3. Hey Ally. I have had some of the same thoughts as you about how hard it is to blog every day. I enjoy blogging, when it is on my time schedule. I am not a blog-everyday person. However, it is always good to stretch ourselves from our comfort zone now and again. I did go check out the NaBloPoMo site, but it didn’t interest me to sign up. I really don’t know why. I guess because I have been blogging for a while, trying to get more attention to my blog isn’t a top priority for me any longer. I just do it for me, really. I have heard that if you blog everyday you will get more people stopping by. I haven’t really found that to be true. So why put that extra pressure on myself? I am glad I committed to do this, though, because I do read a handful of bloggers every day to see what they have posted instead of checking in once or twice a week. That is what I have enjoyed the most about this challenge.

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    • Cheri, I joined in officially because I thought that I’d be more inclined to follow thru with this project if I said I was doing it so publicly. It seemed like a good way to get out of my blogging comfort zone. And overall it was.

      But I realize now that I can motivate myself to do this sort of challenge on my own. So I’ll be a free spirit about it should I ever decide to do it again. Preferably in February.

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  4. I like your February idea. I think they chose November to coincide with NaNoWriMo but don’t you think it would be better to not have them in the same month? It was a lot more fun the first couple years. I’m sure it was a lot of work for Ms. Kennedy but the big automated thing at Ning and Blogher doesn’t have the same feel. Still, I’ve met some of the coolest people through NaBloPoMo and I almost regret not participating this year.

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    • Zazzy, I get the reasoning. As I recall the first year NaBloPoMo was kind of a joke. [In fact somewhere in my files is a post I wrote about it where I made a joke about the joke.] But as you said, now that it’s all automated/impersonal, it has changed. Or at least that is what I found to be true this year.

      I’m glad that I did it & I have meet some cool people, but somehow this year the challenge has left me cold. And reflective.

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  5. Feb would be so much better! Love the analysis of your participation. Everyday posting is too stressful – and I know it can be done, but for me I’d rather post when I have something to say or something amuses me…I’ve seen some blogs get lame under the must post rule. And there’s jsut so much time if you enjoy reading blogs as well as writing
    This was well worth the time to stop by!

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  6. I had the same thought about Feb. We’d be finished now..
    November is an awkward time with Christmas coming up. I struggled to post every day, but probably when finished and there’s no pressure it will be easier to post as and when. I tended to keep hold of stuff I wanted to post in case I ran out of ideas later.

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    • Carol, I did the same thing with little notes all over the place… just in case. I think that in February I’d be less scattered in my own life, so I could focus better on the challenge without worrying each morning about: WHAT DO I POST TODAY?!

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  7. I totally agree with you on the timing of NaBloPoMo. It was indeed to coincide with NaNoWriMo (which has the worst timing ever). Even better (or worse), this past year was the third year my husband “won” (meaning he finished) and I found out last year when I did my first and only NaBloPoMo having the two of us with hard deadlines at the same time the month before Christmas wasn’t the best idea. Like you, I also signed up officially and honestly didn’t get a whole lot out of it. I’m better doing my own thing! 🙂 The good news though is that he just published his first book (the 2010 draft), so there might be something to that whole NaNoWriMo thing…

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      • Words to live by, indeed! 🙂 Awesome about my husband’s book! It’s really great (it’s a genre I would never, ever read normally) and it’s all been professionally edited and typeset and has original cover art. Plus my husband’s been a writer for a million years, so I can promise you the writing is really good. His next books are I think about demons (the 2011 draft) and about the Grim Reaper (2012 draft) – I don’t know where he comes up with this stuff – but this book is really a love story (sort of) with zombies. I can’t wait to see what you think! 🙂

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