I’m taking part in National Blog Posting Month, or “NaBloPoMo”, for short.
NaBloPo... what?
I first became aware of NaBloPoMo via my former GDS colleague Steve Messer, who is a much more consistent blogger than I, and has participated in it for at least the past couple of years. (Sorry Steve, I haven’t gone to the effort of checking your exact inaugural year. And everyone else, that’s an example of the kind of meticulous fact-verification you should expect from me over the next month.)
As I understand it (read: as this post told me) NaBloPoMo was founded by an American blogger called Eden Kennedy, in response to National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).
It encourages participants to write a blog post every day throughout November, to break away from perfectionist ideals that might otherwise prevent them from sharing their work.
Since “perfectionist ideals” is (are?) my middle name(s?), I thought this year I’d give it a go.
My starting point
I decided to take part in this year’s NaBloPoMo a couple of weeks ago, in a not-entirely-uncharacteristic moment of wildly overestimating my future capacity and enthusiasm for such a venture.
I had visions of breezing up to my desk each morning before starting the day’s work: my hair inexplicably several inches longer, my hands clasped around a mug of something involving turmeric and nut milk, a candle flickering on my windowsill, birds chorusing gently outside, my home office overflowing with hygge and my brain brimming with ideas.
I imagined a carefully organised drafts folder on my desktop, filled with blog posts I had written ahead for the days I lacked time and energy—something suggested helpfully by someone on Twitter.
Instead, I’m sat here at the end of my working day, staring at a can of Pepsi Max (#NotSpon) which represents the only liquid I have consumed all day, feeling a little frazzled and distinctly uninspired. My drafts folder is non-existent and thus devoid of drafts.
But the point of this was to let go of perfectionist fantasies, and so here I am anyway: warts and impending UTI an’ all.
What I’m expecting
I’m expecting and hoping that NaBloPoMo will reignite my sense of creativity at a time when it’s never felt more lacking.
I’m hoping that today and the next 29 will get my writing juices flowing again, because writing is the love of my life and lately I’ve neglected it.
I’m intending to challenge my natural urge to refine my ideas to perfection before sharing them, and to see what happens as a result.
What you should expect from me
I’m going to do my best to stick to this and post daily throughout the month, but I’m going to be flexible with topics. I’m planning to write about a mixture of things, both work-related and personal.
And since one of my objectives here is to challenge my perfectionist tendencies, my writing is probably going to be a little less polished than usual. I’m going to allow myself a quick top-to-bottom proof-read of each post, and then I’m going to hit publish.
Let’s go
And so we begin.
Are you taking part in NaBloPoMo? I’d love to read your posts if you are.
Or, if there’s something you’d like me to write about, let me know—I need all the inspiration I can get.
Get in touch on Twitter or drop me an email at amy.l.hupe@gmail.com.