NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo

There may be a writer in her somewhere!

November starts Tuesday and that's the beginning of the National Novel Writing Month - where thousands of people (maybe even millions, I don't know) pledge to write a novel in a single month. Not necessarily a good one, just a novel of moderate length - the length of "The Great Gatsby." November is also the the next National Blog Post Month by Blogher - the one that has prizes available.

I will not be doing either this year. Don't get me wrong, I think both ideas are great and can help writers to work through writer's block, help you find your voice, exercise some discipline in writing, and much more. Sometimes the output isn't the greatest because it's all about quantity and not quality, but for writers (like me sometimes) who tend to self-edit themselves out of writing at all, it's a really good technique. But this year, I think I'm bowing out of both.

I am just finishing the October NaBloPoMo where I committed to writing a blog post every day. I've been fairly successful - only 2 days of "oops, I posted after midnight" so that's really 2 posts on 1 day. While sometimes it's been hard, it's also been surprisingly easy in some ways. I guess I just like to write. However, after last year's unsuccessful attempt at NaNoWriMo and with as much transition going on in our home, I think it's wiser to ease the pressure cooker a bit. That's not usually my MO though - I'm usually more about adding as much pressure as possible it seems, so I'm trying to keep it real this year.

I do have a great novel idea - still. I do want to write it, but NaNoWriMo just isn't the month to do it this time. And even though the chance for a free Blogher 2012 Conference Pass is oh so enticing, Tripped Up Daddy promises Blogher 12 will still be mine even if I don't do the November NaBloPoMo and won't qualify to be entered into that prize drawing.

I wish all the writers of NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo well. You will make it and it will be great! In the meantime, I may follow the #Iamwriting and #amwriting hashtags on twitter and simply live vicariously. Go on - get writing!