Whew! What a busy writing month. As an English teacher and high school literacy coach, I love the fun and frenzy of November. As a writer/reader it drives me crazy!!
It's National Novel Writing Month. What's that, you ask? It's crazy. Once upon a time someone had the nutty idea to get off his/her writing block by writing an entire novel in only one month. Never mind that it would be crappy, with plot lines dangling all over the place and needing editing galore, at least the dang thing would be written. Our fearless writer bravely posted his/her intentions online, and before you know it, others were inspired to join in. National Novel Writing Month was shortened in a very hip, cool way to NaNoWriMo. Last year over 120,000 overwrought novelists logged in to the NaNoWriMo website, and over 20,000 of them crossed the finish line at midnight November 30 with a 50,000 word novel under their belt. Whew.
Then the poets decided to chime in on the fun during National Poetry Month (April), and voila: NaPoWriMo was born. You write a poem a day for 30 days, and post it on their website. Of course, we are nothing if not literary at Oregon City High School, so one of my favorite English teachers, Ed Kline, creasted OCPoWriMo, our very own poetry blog that is primarily active during the month of April, but which occasionally sees some rockin' and rhymin' throughout the year. Needless to say, you can read some poetry by yours truly at this excellent site.
Enter the bloggers and NoBloPoMo. Who knows when...I just heard of it for the first time this year, but I'll bet it's been around for a while longer than that. National Blog Posting Month. Write a post on your blog every day for the entire month of November. Obviously, I've already blown it because I didn't post yesterday...up way past my bedtime trying to finish the homework for my PSU class tonight...but it's all in good fun, and if I'm not keeping the letter of the law, at least I'm into the spirit of it.
What's driving me nuts is trying to keep up with so many of my favorite bloggers this month! Funny, inspiring, nostalgic, reflective, adventurous...whew! I find myself sneaking odd moments to go back to my blog list and see who has updated in the last 15 minutes. (I just realized that I've already said "whew" three times in this post. Heads up--I will also say "dang" twice before the post is finished. That's what you get for reading a grandma-rated blog.)
A few of my favorites:
Katie: she actually keeps up with 3 blogs! Four if you count Sammy Jaybird. How does she do it with a brand new baby?
Dorothy: my friend and sister for 30 years - her posts ground me and remind me what friendship truly is.
Anna: funny, funny, funny. Except when she's worried, and even then she's funny. So is her husband, Chris.
Jessica: sailing alone around the world, nonstop, 16 years old. What's not to be inspired by that?
Annemarie: insights and gentle thoughts galore. I miss teaching with her.
OK, I could go on and on. You can see by the list on the right side of this post that I have a bunch of blogs I love to follow. Many of them are all revved up for NoBloPoMo, and updating daily. I can't miss any of them. So many blogs, so little time. Reading them all is a tough job, but what's a gal to do? Hang in there, dang it, and read!
2 comments:
Glad to know you are wasting so much time on our blogs...errr... I mean reading all the stuff we so carefully write. Will you add hyperlinks to those blogs you mentioned? I want to look at that Jessica girl's blog. Also, I tried going to OCPoWriMo and it wouldn't work. Said it wasn't secure or something. What exactly is Klinee doing over there anyway? I'd be suspicious if I were you.
I feel like a superstar because you mentioned me on your blog. Whoop whoop!
Also, I am wasting a lot of time seeing who has most recently posted.
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