My reflections on NaBloPoMo…

My alarm awakened me at 4:30 this morning for the first time this month. I haven’t missed that blaring sound blasting inches from my head. However, today I definitely missed the extra hour I’ve typically had for writing my daily blog posts by not “sleeping in” till 4:30.

Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month.  The event, featured on BlogHer.com takes place every month, but November is popular because it runs alongside NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, which traditionally is November. Some bloggers participate in both events simultaneously. Not this girl. Writing a blog post a day is challenging enough.

Assuming I actually publish this post today, I will have achieved much of my personal goal for NaBloPoMo November 2015: writing a post a day.  Prior to November, I had posted a mere 29 posts in 2015. Lame. (If it helps, I also drafted 15 posts that I never completed or published. But still lame.)

Unfortunately, because I likely average 2-3 hours per post (again, lame) between getting inspired, thinking, writing, doubting, writing some more, editing, viewing previews, editing more intently, shooting/creating a photo/illustration, tagging, publishing and then cross-posting to Blogher.com, I didn’t have a lot of spare hours for reading, admiring, commenting, and “liking” other blog posters, which, to me, is a major goal of NaBloPoMo.

Add to this equation that fact that my colleague left for maternity leave Oct. 30, leaving me both her job and my own to creep into my lunch hour. Plus the addition of a “step counting” competition across the university campus, meaning I spend half of lunch walking. Plus I chose November to tackle the house,  painting and reorganizing and redecorating and cleaning carpets and otherwise making my world neat and tidy in time for Thanksgiving…

Excuses, all of them. Valid and legitimate excuses, certainly. But my time was limited only by my choices. I chose to give up lunch hours for colleagues and competitions (and better health). I chose to give up weekends and evenings for household improvements. I chose to write, write, write rather than read, read, read. And I am the loser for it.

“A friend is a present you give yourself.”

Robert Louis Stevenson’s words greeted me every time I touched the light switch in my dorm room. A friend gave me that plaque, likely because she felt I was a present to her, as she was to me. But in the midst of that college year of achieving stellar grades while acting as student government president on an active campus, those words reminded me to take the time for friends.

That is the part of NaBloPoMo that mostly evaded me this month.

I did make some blogging friends during November’s NaBloPoMo, gaining some followers, comments, and “likes” and, likewise, following some blogs I found particularly engaging. I did read posts and visit blogs and leave comments and encouragement. But I don’t think I did enough of that. I believe the spirit of NaBloPoMo is a challenge to both post and become a bigger part of the blogging community.

I found it hard to do both.

Today I am done with NaBloPoMo. It has been a shot in the arm, a slap on the behind, an impetus to get my thoughts published. I’ve learned from others, and I’ve learned I can dig deep and write. I’ve learned that my writing can touch a heart or trigger some laughter. I’ve reflected on life through my musings and resulting posts, and I’m the better for it. I’ve even considered how I might challenge myself next month.

But that’s tomorrow. Today, I’m happy to count 30 completed posts for my 30 days of NaBloPoMo. A gift in itself.

Posts for NaBloPoMo 2015:

1. Why I love my hairstylist…
2. To NaBloPoMo or not to NaBloPoMo? That is the question…
3. No AC November…
4. That dubious gift of an hour…
5. I can’t wait to be discovered…
6. Once an English teacher, always an English teacher…
7. Of mice and men (or when you give a mouse a cookie)…
8. When you replace people with possessions…
9. Do what you know is right…
10. When your eyes are bigger than your weekend…
11. Attempting “The Glad Game”…
12. When the Christian life is a bit too much like a political debate…
13. Vertigo: When the world around you begins to spin…
14. How our Mitsubishi van became blue…
15. If she only knew…
16. When everything feels like straw…
17. Construction criticism (or where have all the detours gone?)…
18. Don’t skimp on the showers…
19. My surprise “happily ever after” …
20. In fact, we are not entitled…
21. The end of the twin era…
22. More time is not always the answer…
23. When furniture shows your age…
24. If a gift falls in the forest…
25. Turkey trauma: Me, myself, and my memories…
26. Thoughts upon awakening Thanksgiving morn…
27. Black Friday matters…
28. SEO and so what?
29. Getting a bit more fit…
30. My reflections on NaBloPoMo…