Thursday Thirteen #28

WELL, here it is...November 1st. The first day of this month means the first day of National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) AND National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). And I signed up for both. What was I thinking, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. Here are 13 reasons I decided to do both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo:

1. I'm out of my freakin' mind. No seriously, I have to be crazy to commit not only to posting every single day in November, but then adding writing a 50,000 word novel to the mix, right? (and we've already, in previous posts, discussed my full time job, my social life, my house which needs to be cleaned and maintained, my friends, my family...uh, yeah, you get it).

2. It was a challenge similar to NaBloPoMo that started me off on this blog. I'd created it prior to that challenge, but I posted sporadically at best. Then, one day, I was reading another blog (wilwheaton.net if you're interested) and he mentioned the 30 posts in 30 days challenge that another blogger friend of his was doing. I decided to join in. And I did it. And then I was addicted. When I heard about NaBloPoMo this year, I knew I'd have to jump in.

3. In the past several months I've met the most incredible people through blogging. It has opened up a whole new world for me, which allows me to express myself, and connects me to other people who need to write in order to survive. I figure through NaBloPoMo I'll get to meet even more, and they'll get to meet me. On that vein, I've asked readers to ask me questions that they want answered during the month, and boy, they've come up with some GREAT questions that I can't wait to answer. I'm still taking questions...have one? Leave it in comments.

4. My fellow SheWhoBloggers are all (well most) jumping in on one or the other bandwagon (or for the truly certifiable ones like me, on both bandwagons). I don't like to think of myself as a follower, but if my friends were doing it, I wanted to be part of the fun too.

5. I wanted to do NaNoWriMo last year, but was too chicken to try it. Plus I didn't really know anyone else who was doing it, so I didn't have the motivation to try. This year, I have blog buddies to do it with...wether it's a "misery loves company" thing, or a "solidarity" thing...it made it easier to sign up this time around.

6. For the past few years I've felt as if I could no longer call myself a writer. I got so caught up in day to day life that I would go months without writing anything creative. Blogging has changed that for me, but I still don't dedicate enough time to my fiction writing. I figured NaNoWriMo would force me to set that time aside at least for this month.

7. Plus, if I actually manage to complete the challenge, I'll have written a novel and then I can feel really great about calling myself a writer.

8. The weather turns colder in November, and I tend to nest a bit. I love coming home after work, pouring myself a glass of wine, and sitting inside where it's warm and cozy. Writing is just a nice addition to that "nesting feeling".

9. I tend to live my life in an "all or nothing" kind of way. What I mean by that is I'll go through stages that I'll call self-indulgent. These are times when I'm allowing myself to just sit back and let life sort of happen around me, while I just watch, I participate, but I don't necessarily jump in with great conviction. I choose mostly to be a spectator, enjoying what I see. But then, I have those other times. The times when I decide to jump in head first and get active. At those times, I'm on fire with ideas and activities and goals and aspirations....this is one of those times.

10. I love pushing myself to do things that seem impossible. I've always thrived on doing the impossible, or the improbable, or just doing what others think is can't be done. I get a rush out of being the one who can do those things. Doing NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo and keeping up with the rest of my life seems pretty out there...I've been told I won't be able to do it, and there's a part of me that thinks I probably won't be able to do it. But of course, that just means that I will push myself to do it every step of the way.

11. My novel for NaNoWriMo is growing from something I wrote almost a decade ago and then set aside, never to touch it again. These characters have been dancing around in my head for all that time, asking to be let out, to be given a chance to show me who they are and what they can do. I have a vague memory of who they are, but they are like distant friends that I never really got to know. I can't wait to get acquainted with them in depth.

12. When I started this blog, I had several ideas as to where I wanted it to go, the things I wanted to say, the stories I wanted to share. Because there was noone reading my blog at that time, I started joining memes (such as this one) and doing other things, in order to meet other bloggers and find my place in the blogosphere. I'm hoping with NaBloPoMo I can get back to writing some more of the stuff I had intended to write in the beginning. Although, I'll keep doing TT's, because I really enjoy them.

13. Did I mention I'm certifiably insane? Seriously...what he hell was I thinking?










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