Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Fifty not out - not yet

Every January I write a list of goals. This year, I set the target of writing fifty blog posts. It was less than half of last year's output, but I had other things to do - like learning to play the banjo and finishing my creative writing degree. Still, I reckoned I'd manage it with time to spare.

If only real life was like the good intentions we have at New Year. 

As of yesterday and my total to date was a paltry 21 posts in ten months. There's only one solution I decided - NABLOPOMO.   I swore I'd never do it again, but needs must when the devil drives, and I reckon I've got just about enough in my head to stay the course of a month. 

It's also a good concept. We all have what I call periods of ability; times when the ideas and actions flow easily. But it is hard to sustain that level of creativity all year.  However, a few weeks of focused activity can open all sorts of new possibilities. Getting thousands of people writing, every day for a month, has got to be good thing. No doubt there will be lots of rubbish posted (including much on this blog I suspect) but if there are also a few gems, that seems to me to be a worthwhile project.

Last week I was on a course at the National Writing Centre in Wales. They run programmes covering virtually every writing genre; from fiction and poetry to script writing, nature and even health care.  And yet they have nothing on blogs. In fact, if you say you write blog, many participants will look at you askance and ask what one is , how exactly do you blog? being a typical question.

I have long argued that blogs are one of the most exciting developments for getting people writing. And NABLOPOMO is a great example - I wonder if there is any other writing promotion that has such a wide participation? And of course, every participant has their work published every day, another unique quality of blogs.

So you have me for a month.  My rules are a bit slacker than last year, because I'm going to allow up to two posts a week to be largely photographs. And if I complete it,  I'll have my fifty blog posts in the bag - you see, it was easy after all.

7 comments:

  1. Hey, if you run out of rubbish to post I'll be posting plenty on my blog.
    I agree, it's a challenge. I'm setting it for myself and not actually registering with NaBloPoMo. I just want to see if I can write something every day (or NEARLY every day) and the wordless weekends will help there.
    Yes, I've noticed that as prolific as the blog world is, there are many others who just haven't heard of blogging. What's up with them??
    Good luck for November anyway.
    ;-)

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  2. And NABLOPOMO is......??? Guess I could google it, then I might have an inkling!
    Good luck with the latest goal... though be prepared to move the goal posts, life is like that!

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  3. Sometimes interesting stuff happens and you have loads to wtite about. I guess my Blog is a journal, so when life is quiet, theres not much to say! We went TV-free when we came here, so reading peoples Blogs is my evening hobby now!With friends like mine, who needs soaps LOL :D

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  4. Looking forward to a proliferation of your thought-provoking posts. I will keep an eye out.

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  5. You're a brave man - best of luck!

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  6. Mark - I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with this month :)

    Last year's efforts were excellent, so you've set yourself a high standard. Like Clippy Mat I've not registered with them this year, but I'm nominally taking part for the third year in a row. I won't beat myself up if I don't make it. Your photos's lined up for one of the posts, so many thanks!

    Perhaps we could start a course about blogging?!?

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  7. So I'll have something to look forward to every day....
    I do see what you mean about having a writing discipline...bit like practising the scales, I suppose.

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