Every November (okay a few Novembers, I’m not quite sure how many) thousands (maybe millions I’m not sure) of people take part in NaBloPoMo.
For most of the world who do not know what this adorable abbreviation means, NaBloPoMo is short for National Blog Posting Month and was inspired by NaNoWriteMo, or National Novel Writing Month, and what THAT means is that every day in November you are challenged to put up a blog post every day. It’s supposed to make you a better writer, motivate you, and test the limits of your creativity, and maybe even your patience.
This year BlogHer, the largest association for women bloggers, has decided to become the sponsor of NaBloPoMo. While I adore this organization and have just become a member of the BlogHer Ads Publishing Network, I just have one question for them and one statement.
Why, BlogHer, why would you put yet another task onto the already broken backs of the woman blogger?
I did not succumb to NaBloPoMo and I am proud of it!
Aren’t we women bloggers already busy enough trying to fit just blogging into our lives? Whether we are working in the home or outside of the home, aren’t we finding balancing our lives almost impossible?
There goes the quality time with our children that we try to fit in, in the hopes of not driving our kids into therapy. “My mom…just wasn’t…THERE for me. Whenever we read or did a project together or went to a place that was supposed to be fun, mommy was always taking pictures of us for her BLOG! Whenever I said, anything, my mother had to stop everything and write it down so she could BLOG about it later because she thought it was cute! I felt so…used!”
There goes time spent at the gym, skipped as we sit, trying to think up a post every single day. Here comes the weight we will gain while polishing off the remaining Halloween candy as we sit at our computers trying to get some inspiration.
There goes whatever “ME” time we had.
Even more pictures will sit in our smartphones and digital cameras, waiting to be shared with God and Facebook.
There goes any understanding by our husbands of while we feel the need to blog or any respect they may have for us as bloggers as we force them to put the kids to bed every night because we need to stare at our computers.
And why in God’s name would someone think of November as the perfect month to put up a blog post every day? November, the start of the holiday season? How are we supposed to take advantage of Black Friday AND Black Thursday and Cyber Monday? Don’t we bloggers have enough contests, pictures to post and Thanksgiving memories to write about this month?
Why not do this in January, in the dead of Winter, when none of us have anything better to do except to hole up in our homes as snowstorm after snowstorm hits us, looking ahead to when Punxsutawny Phil tells us how far off Spring is?
And if you are sitting here thinking that I am one of those jealous bloggers that lack for inspiration, that I am just not doing NaBloPoMo because I have enough trouble thinking up topics, you can just get that thought right out of your head. I have about over 100 ideas to write about, that I have maniacally put into my smartphone just waiting to be written…except I just don’t have the time.
Oh Eden Kennedy, who admits that she started NaBloPoMo as a “goof”, what madness hath thou wrought?
Image courtesy of Copyblogger.
Here here!! I say NO too!! Oh wait… when was the last time I posted?? YIKES!! I better get on the ball.. Great post my friend. I miss you.
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You raise many good points. I agree with all of them. And yet — I’m doing NaBloPoMo for the second time. Oddly enough, the added pressure is the discipline I need in my life right now. I have more time to myself than I’ve had in almost all of my adult life. I also have so much I need to be doing. What was happening was not a lot of anything. Having to meet a daily deadline with no room for failure (my rule) has actually helped me get my days better organized. So, there you have it, an unintended consequence of NaBloPoMo.
Middle State/MomZombie´s last [type] ..Symbiosis
I hear you. I’m doing both NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo (absolute insanity I know) and I keep wishing at least one of them could have been scheduled for January when I am on holidays. I’m not going to make the NaNoWriMo challenge but am clinging to the hope I will get a blog post up everyday. At least it is enforcing some discipline into this very undisciplined individual!
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Hear, hear! I find that this month is when I’m having to take a break! With my toddler’s birthday falling between Thanksgiving and the holidays, and an upcoming vacation, I feel like I’m dropping the ball more than ever. Liking the January idea. Let’s start a movement.
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“And why in God’s name would someone think of November as the perfect month to put up a blog post every day? ”
This made me laugh out loud, Emily! It is so true. November is NOT the month to add another overwhelming taskt to!!
I assume NaNoBloPo is in November because NaNoWriMo is. The reasoning the NaNoWriMo founder gave for moving to November was the miserable weather. (Or at least it was what he gave on the now gone History page on the website back when I read it years ago.) Personally, I think it’s just a sign that NaNoWriMo was created by a young adult with few responsibilities outside himself. I’d much prefer to have it in January or March (2 other months with crappy weather that are longer than February).
I hear ya. I didn’t do it, either.
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Oh my goodness, I never did think about the horrible timing of NaNoWriMo. November is ramping up to one of our busiest months, really poor timing. I said NO! as well this year, and likely will for years to come (like until I have retired and am sitting on a beach somewhere in the Carribean for the month of Nov).
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Great post! I totally agree!
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I have tried (and failed at) NaBloPoMo twice. It’s really a LOT of work to post something relevant every day.
Rachael´s last [type] ..Friday Fragments!
I tried writing every day for a month. It was a bad idea. I work best when I feel a post, not when I force it. Plus, there are many days when my brain isn’t clear enough to write well or my vision is blurry and looking at the screen hurts. I just don’t need to do that to myself.
Good for you!
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