Na No... What Now?

This month (yeah, it's November-- for those of you still in a candy-induced haze from last night's Halloween festivities) is officially designated as National Novel Writing Month, known by those in the know as NaNoWriMo.  The idea is that, if you write a bit every day, you can produce a 50,000 word novel in the course of a month.  Why they have chosen the busiest shopping month of the year is beyond me-- perhaps as an antidote to the rampant commercialism that has pervaded our holiday season, perhaps as a distraction for those who are tired of NFL football, perhaps-- but I digress.  You get the idea:  write every day and you can finally stop whining that you have a story to tell, and not only would it be an awesome best-selling behemoth of a novel, it would be a kick-ass, yet romantic and hilarious movie as well.  I see Channing Tatum and Emma Stone as leads.

But don't think that this is an announcement that I am planning to write a novel-- not this year, at least.  No, the thing is, other writing forms are riding the NaNo coattails to encourage all sorts of artistic expression.   One of those hangers-on is the art form known as the blog, hence the even hipper, though more cryptic, NaBloPoMo-- National Blog Post Month.  To play this game, you sign up at BlogHer and pledge to post every day on your blog for the entire month.  "What's in it for me?" you might ask-- and well you should, because, do you even have a blog?  Should you blog?  Is now the time to start?  I'll leave those deeply personal questions up to you and get back to what's really important here: me. 

I have decided to try to push myself to be more productive with my writing and this NaBloPoMo thing, despite the ridiculous name and how hard it is to stop and capitalize every other letter as I type, seems like a good way to do it.  I have recently, somewhat to my own surprise, identified myself as a writer when I met new people who innocently asked, "What do you do?"  Of course they didn't ask, "what do you do for a living?" to which I would have had to answer, "Me? Why, I am a gosh-darned fine part time postal counter employee in a bike shop in a strip mall next to a mid-sized supermarket." When I say I'm a writer though, people immediately follow up with "Oh, what do you write?" And what do I say?  Well, I get all mealy-mouthed and mumbly, and I roll out a gem like:
"Oh, you know, essays... stuff about, you know, being a mom...like,being a person, you know, oh.. I have a blog."  Yikes.

So, ahead of the New Year's Resolution game, I'm going to commit to writing every day, and since the possibility of public shame is an effective motivational tool for me, I am going public with this NaNoBlo thing so that I will at least feel like someone will hold me to this.  I realize that my loyal fan base is comprised of my handful of tolerant and wonderful friends and family members, so I know, deep down, that the risk is low-- I mean really, the possibility that up to ten people will know that I slack off and fail sometime around November 5?  I shudder!  I really do. 

But seriously-- I need a kick in the butt, and I really do want to write beyond the confines of this blog, so I'm going to use the daily commitment as a way to make myself step over the mess in our apartment, ignore Bejeweled Blitz and Words With Friends, and restrain myself from checking Facebook, for at least an hour a day.  I want you, anyone out there reading, to call me on this if I don't follow through.  I think it's NaNoBloPo legal to take weekends off, but today, on this first day, I'm gonna say that I am going to post every day.  You don't have to read, but maybe you could just check in and see if I'm writing. 
Now, let's go through the kids' candy and see if we can skim off a few decent pieces before they notice!  See you tomorrow...