NaBloPoMo Wrap-Up
31 Jan 2010 6 Comments
in blogging, personal goals, writing
Now that I have finished NaBloPoMo, how did it go?
First, why did I do it in the first place? What were my original goals?
Two blogging goals I’ve set for myself: more teacher-focused blogging, and more blogging regularly, without too many long or unscheduled hiatuses. Why teacher-focused blogging? Partly to add to the greater conversation, from which I have benefited greatly, and partly because I think reflecting about my teaching makes me a better teacher. I wanted to force myself to get back in the regular habit because any practice works best when it is regularly implemented.
I think some other goals, which I considered as part of my strategies included breathing more inspiration and energy into my blogging practices, and therefore into my writing life as a whole. For me, writing is like exercise or meditation is for others; I can tell a noticeable and unfavorable change in who I am in my daily life when I haven’t made time to write and reflect. It helps me stay in touch with myself.
As I looked back on the year’s posts, I saw some great ones, where I tackled an issue and presented my side, reviewed a book or movie that was important or interesting to me, or when I played around with some narrative structures that made for nice little vignettes. I am really proud of those entries, but the quality and frequency of my posts definitely dropped off in the fall, and so (not coincidentally) did my state of mind and quality of mental life.
So, did I write some great posts this month? I think so. Did I write teacher-focused ones? Definitely so, in a variety of ways. Did having the daily deadline force me to write more, force me to come up with new ways to fit in my writing time, force me to be more creative and resourceful? I think absolutely.
Some bloggers post every day as a matter of course, but many of those are professional blogs, or bloggers who make money from their blogs, and so that incentive is there. I’m not sure I could keep up that pace, since I am also focused on my poetry and since I still haven’t gotten used to the idea of the quick-hit entry, but I am definitely thinking of perhaps doing NaBloPoMo more often, as a way to keep me on my toes….
Any thoughts, my lovely readers? Did you enjoy my month of daily blogging?
Jan 31, 2010 @ 15:15:49
I did enjoy your month of daily blogging, but I also think it would be a lot to keep up that pace, as you say. I particularly enjoyed your teaching posts.
I’d like to get back to more regular posting myself, since I think that I then am less likely to grump and moan about daily stuff and more likely to think about actual interesting things!
Jan 31, 2010 @ 16:06:14
Yeah, so far I’m liking the idea of posting every day during every other month, so I’d do it again in March, May, July, September, November. March is my spring break month, and May is when my girls turn 8, so those would be good blogging months any way, but September might be a real challenge…..
Thanks for the kind words! Since I don’t blog anonymously anymore, I tend to keep the grumping off the blog because it’s usually a bit more personal than I want to be here. I save crankiness for Facebook now, but I think I should probably add some old-fashioned private journaling when I’m in the grumpy places, because it helps me get out of it.
Jan 31, 2010 @ 17:44:47
You know, I’ve thought more than once about not blogging anonymously, now that I’m no longer an untenured assistant professor needing an outlet and support in a crazed, unhealthy environment. But it’s a little hard to imagine what blogging under my own name would look like. I guess your blog is a great example! I’m a little afraid that I’d have less to talk about; I’m not sure what that says about me!
Jan 31, 2010 @ 18:20:29
I blogged for about four years anonymously, then set up this site to keep all my freelance stuff together, then moved here permanently and password-protected the old one. For me, it was a lot about purpose–my old blog served some of the same purposes that Facebook does now, keeping me in touch with family members and old friends, but it was also when I was in a period of my life when I was feeling much more isolated and in need of companionship and understanding, sadly enough. I consider it a very healthy sign that I no longer am blogging about the kinds of things I used to have to write about. But then, I’ve always been a bit too reserved to be a truly TMI/confessional blogger, even when no one knew it was really me.
I’ve often wondered what would happen if something truly horrible happened–would I keep blogging here? Would I start a new anonymous blog? Would I stop blogging altogether? It’s impossible to know.
Jan 31, 2010 @ 21:53:07
I enjoyed it!
Jan 31, 2010 @ 22:17:52
Thank you!