Why I Shouldn’t Do National Blog Posting Month

Everyone makes poor life decisions. I may have made one yesterday when I committed myself to post each day in the month of November as part of “National Blog Posting Month,” or “NaBloPoMo,” or the much-easier to pronounce “NanoPoblano.” Long story short, I let a dinosaur talk me into it, against my better judgment, although I probably wanted to be talked into it. But perhaps it will end up being a very good life decision (or at least a moderately okay one). We’ll see.

Don’t let my dark clouds of gloom scare you off, though, on what should be the first optimistic, bright-eyed day of a new month. I’m all about getting the negativity out of the way up front. (Hopefully it doesn’t backfire and result in this being my first – and last – post as part of NanoPoblano). So stick with me as I exhale all the reasons this is a bad idea, and then prepare for a month of breathing in awesomeness.

Why I shouldn’t do National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) (NanoPoblano)

1. I don’t have time.False. You know the expression “there are lies, damn lies, and the time excuse?” Okay maybe that’s a little different from the original expression. But this is the easiest excuse, and it’s totally false. Yes I have a full time job, language classes three nights a week, a husband and a kitten. But somehow I manage to find time to do all kinds of other crap. Somehow people with all of these things plus children manage so surely I can too.
2. I don’t have a plan.This is true. I decided on a whim to join just yesterday, and I only began entertaining the idea on Friday. I have no plan, no list of ideas, certainly not something as organized as a post calendar. However, the adventurer in me reminds me “No plan? No problem.” Sometimes when I travel I go in with a bit of an itinerary in mind. More often than not I simply book my transportation and (maybe) a place to stay, and figure the rest out when I’m there. Often the latter are the best trips, figuring it out and discovering as I go. Travel guides take the fun out of finding things for yourself. Here’s to hoping this philosophy is transferable.
3. I’ll sacrifice quality for quantity.One of my commitments to readers on this blog is to focus on quality over quantity. I may not post often, but I commit to posting thoughtfully constructed pieces that often take days or longer to complete. However, this backfires when I get paralyzed by the pressure to perfection. As Anne Lamott writes,
   

   Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people.

   Perfectionism is the enemy of creativity, and probably one of the main reasons that, rather than focusing on quality or even quantity, I often post nothing at all.

4. I’ll probably fail.You don’t need me to tell you that this is probably the stupidest reason on this list. I’m not even going to entertain it with a response.
5. I don’t have my own space for writing.This is a nice way to say what I actually wanted to write, which is: My husband is a grad student. What this means for my writing is, because the only desk in our house is conquered utterly by him, I don’t have a physical space that can be dedicated to writing. We also have very incompatible working styles – I need to go into “the zone” and not be bothered for extended periods of time to get anything done. He needs to take frequent breaks, which usually involve coming to find me and, since I don’t have my own space, breaking me out of “the zone.” Which results in frustration on both sides, and is another reason why (I tell myself) I haven’t been able to do much writing lately. Really, though, I am blaming an external factor that could probably, rather than prevent me from writing at all, inspire some writing topics itself. (First post idea get! “Surviving life as a grad student spouse!”)
6. I should be focusing on something more important.Such as language studies, or planning my future, or (let’s be honest) saving the world in Dragon Age: Inquisition. And maybe this is true. But that doesn’t mean not committing to posting once a day will make me any more productive in any of these other things (except perhaps the last one). Motivation breeds more motivation.
7. I should be doing x, y and z that I’ve procrastinated rather than this.This is similar to the above, except it brings to mind other things I’ve been putting off, such as editing my Germany photos (from July!) and other various projects. I always have too many projects. But focusing on one project, rather than dividing my energy between all of them (and accomplishing none of them), will hopefully mean I’ll actually get something done for once.
8. I will hate my life.Hopefully this problem will solve itself. I wrote fairly recently about some of my challenges in dealing with my own brokenness. I discussed how I’ve avoided writing because I’ve been afraid of what might come out. But without a way of getting that stuff out, it’s been rotting in me like a toxin. Rather than making me hate my life, I hope pushing myself to write each day will help me work things out, overcome, and love life a little more.
9. I’m lucky if I can post once a month, never mind once a day.See all of the above. Insert inspirational quote about the fear of failure here.
10. Nobody will read my posts so what’s the point.Thankfully, if you’re reading this, this last point has already been disproven. This should be the absolute least of my concerns thanks to the amazing communities I’ve committed myself to: my fellow Poblanos, the awesome folks at YeahWrite, and the folks I’ve yet to meet at BlogHer. I’ll be operating off of a “if you want good neighours, be a good neighbour” principle and doing my best to visit and comment at other people’s spaces as the month goes on. I’m pretty excited about who I will get to meet.

Thoughts, ideas, horror stories or words of encouragement? Are you doing NaBloPoMo in November? Let me know and share your link in the comments, I’d love to start my good neighbourliness with you!