Thirty Posts in Thirty Days

When I took on the Namblopomo challenge of making 30 posts in thirty days, I really didn't take much time to consider the obligation. Mrs. G from Derfwad Manor talked about signing up, and I signed up myself on impulse I read her post. Once the commitment was made, I wondered what had just happened. Here I am, sick, busy, and without much of a life, and whoppee! I'm going to type my heart out daily? For 30 days? Without a break? I thought I must be insane.

What was I going to talk about? Would I have to resort, as some other blogs do, to single pictures with a caption to fill in space? Would I fail?

Well, in my world, failure is not an option. And so I started typing. I discovered that blogspot would allow me to schedule posts out for days in advance, so when I talked about something that was not timely in nature, there was no imperative to post immediately. When I had a topic scheduled and something else came up which I thought you'd find more interesting, I was able to bump things around. And though many of my posts were centered around series of photos, I found that I had enough to say to make them - I hope - interesting.

It's been an unusual month. I've been affected badly twice by receiving my Cimzia injections, yet I tried not to spend a lot of time here griping about them. I had Vennie in town for almost a week, and during our adventures about town, I snapped picture after picture with the specific intent of using them here. (Vennie is an exceptionally good sport.) I talked about Eric and dogs and cooking, and lack thereof. I never really experienced any kind of writers block. I met the challenge I set out for myself, and it has been a good experience.

Namblopomo has a purpose, however, and one above and beyond personal satisfaction. It is designed with the idea of fuller participation, and increasing one's own following of readers. I really did not explore this aspect of the program much, fearful that I wouldn't be able to meet their challenge, and "go down in flames, publicly, in front of a whole lot of strangers." That was probably a mistake. Because even though I follow the number of hits my blog gets, and as I have posted regularly, I can tell that you-all are coming by more often, to the best of my knowledge there was not an influx of new readers.

That, of course, is what it is. Neither good nor bad as I really have written this blog to this point only to amuse myself, and again, was not sure why I signed up for a challenge I wasn't certain I could keep in the first place anyway. But now that I have, I wonder if I should go back for more, and participate another month. Actually interact with the other bloggers there, and gain not only their readership, but their reader's following too. Because that's how it works. Blog followings develop via 'word of mouth.'

I'm not ready to make the commitment again in December. I have things in my life that I need to address and catch up on. I've spent the last 24 hours in bed, and am only now emerging because there are things - like procuring food - that cannot be put off any longer. I additionally have other activities I'd like to pursue which have fallen by the wayside, and not posting quite as often will help my accomplishments in those other areas. Living as I do, I have very limited reserves of energy and they must be spent wisely.

All the same, posting daily has been a wonderful experience, and one that I hesitate to give up all together. I am going to post this month as often as physically possible, and plan to sign up for another commitment soon. It really felt good to make a plan, small as it was, and follow through on it successfully.

Thirty posts in thirty days. This is day 30.