It's NaBloPoMo, that time of the year when you post every single day for an entire month.
I suppose I'll officially declare myself a participant. Andrew noted I was slacking this year—my average number of posts per month is down significantly compared to previous years.
I think there are a number of reasons for this:
1) I might be writing longer posts. I haven't really checked, but I do feel like a lot of my posts are lengthier than my earlier posts. (Andrew says he can get me a word count within half an hour; we shall see (because he also says he's pretty busy with other projects)).
2) We have three children. No explanation necessary...except that I always swore I would record my children's lives equally because my mom kept rather detailed journals for my older sisters. She made beautiful baby books for my older brother and me and kept slightly less-detailed journals for us. I think she may have even started a baby book for my younger brother. But my poor little sister? She has a box of unsorted pictures and a journal-thing half filled out. I don't blame my mother for this. Things get hard to keep track of.
3) We no longer live near family. When we lived in Utah (and only had two children) my mom would sometimes offer to take the girls to the playground so that I could write for a minute or two. Now all (or at least most) of my writing happens after the kids are in bed, which is when many other things are supposed to happen (such as the cleaning of the kitchen). Now we have three kids and only the two of us to provide for their every little need.
4) A lot of stressful things happened this year. Does anyone else feel like we got bombarded with bad news the past few months? Raise of hands? Yeah. We were busy dealing with other stuff and even though writing is my outlet sometimes there isn't even time for outlets.
5) I edited my mom's dissertation and a friend's book, which used up a lot of my writing time (but was also a lot of fun).
So, expect to hear more from me in November. A lot more, apparently, since I've already completed a third of my monthly average and it's only the first week...
I suppose I'll officially declare myself a participant. Andrew noted I was slacking this year—my average number of posts per month is down significantly compared to previous years.
I think there are a number of reasons for this:
1) I might be writing longer posts. I haven't really checked, but I do feel like a lot of my posts are lengthier than my earlier posts. (Andrew says he can get me a word count within half an hour; we shall see (because he also says he's pretty busy with other projects)).
2) We have three children. No explanation necessary...except that I always swore I would record my children's lives equally because my mom kept rather detailed journals for my older sisters. She made beautiful baby books for my older brother and me and kept slightly less-detailed journals for us. I think she may have even started a baby book for my younger brother. But my poor little sister? She has a box of unsorted pictures and a journal-thing half filled out. I don't blame my mother for this. Things get hard to keep track of.
3) We no longer live near family. When we lived in Utah (and only had two children) my mom would sometimes offer to take the girls to the playground so that I could write for a minute or two. Now all (or at least most) of my writing happens after the kids are in bed, which is when many other things are supposed to happen (such as the cleaning of the kitchen). Now we have three kids and only the two of us to provide for their every little need.
4) A lot of stressful things happened this year. Does anyone else feel like we got bombarded with bad news the past few months? Raise of hands? Yeah. We were busy dealing with other stuff and even though writing is my outlet sometimes there isn't even time for outlets.
5) I edited my mom's dissertation and a friend's book, which used up a lot of my writing time (but was also a lot of fun).
So, expect to hear more from me in November. A lot more, apparently, since I've already completed a third of my monthly average and it's only the first week...
I always enjoy your posts, Nancy, but I think you have good reasons for writing a fewer amount. I'm amazed by all you do! Happy November!
ReplyDelete