Question...

WHAT IS THIS BLOG FOR???

(just asking myself)

What have we learned, Jennie Brown Hakim?

This is my final post for November 2013’s NaBloPoMo. What have I learned by blogging every day for one whole month?

1. I wouldn’t mind doing it again – just not during NaNoWriMo. I erred in trying to do NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo in the same month. I realized I cannot concentrate on two major writing goals in the same month – I blew off NaNoWriMo for the most part, though I did make some progress on that project (but nowhere near 50,000 words). Speaking of goals...

2. When quantity is the primary goal, quality takes a back seat. You may have noticed that quite a few of my November posts have been short. As in photo-and-a-quote short. I don’t think I made some of my best posts this month. (WelI, the ones with JFK and the uncircumcised penis and not giving a damn weren’t too bad, right?) Still, I think I’d prefer to write four good-to-great posts per month than thirty grab-bag ones. Is posting every day good for anyone’s blogging in the long run? Maybe not for me.

3. Still, I can see myself participating in future NaBloPoMos. Doing it once a year helps with making my yearly quota of 48. Doing it twice guarantees it. (Doing it in this weird year of 2013 really helped - I am now at 63 posts, matching my largest total from 2009.) 

But I don’t want to blog every day for just two months a year and leave every other day blank. That’s not how I roll. Meandering happens every damn day, and good blog ideas can come on any day and at any hour.

Maybe I’ll do it again in 2014. Perhaps in April. Or in June. Not in November. (I owe you, NaNoWriMo.)

NaBloPoMo: Do I have the fortitude?

I recently made the decision to enter National Novel Writing Month (which is always in November) and today, I found out that there's also a National Blog Posting Month (which is sponsored by BlogHer and WordPress).

As I have written before, my 2013 posting output took a dive after May. I wonder if the challenge of NaBloPoMo will get me back on track. (After all, if I post for every day in November, I will exceed my yearly post quota of 48.) 

Do you think I can do it - and still write my novel (and everything else I'm writing) at the same time?

I think I can.

It's been a strange summer

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you can tell that my posting quota has gone out the window this summer. From January to May, I have been posting four to five times per month. That has not been true for June, July, and August (September’s final total, of course, is yet to be seen).

What is going on? Why did I write proudly about a quota that I eventually failed to follow?

How do other bloggers explain lack of posting?

“I’ve been too busy.” Not in my case.

“I’ve been hired to do an important project.” I wish.

“I haven’t been motivated.” That sounds like a lame excuse...but it is close to the truth.

I have not been doing many of my usual activities this summer, not only the work-related ones (looking for new projects and clients, blogging), but the things I enjoy (reading, walking, meandering).

What is wrong with me?

I think my thoughts may be the root of the problem.

Instead of pondering a multitude of ideas, I have been thinking of one subject 90% of the time. Perhaps 95%. Or even more.

It is not a happy subject to think about.

It is not a dream I can realistically attain.

It is not a story which is likely to have a happy ending.

It is something I miss, even though I have never actually encountered it in the first place.

Or have known in any meaningful way.

You may be asking, why am I wasting my time with this subject?

My answer is, am I really?

I have written over 25,000 words of (completed) fiction about this subject. That is more than half the minimum needed for a novel (40,000).

I wonder if I can turn this idea into an actual novel that can be sent out into the world...before I lose interest in this subject completely.

That is up to me, of course.

This summer, I have been as tightly closed as the flower in the photo above.

I think it’s high time I opened up again.

Don’t you?

How the Meandering Mouse blog works

Image credit: Microsoft Clip Art

This month, the fourth anniversary of the Meandering Mouse blog will occur (specifically, January 20). It’s a good time to pull back the curtain and show you my guidelines for posting.

In 2009, the first year of the blog, I wrote 63 posts. The next year, 2010, I only wrote 32, and in one month (May) I didn't make a post at all. Those 32 posts were good work, but when you have a blog that you want people to look at, quantity as well as quality matters.

So in 2011, I started a quota – a minimum of four posts per month, totaling a minimum of 48 posts per year. It is, for me, a realistic and achievable goal, and it has worked well ever since. In 2011, I did 50 posts, and in 2012, 53.

If somehow I should only write three posts in a month, I need to write five posts the next month. If (oh, no) I write just two, I need to write six the next time. And so on. However, if I go over quota one month (five posts or more), it does not mean I get to write fewer posts the following month. Last month, December, I wrote seven posts – but I’m not going to write just one in January. The minimum is always four, no matter what.

If it gets down to crunch time at the end of the month, I’ll share a bloggers’ secret: A nice photo and a quote (by me or someone else) counts as a post.

In 2012, I also “recycled” some essays that I had written previously. All but one of them were new to the web, and the exception was a post I wrote for a LiveJournal account under a screen name. I will most likely do the same this year, but the well of older essays is dwindling. (I give you my word of honor that I will not try to pass off an old Meandering Mouse post as new.)

I have some great ideas in January, so I will have no problem meeting quota this month. I feel full of good writing energy at the moment. (Let’s hold on to that!)