Nablopomo and Nanowrimo

Some of you might know that November is the month of writing a 50,000 word novel in a month and writing on your blog every day for a month. I'm almost positive that Nanowrimo came first and so have no idea why the Nablapomo people (who were obviously imitating Nanowrimo) scheduled it on the same month, except that they were jealous of their novel writing friends writing 1,666 words a day, and so thought that writing a blog post every day was about the same. Anyway, I thought I'd give them a shot. I've never done Nanoblomo (although I've been close to writing every day at random times in this blogs history. I've done Nanowrimo 4 or 5 times and my first book was a product of my very first attempt back in 2004. I'm not super dedicated to succeeding, but I also have always really enjoyed Nanowrimo before. If I am somewhere close on word count, I might include my blog posts in the count, as I've done with school papers before, to make it more of a "write 50,000 words in November." That's what it's really all about, after all, creativity.

I once wrote that I felt the need to blog whether I have a lot of readers or not, or whether what I'm blogging about is interesting or not, because a blog acts as sort of a diary, and also helps to keep those who care about you informed, so that a lot of catching up isn't required every time you meet. That's all true, of course, but I think another main part of blogging is about being creative. I spend so much of my time on the computer consuming, consuming, consuming. I read other people's blogs, read the news, my emails, watch videos, whatever, and rarely do I create anything and put it out there. Although, obviously, the world doesn't need one more lame family blog, I think that blogging can act as a great way to at least put some creativity in your life.

This whole creativity/consumption divide actually resonates with me on a whole lot of levels. The idea that we are not just created by the Creator, but actually endowed by Him with the potential to become creators just like him is, for me, one of the most meaningful and satisfying doctrines in the LDS church. But even outside of the LDS context, there is just something so fundamentally right about contributing something, if even in a small way, rather than simply taking all the time. This isn't a condemnation of anyone who reads our blog without writing one of their own, but it is simply an invitation to take part in the wonderful world of writing a boring blog that people only read out of obligation.

Wow, this was wordy. But I have turned off my inner editor for the month of November. So get over it.

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