National Torture Month

What IS is about November that makes people want to commit to various forms of torture for an entire month?

A few years back, I stumbled upon an endeaver fondly known as NaNoWriMo, an abbreviation for National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write an entire 175-page novel (50,000 words) in one month's time. Why would anyone want to do this, you ask? Well, I suppose for the satisfaction of actually doing it. The emphasis is not on quality or thoroughness of thought; just the act of putting words on paper. If you are able to complete those 50,000 words by midnight November 30th, you can upload your novel for verification and then you are added to the Winner's Page on the website and get a certificate touting your accomplishment. And, as they say on the website, "Win or lose, you rock for even trying."

I don't know this for certain, but it seems other groups have sprung up with similar month-long goals, also using similar acronyms. (Is it an technically an acronym? Or some other -nym I'm thinking of??)

There's the ever-popular NaBloPoMo, aka National Blog Posting Month, wherein bloggers commit to posting every day of the month. Wailing and gnashing of teeth can be heard from all corners of the blogosphere during this event, especially from those that have chosen to participate and are kicking themselves as they struggle to come up with something at least half-witted to post about on a daily basis.

There's the photojournalistic endeavor known as NoBloShoeMo. This is a Flickr photo group where members post daily pictures of, what else? Their shoes! And there are some pretty darn cute ones being worn.

I'm sure there are other NaNo groups out there, but those are the ones I've stumbled across. I have to say, someday I'd love to attempt the NaNoWriMo craziness. I've always wanted to write a novel, and for years have been on the look-out for *just* the idea that will spark my creative juices and enable me to write the next Greatest American Novel.

But I digress. Life is too busy for me just now to attempt to write 50,000 words in the next 28 days. Even if those 50,000 words are in my native language. In the next month, I will be working, trying to finish building a house and then subsequently getting ready to move into said house (Squee!!!) , not to mention shopping for furniture & accoutrements for said new house. Then there's the issue of a certain holiday that will be occuring on or around the 27th of this month and requiring my culinary skills to be put to task. Not to mention my advanced eating skills. And with December lurking just around the corner, along with it's beloved holiday, there will be more shopping and purchasing that will need to be done. So, NaNoWriMo is out for me this year.

And while I love the thought of focusing my attention on fabulous footwear, I am not the owner of fabulous footwear and nobody wants to see my dingy New Balance slides or my disintegrating Eddie Bauer fleece slippers posted day after day. And considering my tootsies haven't had any much pampering lately, I am loathe to share pictures of them in my fabulous and much-loved collection of flip-flops. No NoBloShoeMo for me either.

I guess that just leaves NaBloPoMo. And I really don't have any excuse not to do this one. I mean, I have a blog. If you know me IRL, you know I always have something to say. It's just a matter of putting it down on paper screen. I'm sure there will plenty of excitement in the coming month that I can record and share with ya'll. So, what the heck. I'll give it a whirl and see what happens.

And yes, I realize it's November 2nd already. But this is such a long post, surely it counts as two. :) I do solemnly swear to do my best to post every day for the rest of the month.