Welcome to Winter and the End of NaBloPoMo

Whoa -- it is December, people.

DECEMBER.

Coloured lights are decked out on houses, parking lots of filled with evergreens prepped for baubles (and more lights), and OMG the retail store promotions.....

As I type, a few lazy flurries are spiraling outside the window. See now, this is the awesome part of winter. We can still get that rush of excitement to see snow, and we aren't in the middle of holiday burnout yet.

And what else could be just as awesome....?

.... the end of NaBloPoMo, and the knowledge I have more or less survived it. I admit, I was disappointed when I realized I'd missed one post. Even when I slogged through a tough week in terms of school assignments and 5 AM shifts (and still managed to post even little blurbs about it), I still managed to miss one. Bah.

That aside, I managed to stumble across some content or leads I was thrilled to uncover. I find projects like NaBloPoMo remind writers to scour all possible outlets for topics. The project itself tunes you into stories around you in a new way. It's simple to cruise through the day and not take note of the details, but when you imagine readers waiting to share those observations with you, the whole show gets a new light to it.

Anyhow, rambles -- I figure I ought to do a recap of the past month to take stock.

TOTAL POSTS: 29 posts.

Average Rate of Posts: 0.96....

Tunes for Tuesdays Profiles:

• Miz Moffatt's Karaoke Edition
• Yoko Kanno

And the highlights of November 2010:

• I just about lost myself to another deluge of science fiction obsession. I get bouts of it every now and then, and it tends to coincide with winter closing in. I shared my frothing over the soon-to-be-released action-fantasy flick, Sucker Punch; I speculated on what childhood sci fi shows and films contributed to the current obsession with space; and I even wrote out my recent conversation with the rather erratic film, Daybreakers, that I was rather amused with.
• LITERATURE: Damn. Another theme I came close to losing myself over. The lure is a dangerous one. I speculated on the Existential Hand Down the Pants of Can Lit; I recommended a few recent reads to fellow bloggers; and I analyzed the troubling portrayals of bi-identified characters in Damon Galgut's Man Booker Prize-nominated novel, In a Strange Room.
• I shared some of the frets and faults from 2010, and I even discussed What Makes a Lesbian Heart Weep.
• I lapsed into a fun, filler survey, and then I found an in-depth, 99-question Sunday survey hiding on this very laptop (I have Part One and Part Two of the latter survey up so far with a whole lot more to come!)
• The Moffatt household received some STUNNING NEWS, and I can't share it until this weekend. Paf, I hate the wait....
• ... And then I became a lazy blogger what with assignments crashing in.

So there, another November come and gone. Even when I flaked out toward the end of the month, I still hit on some neat topics. I have more than one post I'm proud over, and that's more than a writer can ask for.

Here's to another NaBloPoMo, and here's to the start of the 2010 holiday season.

Eeek

Yep.

This is not a good week for blogging.

I think I am failing at NaBloPoMo at this point.

Counting down the days until these assignments are finished, for better or for worse...

In Like A Lion, Out Like A Lazy Blogger

So, perhaps describing myself as a "lazy blogger" is a tad harsh -- I would love to blog in-depth, especially since I've got some ideas bubbling below the surface. How is it that, when faced with stacks of school work, I find myself more compelled than usual to launch into side projects? The stress energizes those creative vibes at the exact moment when I cannot use them for fear of letting the priority work slip.

Oh, and getting side tracked with increasing shifts from work tends to throw off my equilibrium as well.

Bah. I will end November on a light note, it appears...

We Meet Again, NaBloPoMo

Life Writer, Laurent Mignonneau and Christa Sommerer

Check that calendar, one and all. November returns in a flurry of words for writers across the Blogoverse. So, kick out those jams, and prepare for the whirlwind to follow.

For the lit. lovers, November signals the return of the tremendous, albeit masochistic, online event known as NaNoWriMo (translated to National Novel Writing Month). Budding authors and established writers alike compete with themselves to craft a 50,000-word novel in one month. A passing fancy to write a manuscript transforms itself into a lofty end destination for a diverse group of writers. Successful candidates for NaNoWriMo embody enthusiasm, perseverance, and stamina in exchange for plot/character development; however, their achievements are made sweeter once those last lines are laid out on November 30th.

For the time-strapped bloggers out there, a similar challenge manifested itself in the form of NaBloPoMo (or, National Blog Posting Month, for the long-winded). Writers challenge one another to develop new content for the entire month of November, thereby giving the slackers *Cough*MizMoffatt*Cough, cough* a good, swift kick in the keyboard. The average posting rate is one post/day which, in comparison to NaNoWriMo, is highly achievable.

I took up the challenge last year, and I ended up having a great time with the constant stream of content. I imagine 2010 will be a touch tougher given I am in school, and I am working most mornings at 5 AM. But, sleep deprived posts are even more entertaining than plain ol' rested ones, if you ask me.

For a recap of November 2009, click on over to "NaBloPoMo: MAD DASH!" or find me on the official NaBloPoMo website.

It'll be a stunning month -- I can feel it. You best prepare yourself for some random antics, and a couple filler surveys for good measure.

.... and away we go!

NaBloPoMo: MAD DASH!

Come on, ladies -- it's the final push in the 2009 National Blog Posting Month. Just one more post and I have done it. I have persevered despite the late evenings. I have scoured all media outlets for potential topics. I have even cultivated the ramblings in my paper journal to furnish this blog with enough content for a solid month.

And here it is.

I am in the last stretch of the journey.

As with any conclusion, it's best to take stock of one's accomplishments:

TOTAL POSTS (including this conclusion): 33 posts

Average Rate of Posts: 1 per day

Tunes for Tuesdays Profiles:

• Brenda Holloway
• Amanda Palmer
• KT Tunstall w/ Billy Bragg
• PJ Harvey

So here it is, the highlights of November 2009:

• Declared an e-crush on a fellow blogette
• Divulged my Brain Crack to the Blogoverse and started planning to make it real
• Discussed the allure of transgendered individuals and indulged my drag alter-ego
• Experienced the heart-breaking downfall of The Doctor
• FINALLY watched The Fountain
• Got wasted.... twice
• Outlined the goals I hope to accomplish for 2010
• Achieved my 100th Post on Cute, Queer Canadian
• Attended my first Bachelorette Party/male strip club and lived to tell the tale
• Discovered that writing is where my heart is at

I know I never posted about that last topic, but it's true nonetheless. I think this month made me realise just how important writing is to me. It's so easy to lose track of the things you love during the mundane actions of the day-to-day, but this challenge has rekindled the excitement I have for the written word.

It's been a wild November and I am certain December will introduce even wilder times. The threat of a snow squall is hovering over the GTA and there's talk of 15-20 cm of snow later this week. Winter's here, kids.

What better way to fight off the frost than to blog your adventures for the world at large?

Do stay tuned.

NaBloPoMo and Queer Canada Blogs

Welcome to the 2009 National Blog Posting Month (or "NaBloPoMo" for the acronym-oriented, text-speak lot). As of this morning, the challenge was set for bloggers across the Internet -- 30 posts over 30 days. Granted, writing more than 30 posts over the next month is encouraged, also. I mean, you can't penalize someone for flexing their writing skills. But the absolute minimum is set and the general timeframe to complete them is decided.

No excuses.

I found out about this project through feral geographer, one of the commanders over at Queer Canada Blogs. Yes, that site is quite possibly THE central hub for Canadian bloggers who happen to be queer. It's a diverse collective of writers stretching from the west coast all the way down east and well up into the northernmost reaches of the country -- heck, we've even got some Canadians abroad who are writing their experiences for the group. I can guarantee you will find at least one other blogger to connect with on this blogroll and you'll discover a wide range of new perspectives that are sure to keep you reading.

I've just signed up over at the NaBloPoMo headquarters and joined the exciting extension of the Queer Canada Blogs group -- we're off to a nice start in terms of numbers and we welcome all to check it out.

So, here it is -- the first post of the month. It should be interesting to see what stories develop over the course of the next thirty days. Here's hoping my Muse is at her finest in the coming month -- November, here we come!