In case you don’t know—and unless you have your own blog, you probably don’t know—this is National Blog Posting Month. I have a blog and I didn’t know what month it was until this afternoon. All this time I thought it was November, and it turns out that it’s not. It’s National Blog Posting Month.I like November better. Easier to say. Also, I don’t have to google November to remember what it’s called.Anyway, National Blog Posting Month is a challenge that someone (I’m guessing a blogger) devised in which bloggers try to post one post per day for the entire month of November. The math wizard in me has calculated that such an exercise works out to thirty posts during National Blog Posting Month. That’s a lot.To add some perspective, I posted my first Dry it in the Water post on July 13. That’s 114 days ago. This is my fifty-second post, which works out to a post every 2.19 days.In general I’m opposed to doing or creating things just because someone says you should. People shouldn’t make kids because they feel obligated, they shouldn’t give gifts because they feel obligated, and they shouldn’t write blog posts because they feel obligated.I realize that blog posting is a little less serious than making kids, but I have a whole mess of reasons why I shouldn’t participate in National Blog Posting Month.1. It’s known by the acronym NaBloPoMo. God, how I hate stupid acronyms, and that’s about the stupidest (yes it’s a word!) one I’ve ever seen. And when did the two-letter acronym become so popular? If two letters were common decades ago there would be no IBM, only InBuMa. It doesn’t have the same ring does it? Plus, it totally defeats the purpose of an acronym in the first place! If I have to think about the acronym more than I think about what it’s shortening, then it’s useless.2. November’s a long month. Thirty posts is a lot. Someone should have thought this through better and chosen February instead.3. I’m setting myself up for failure. What if I miss a day?4. It seems sort of self-indulgent. “Hey you, Mr. or Ms. Reader, I appreciate you reading my blog a few times a week, and since I’m sure you enjoy it so much, I’m going to give you an entry every single day until after Thanksgiving. Believe me, I have enough interesting thoughts to keep you engaged. So sit back and enjoy.” In reality I might just be wearing out the Delete key on my readers’ keyboards.5. It makes me focus on time and the passing of time. The last thing I need is something else to remind me how quickly time passes by. I’ve got four kids for that. I might as well install a ticking clock behind my ear so I can hear the seconds pass.6. It risks taking something that’s fun and making it into work. I like to write and I like to blog. I want that to remain a hobby and not a chore. Making myself do it every single day risks making it into a chore. I already don’t do half the chores I should do, so why add to that list?7. Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, I think. Cooking, and baking, and eating, and parades, and family, and friends, and movies, and four days off, and not going shopping, and staying up late, and eating. Notice how blogging is nowhere in there?Okay, so maybe seven doesn’t qualify as a “whole mess” of reasons, but it’s enough to dissuade me from participating in NaBloPoMo.However, it might also be fun and challenging, which are two things that I try to experience as much as I can.So let it begin. I’m already two days behind, since I just found out about this idiocy today. That means not only do I have to write 30 posts in 30 days, but I have to write 30 posts in 28 days. And since you’re a math wizard you’ll deduce that I’m going to have to post two entries on two days. Sweet.Oh, and what happens if I fail at NaBloPoMo and miss a day or don’t make 30 posts or write posts that literally nobody reads?Nothing, except your ridicule. And I’m probably already subject to silent ridicule from some, so who cares?LeGeItGo. Let’s get it going!+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Hey you, Blog Reader Person, how 'bout you do something nice and like my Facebook page, Brett Baker Writes?
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