Happy Wednesday morning – and my first post for National Blog Posting Month. San does an incredible job of spreading the word and organizing this event, so it is only fitting to give her a standing ovation (let’s use our imaginations, here) for her tremendous efforts!
I participated in this “challenge” last year and loved the experience. It was also…exhausting, and I had decided to be an enthusiastic spectator this time around!
Then my former website crashed and I had to start from the ground up which involved nearly a month of not being able to post. Suddenly, daily posting sounded wonderful.
So here I am. Back in the proverbial saddle for another ride at the rodeo.
If you’re new to my site, welcome.
A little bit about me: I’m Elisabeth, with an “s.” I live in Nova Scotia, a coastal province on the Eastern side of Canada. I’m married to the love of my life (John) and have two children: a 12-year-old daughter (A) and an 8-year-old son (L). You can read more about me here.
A little bit about my approach to NaBloPoMo this year: Life has been crazy lately and I’m trying to be mindful of how much I add to my plate. Writing – and reading the wonderful blog content others produce – is a source of tremendous joy for me, but I have to be careful how I allocate my currently depleted energy budget. All that to say: I will read all the NaBloPoMo posts others put out, but I won’t be able to comment on every post every day.
Also, I generally respond to every single comment that readers leave on my posts. For the month of November, I’m planning to only respond to some comments each day. Personal relationships, life responsibilities, and work all have to continue and will remain my decided priority throughout this awesome month-long event.
This also means I might miss some days of posting. That goes against my nature but literally nothing bad will happen if I don’t post every day (I’m telling myself this, not you).
Happy Wednesday. If you’re a participant in NaBloPoMo – happy writing! If you’re a spectator this year – buckle up for a lot of happy reading!
Your turn. Are you participating in NaBloPoMo this year? Have you done so in the past? Aside from the regular things like brushing teeth/walking the dog – do you have any notable daily habits?
Header photo from San!
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Michelle G
I don’t think I could do this, Elisabeth, but I like how you’ve set boundaries to make it more manageable. I look forward to reading your posts!
Daria
Hey Elisabeth! I am participating, and, like you, I have set some boundaries. I’m keeping my posts short, and writing for the sake of writing.
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I am not participating, as I am very much an all or none kind of person and would feel pressured to want to post, comment and respond although I feel that is not realistic really. So I like your attitude about partials! I do a lot of things every day: drink coffee, ride my bike to the train station, take a vitamin (most of the time!), read…and at work I very much have a morning routine of checking certain things in a certain order. I find it helps to not forget things that way!
Elisabeth
I’m the same personality but all the extra things going on the last few years have slowly (SLOWLY) pushed me to realize I have to let some things go – and that includes being a “completist.”
There is definitely comfort in routine, though, and I love writing so expect I WILL show up almost every day. I just need to lay ground rules for myself at the beginning to give permission to JUST LET THIS BE FUN!
Ally Bean
Are you participating in NaBloPoMo this year? No
Have you done so in the past? Yes, twice
Aside from the regular things like brushing teeth/walking the dog – do you have any notable daily habits? I have a few word games on my iPad that I do every morning to get my mind limbered up. They are: The Guardian’s Wordiply, NYT Connections, M-W Blossom, & Antiwordle. 🤓
ccr in MA
I am not doing nablopomo this year–last year I did it stealthily, with no announcement that I was, I just posted every day (as it turned out). This year, with my mom’s health stuff, I am posting even less often than usual, so I’m a no! But I’m looking forward to reading more posts, whether they are every day or not.
Elisabeth
Hope your internet issues have all been ironed out and sorry for having challenging family medical issues – that is all-consuming.
Love that you did NaBloPoMo stealthily!
Nicole MacPherson
Good luck with NaBloPoMo!!! I’m cheering you on there (and in life, in general, you know. xo)
Elisabeth
Thank you, thank you, thank you – I DO KNOW and it means a lot <3
NGS
I am in a similar boat. I will post every day, but will struggle to reply to all the comments on my blog or write a comment on every post I read. I’ll do my best, though!
I track my habits in a journal every day and have written in a line-a-day journal for coming up on TEN YEARS and I think I’ve only missed one or two days in that whole time. I bring my journal with me when I travel and everything.
Elisabeth
That is an epic commitment – 10 years. I’m on year 2 of my One Line a Day journal and I’m starting to feel less enthusiastic about it. Gold stars for sticking with it. It’s very fun to look back on what was happening exactly a year ago today.
Darlene Cardillo
Reading not participating although I always post on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. I don’t have enough to say for more than that.
Running is my daily addiction and coffee.
Suzanne
I really like your attitude Elisabeth. NaBloPoMo can so easily become overwhelming and unfun because of the feelings of obligation… and I think going into it knowing your limits is really smart. I have only posted 16 times in the past three months, so I feel like aiming for 30 consecutive posts is… a reach. But we’ll see how it goes, and as long as I’m having fun, I’m with you!
Elisabeth
Yay! I love seeing posts show up from you so whatever you put out for the world to read will undoubtedly be delightful <3
Jenny
Hooray! I’m SO GLAD you decided to do it this year! A lot of people seem like they were hesitating because of the commitment of not just posting every day, but reading and commenting. I say, just dive in and do your best! The more the merrier.
I like your intro, and I thought “maybe I should have done something like that.” If there are any new readers to my blog they’ll be saying “Who is this person? Is this supposed to be some sort of running blog? What’s going on here?” Ha ha… well they’ll figure it out as the month goes on.
Elisabeth
I think I overdid it last year – commenting on every single post by every single person and responding to every single comment on my blog. This year I know I have to have a few more energy boundaries in place and that feels good. Also, giving myself permission to drop out if needed, too. Though having guest posts on Monday’s is awesome because I get to “cheat” and have someone else do the work 🙂
I’d love an Intro blog post by you; I’ve been reading a few years now but can never get enough behind-the-scenes info!
Colleen Martin
Always happy to see a post of yours pop up, so it will be a happy November 🙂 Great photo by the way!
Elisabeth
Aww. Thanks for both compliments. They made me smile 🙂
J
I think it’s going to be a great month, I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone writes about. I am pre-loading some of my posts, it is the only way I will be able to get through it. Year end is crunch time in my business, which starts in October.
I enjoyed getting to know folks last year when I was ‘stealth’ participating, until I found San’s group through NGS.
Like you, I am giving myself grace on posting, reading, and commenting. I will do my best though!
Elisabeth
Yay for boundaries and grace and just enjoying the reading, writing and commenting experience. This is supposed to be fun and I’m excited!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I am in and participate in NaBloPo. I really don’t know how many times I have done so. Six or so?
It is such a wonderful month. But it also takes a lot of effort and becomes a priority over other things. I am looking forward reading your posts.
Elisabeth
Wow! That’s a lot of blog posting over the years. Gold stars <3
San
You know I love that you’re joining us again, Elisabeth, but I also respect your approach and your boundaries around it. TOTALLY OK! I will do my best to make the rounds but can also not promise to respond to every single comment and comment on every single blog posts. I am glad we’re still a fairly “small” group who is doing this… otherwise the overwhelm would be much worse.
I know people have a lot going on during November and the beginning of the holiday season, so extending some grace is paramount, but this event will maybe also – hopefully – spread some love and new friendships!
P.S. I was going to comment on your previous post, but I saw the you closed comments. Just wanted to say: I am glad you sought help and please take care of yourself. I am cheering for you!
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
Yay for NaBloPo! I did it last year and enjoyed it, but I don’t have the bandwidth for it this year. However, I am pledging to put some of the time that I’m not spending blogging to be a better reader and commenter than I was able to be last year.
Gigi
I love that picture of you!
I will commit to reading your posts; how about that? As it is, I can’t seem to get it together enough to post once a week; or once a month – so odds are good I won’t be participating. But who knows? Miracles happen every day, right?
Elisabeth
Whenever you write I love reading it, so just show up when you can!
Lindsay
Happy NaBloPoMo! The creativity and consistency needed to do this just amazes me (as does the organization needed, haha)! Looking forward to reading along.
Lisa’s Yarns
I’m not participating and never have, even in the years when I posted 3-4+ times/week! I will be reading along and trying to keep up with commenting but not to that extent that I make this happy another commitment. Ha.
I do a lot of things daily, like achieve genius status on spelling bee, wordle, and duo lingo. Those are all ways to challenge my brain. I always always drink coffee and end the day by reading.
Elisabeth
I don’t have many daily to-do’s. I stopped Wordle, I definitely don’t read every day; now I mostly have (decaf) coffee, but aside from brushing my teeth and I can’t think of something I do EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year.
Allison
This is my fourteenth year doing NaBloPoMo – a few years alone – so I feel a bit of trepidation, but mostly it’s just what I do in November, even though I’m usually away for a couple of weekends and I never manage to schedule posts like I mean to so I end up posting pictures of umbrellas or amorous frog statues and calling it done.
A couple of my best friends ever – from long ago and less so – live in Nova Scotia, so it is a place dear to my heart.
Elisabeth
Umbrellas are pretty and amorous frog statues sound hilarious – I say: Bring it on!
Nova Scotia is a delightful place – have you ever been?
Tabitha
I like the boundaries you’ve set for yourself around NaBloPoMo (and I love that you shared them so that people know what to expect)! I’m also telling myself that literally nothing bad will happen if I don’t post every day, ha! <3
Elisabeth
Great to meet you through this “blogging” adventure.
Sarah
YAY!! I hope you post a bunch so I can read a bunch.
Elisabeth
Just for you, Sarah. Just for you. As long as you promise to do the same for me 🙂
Ernie
I read yesterday, but while my hands were busy with a daycare tot. I thoguht I’d have time to come back and comment . . . but alas.
I AM giving NoBloPoMo a go this year. Decided on Halloween. Hoping I can handle it and excited to potentially meet new blog friends.
Hmm, my daily thing that I do is I workout every day. I run 4.5 miles every other day (when weather cooperates) and the other days I do fairly intense workouts. I also listen to a rosary podcast, almost every day. I cook something MOST days.
Elisabeth
I walked daily in 2022, but have really enjoyed NOT having a daily workout habit this year; mostly because it started to feel like yet another thing I had to power through. But I’m hoping this reprieve from having daily to-do’s will set me up for more energy in 2024? TIME WILL TELL!
Stephany
Yay for NaBloPoMo! I am excited for this month and ALSO happy I am taking some of the pressure off myself. I don’t HAVE to comment on every single blog post or respond to all of my comments. I want this to be fun!
I have a lot of daily habits, lol. Skincare routine, taking meds/vitamins, drinking coffee, reading, doing all those silly NYT word games, Duolingo. No wonder I have trouble adding other daily habits like walking, haha.
Kate
I have never participated in NaBloPoMo and this year is DEFINITELY not the year for me, but would love to in the future and I’m looking forward to reading all the posts! Your boundaries around it this year are emblematic of the principle of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Also, I’m so glad you were able to get in with your doctor. Thank you for sharing that song. Sending you lots of love & prayers.