on life, ambitions, and dreams

On Blogging, Mustaches, and Going Paleo

Moustache May the 6th

It’s 9:55pm on November 1, 2011 as I start this post and my mind is blank. This is actually hilarious since I’ve been writing my inaugural NaBloPoMo post all freaking day.

This is not a good sign.

Today is November 1st and the start of three very big things: National Blog Posting Month, Movember, and the great paleo challenge.

As though I didn’t need more ‘new things’ to juggle…

National Blog Posting Month

Last November I embarked on a month-long journey to post one-blog post every single day for thirty days. I did this on a dare form an amazing and awesome blogging buddy.

The plan was simple, I laid out some goals, and I was good-to-go.

But what I didn’t know was how much I’d learn about myself through the process of writing. (You can read the recap here: When Creativity Flows, Don’t Turn Off the Faucet.) And over the past year, I have become an even stronger writer, communicator, and individual. And a lot of that was due to the routine of writing – and publishing – every single day.

For my sophomore attempt at National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), here’s what’s changed:

New blogging buddy

Anthony is still blogging, but he’s trading up from NaBloMoMo to participate in National Novel Writing Month (or so he says).

Meet Ms. Melinda Moseler, my NaBloPoMo blogging buddy! For background and bragging right, I helped inspire her to start her personal blog and made her fall in love with Twitter. She and I have been writing together at Jolkona for almost two years. At Jolkona, She and I have a dual writer/editor relationship that most hermit-writers dream of. You know the kind where you write something, one reviews it, and somehow figures out how to pull that point that makes your article, your blog, or even your media pitch that much stronger. I do that for her, and she does that for me. It’s pretty awesome.

In other words, she rocks.

She’s also based on the east coast, has accepted the fact that I blog late-at-night. 😀

I am so exited to have her with me on this journey this year! Here’s Melinda’s first NaBloPoMo post: It’s National Blog Post Month!

New goals

Setting goals last year kept me on the ball and off of the ledge of despair. So here’s what I’m shooting for:

  1. Post at least one blog every single day – this is required.
  2. Stick to the content calendar – but I have permission to be inspired and write on a whim.
  3. Be fearless – write what I think, say what I mean; this is my blog after all.
  4. Increase traffic – I want to have more views this month than in November 2010.
  5. No epic blog posts – still want quality, but there is no time for quantitative research-based articles. Those will have to wait.
  6. Read one new blog every single day – I’ve been slacking on my reading list, commenting, and connecting with new bloggers, want to try and work that in this year.

There’s one big giant difference between this year and last year, and that’s the fact that I have a fulltime job. Sure, staying up until (cough) 2am will not fly this year.

Though I am a better, stronger, writer who knows how to kick out a blog in no time…when I’m focused. So we’ll see if those two elements can work together or not.

Mustaches and Going Paleo

Right, so this month is not just about blogging. I’m officially a mo’sista for the team that John is leading for Movember. He’s doing some really cool stuff to raise money and awareness for men’s health, like sell some of his artwork and donate the proceeds. (Here’s a preview; I’ll write a more substantive post with the story this week.)

Also, I’m going paleo. Yes, the hunter-and-gatherer, eat-like-a-caveman diet. Again, I’ll go into more details later, but this is altering my behavior so it’s going to be rough. I promise not to try and eat my blog late at night when I’m trying to crank out a post and all I want to eat is sugar, bread, salt, and bacon.

That’s right, bacon is not paleo.

What’s that you said about bacon?

I’ll go into detail about that later. For now, welcome NaBloPoMo! I’m very excited to see you again!

Are you participating in NaBloPoMo? Leave a link to your blog and help me with my sixth goal!

Photo Credit: KalebColeman

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11 Responses

  1. This is awesome! I completely forgot about NaBloPoMo, I am not sure whether I will be able to participate this year. I’m going on vacation for about 10 days, eek. But I’ll definitely think about it…

    1. Oh, vacation – yes that’s a good reason not to blog (unless you’re into ‘travel’ blogging).

      The best part about NaBloPoMo is you can do this any other time of the year. So hit me up in, say, April and I’d love to BloPoMo with you when life is a little less crazy 🙂

    1. HI Leslie! I just dove into your blog and, yes, you have an incredible start — not to mention a great story! I agree completely that November is a good start to a new beginning. And why wait until the new year?

      🙂

  2. Yay! Yesterday’s NaNoWriMo detailed my main character’s time in a coffee shop on a rainy afternoon (because I was in a coffee shop). Today she went to the grocery store (because I needed more coffee beans) = 3,000 words. I agree – it’s more about the daily motion than the quality – but I’m often amazed by the quality that miraculously appears and never would have, without the accountability of writing. Every. Day. Good luck!

  3. Bacon’s not Paleo? We allowed it during our shop’s Paleo challenge as long as there was no sugar listed in the ingredients. This makes me sad. Because if nothing else, you still had bacon. Sigh.

    1. Shocking, I know. There’s a wide range of what’s paleo and what’s not. We even found a website that allows butter and whole cream (not sure how that works…).

      Each person in the competition was allowed to bring one thing back to their ‘island,’ and one of them brought back bacon. I brought back green beans 🙂

      Overall, this is an experiment in being more conscious in what we’re eating and cooking at home. Other than last night, we’ve been (mostly) successful 🙂

      1. I like the idea of bringing something back to the island. Sometimes, it’s the little tiny things that make all of the difference in eating Paleo.

        This nutrition challenge (I hate the word diet) will definitely shed a lot of light on mindful eating. It’s amazing. Have fun!

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