NaBloPoMo Here We Come! More, or less…

Over on the Blogher website, there is a whole lot of blogging going on! When I started this whole blogging biznatch waaaaaaaaay back in 2000 (!) there was no such thing as a blogging community. The blogging tools were crude and I had no idea what I was doing. I mustered up one whole blog post that first year. In 2001, I picked up the keyboard again on September 12, the day after 9-11. Given how that event changed the world, I wrote surprisingly little about it online. (Curious about those early blogging days? Here’s the link. Be warned, it’s pretty  boring.)

I didn’t post a photo until 2002. Here it is:

Me in my Pony Express hat, posing inside a whale rib cage…

That was the year I rode sections of the Pony Express Trail across Nevada to promote a children’s book I had written, Jo’s Triumph (note, there was no such thing as a Kindle edition back then, though that is the first link that comes up in a search today…)

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Foolishly, I had created another website where all those photos and notes from the trip were kept. That website doesn’t exist any more, so all that material is lost. Which is probably something to keep in mind while we are all producing so much stuff that exists only out there in the ethers. I never print anything off that I post on my blog and I guess maybe that isn’t such a good idea, if I’m worried about posterity. How do other bloggers deal with this?

In 2012 I moved my writing blog over to WordPress when my website got an overhaul, but I have to say I have been a tad inconsistent when it comes to writing about writing, probably because writing about writing is kind of boring. I always felt a bit odd writing about pigs and snowstorms and what I was harvesting from the garden on a blog that was supposed to be about me and my books. So, in 2009 I started my Dark Creek Farm blog over on Blogger and then in January of 2011 I moved the farm blog here to WordPress.

Since starting to write about farming, I have found blogging got a lot more interesting. Maybe it’s all the procreation and death that goes on here that ups the readability factor. Farm life is much more real and compelling than a stack of manuscript pages. And, I get to post photos of horses:

and piglets:

and, occasionally, sketches by my dad about life on the farm:

I find it’s really helpful to have the motivation of a deadline to push me along, which is one reason to sign up for this month’s blogging challenge. But I have also found (after participating in a 30-Day Farm Blog challenge in November) that this here blogging community that sort of sprouted when I wasn’t paying attention is a whole lot of fun!

My goal for this month is to write more and worry less. When I can I’ll follow the writing prompts and otherwise, I’ll just keep on jotting down my thoughts about life on this here little farm.

The first prompt is: Do you think you’re more or less likely to complete December’s NaBloPoMo? I think there will be days when it’s a snap and then, right around Christmas when everything gets totally crazy with visitors and meals and hockey games and stuff… well, those days could be a tad challenging.

What I have noticed is very different today from those very early days back in the mists of blogging time is how handy my phone is! I hope to make better use of that nifty device, not just for snapping photos (for which it has been SO great!) but also for blogging quickies on the go. The other thing I’d like to try to do is include more videos, but December may prove to be just a bit too frenetic a month to attempt that. More video, though, might just be a good New Year’s resolution. But, I’m getting ahead of myself! For now, I’m excited to be part of this challenge and can’t wait to get to know some of the other bloggers who have also decided to participate.