A Month of Writing

I started writing daily blog posts in March after joining the NaBloPoMo on BlogHer. When I learned about it, I quickly signed up and then proceeded to work and think harder than any mom to a toddler should have so readily agreed to. The theme for March was Risk and each day had a different writing prompt related to risk and choices.
I was happily surprised by the memories and thoughts that these prompts brought up. Questions such as "Name a time when a risk you took paid off,"  and "What is the greatest reward that can come from risk?" inspired me to write, A Stone, a Leaf, a Circus Tent and If You're Lucky. The NaBloPoMo questions helped me, forced me really, to put words to so many thoughts that are keeping me awake at night as we are getting ready to move yet again.

 

When BlogHer asked on March 8, "Do you always look before you leap", my response, If I Looked, I Might Never Leap, speaks to me now as I go back and read the reluctantly matter of fact way I reflected on having to leave my family and friends very soon.

My decision to post photos of myself , my family, my house, and to post my thoughts and stories each day was not easy to make but it has been such a great experience reaching out into the days of the other bloggers who participated. What seemed like a diary at first, very quickly became more when the first comment appeared on my blog and when I got my first follower. I love writing and to have people respond to something that I wrote was enough to keep me coming back each day to write more. For that reason it was worth every hour of sleep that I lost trying to get posts written and published. I only worked on the blog during naptime or after my son went to bed each night but found myself thinking about writing a lot of the time. I worried that my focus might become too much on writing about what I should just be enjoying every minute of.

The new NaBloPoMo theme for April is Fresh. It's almost too fitting for someone like me, about to write a brand new chapter in our military move storybook but I know that as hard as I tried, I couldn't post every day in April. March may have had some sick days and mini vacations but April will bring the moving truck to my door and really that says it all for me. The new risk that I'm taking after thinking and posting about risk all month is to not post every day. The risk that I have to take now is to post three or four times a week instead of seven and still be a writer that people want to read. So although I want to continue to post and hope to write in a way that speaks to people, instead of worrying about getting the posts published on time or about followers, I'll be focused a little more on the fact that I'd follow these two anywhere.

Thanks for the inspiration, BlogHer!