Well, we’ve made it a little more than halfway through NaNoPoblano 2020. I’ve missed 4 days so far, out of my goal of 30, which honestly is not bad given my usual average of 1-2 posts per month. My second goal was one or more comments per day on others’ posts. I am not actually sure whether I’ve hit that, but regardless, I have done a lot more commenting than I normally do and have really enjoyed getting to know a few other bloggers this way. My final goal was to share one or more posts from others per week. We are in the third week of November and I have not done that once, so at the end of this post you’ll find a roundup of five posts from NaNo bloggers that I’ve enjoyed this month.

But First, Some Thoughts

NaNoPoblano has helped me realize something this month. I have been blogging since 2012, and when I started, and even through college, I blogged about anything and everything. I usually stuck to a specific topic within a post, but beyond that I let myself do whatever I wanted. After college graduation, though (which at this point was almost four years ago), I think I’ve fallen into a mindset where I feel like everything I post outside of book reviews has to be profound and well-written. I’ve hesitated on writing about my own life because it either feels too boring or too self-centered. I’ve also balked on talking about a lot of the social issues I enjoy discussing with friends, because I often feel like there’s someone out there who has already said it better. I think this has something to do with my entry into the full-time workforce, where I often end up feeling inadequate outside of the structure of classes and grades.

But really, there’s no need for blogging to feel like that. For one, the blogs I enjoy the most are the ones where people just talk about themselves and their lives, so why shouldn’t I do the same? And two, I started blogging because blogging is fun. I have so enjoyed getting back to the basics of fun this month, through posting something (almost) every day no matter what. Sure, there are posts this months I love much more than others. But even the mediocre posts have been worth it. I hope everyone else doing NaNo this month has found as much enjoyment in this as I have.

Posts I’ve Enjoyed This Month

Anyes at Far Away in the Sunshine has done a couple of Let’s Get to Know Each Other posts, which has inspired others to pick up that same format. I have really enjoyed reading Anyes’ and others’ posts on this, and may pick those up at the end of the month when I’m running out of ideas!

Dinah at With Angels and Elephants has been writing about her recovery process after a fall. For some reason, I always like reading medical recovery stories and am glad that Dinah is sharing some of her progress. This and the stroke recovery posts by Ra at Rarasaur have taught me a lot about what progress really looks like, both in physical recovery and elsewhere.

Kathleen Howell shared 12 things she’s learned about glamping, and though my husband and I are years away from being able to buy an RV, I’m taking note of her tips!

Melissa at Psychobabble talked gender roles a few days ago and I just want to say AMEN.

Steven shared some photos from his recent trip to the Washington Monument and it made me remember how much I want to visit DC again!