NaBloPomo and NaNoWriMo

The last several months have been boring. I've watched lots of TV, learned how to knit and reading. Actually, it's been nice, but boring. I haven't been challenging myself and that is something I can't tolerate.

So I'm taking part in two challenges this month: NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo. What is this gibberish about which I am talking??

I've done NaBloPoMo - National Blog Post Month in the past - it's a challenge to blog every single day in the month of November. Why? Because. Why not? I used to be pretty good about blogging on a regular basis and I want to get back to that, especially in light of the new focus of the blog.

NaNoWriMo (or National Novel Writing Month) is a bit different - the goal is to write 50,000 words, which is the equivalent of a short novel. One of my goals is to write a book, so I figured this would be an awesome way to do it. Even if I don't make my goal, I think it's a great start. They have a website where you sign up, http://www.nanowrimo.org, and there are a ton of resources available to you, including a forum where you can ask all sorts of questions - they range from grammar issues to asking questions about specific life experiences for authors who are writing about things of which they have no experience.

I'm actually really excited for both. I feel like while both are solitary activities, it is helping me be more active in the world. I can't blog every single day for a month if I just keep doing what I'm doing, which is staying at home. I need to be aware of local and national news, trends, and have experiences to write about.

So my first post for NaBloPoMo is all about the fact that I'm doing it. So sue me, it's been a lazy day so far.

Health update (don't read if you don't care): I had a medical appointment every day this week except today. Thankfully, all but one were up in SCV and I only had to go down to Cedars once, which was yesterday. I saw my gastroenterologist, who I've been ducking all summer. I thought it would be a nice catch up, a new prescription and some poking of my abdomen. Yeah....not with this guy. An hour in his office describing symptoms since I last saw him in May, poking and prodding of my abdomen, a lesson on SIBO (which we think it's not), a CT scan and several samples later, I was free to leave at 3pm. Did I mention my appt was for 11am??? Someone needs to put a warning label on that man. He's an AMAZING doctor and I wouldn't trade him for the world but but sheesh. I would have packed lunch, etc. So the chemotherapy is working in that there are no obvious signs of colitis or vasculitis in my abdomen or pelvis. It still knocks me out with sucky side effects as chemo does, but it's worth it. I never thought I would say that, but it is. I would rather take chemo than live in constant fear that something is going to break or explode in my body at any given moment.

Well, folks, that's all I've got for today. I promise I'll have some interesting topics this month, including Thanksgiving, the Affordable Care Act, some other national and local legislation, the case for the legalization of marijuana in California, the cray cray weather here, my budding social life, my hair loss and the scarf experiments, having new neighbors move in, the home decorating project, the knitting projects, the awesome friends I have, and other ideas I can't think of right now.

Happy Friday!!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad