November

I have completed “National Blog Posting Month” (NaBloPoMo) successfully. For those who have no idea what on earth I am talking about, it was a challenge to write one or more posts for every day during November.

I have a somewhat guilty secret to divulge. I thought it was easy. It required no extra effort from me to fulfill the obligation of posting at least once a day for a month. In many ways it became easier than normal because I would often catch myself wandering through my daily world taking notes in my head of “things to blog about”.

I even have a notebook that travels with me now – the trusty Moleskine, in which I can record observations of strange thoughts, funny stories and annoying people that cross my path. I am warming to the notebook enormously. Where I always hated the regimen of writing in a diary each day, it is much easier to start a new notebook page with a date if I feel there is something I need to commit to paper (perhaps for fear of assassinating somebody).

I’m wandering off the subject, aren’t I. While taking part in NaBloPoMo I started reading a lot of other people’s blogs, and have gathered together quite a number of “favourites” (most of which can be found in the blog-roll on the main index page of Life and Times). Keeping up with such a large number of journals has been hard work, but it has also been rewarding. I have come to know some wonderful people (if only a little bit). The writing during November has been wonderful too.

If I take anything from NaBloPoMo it will probably be that the really interesting posts are about small things. The minutiae of life. The nuggets that prove no matter where you are, what race you are, or what background you have – there are parallels between our lives, and we can relate to each other in many, many ways. We opened a slice of our lives to each other and forged unlikely friendships spanning thousands of miles.

We will remember November.