NaNoWriMo Gets a TED Shoutout!

Saw this interesting video today (thanks to Karl from the Startup Daily for sharing).

If you've never seen a TED talk before, you're in for a treat. The tagline is "ideas worth spreading," and I've found this to be true for all of the videos I've seen there so far. Whether you've got Bill Gates releasing mosquitoes into the audience or two scantily-clad dancers from the group Pilobolus performing an acrobatic, interpretive dance while bathed in blue light, you'll find your mind being blown in ways you never expected.

The premise of this video is great for what it is. I'm a huge believer in the idea that small changes are more likely to stick. And I'm interested in becoming more formal about 30-day challenges. But most of all, I love that Matt Cutts gives a shoutout to something near and dear to my heart - NaNoWriMo!

Never heard of NaNo before? Gasp! Well, in short, it's a challenge that charges writers with writing 50,000 words during the month of November. Click here to read more about last year's NaNo.

Looking for Guest Humor Bloggers on You Amuse Me

Interested in bringing more attention to your humor writing? Then you should definitely write a guest post for my humor blog, You Amuse Me!

What we're looking for: Anything funny and original. List-based humor tends to be pretty popular. Funny pictures are also welcome. We're always open to new format ideas.

What you get: Kudos, endless love and devotion, your work in front of a quickly growing audience, a link to your website/blog/Facebook Page/Twitter account/smoke signal generator.

How to apply: Send an email to emma (at) youamuseme (dot) com with a link to some of your humor blog, a humor writing article, and/or a short sample (at least 250 words) of your writing.

Thoughts on Setting Writing Goals and July 2011 Update

I was thinking earlier about the writing goals that I set for myself in June. I was frustrated that I hadn't done as well as I'd hoped, and I was trying to figure out why I was having trouble. Although I did manage to write all my Trail's Edge blog posts, and I blogged even more than I said I would over at You Amuse Me, I fell short with Weird Worm articles (seven instead of eighteen), didn't start my mystery blog, and didn't read The Happiness Project. Out of all of them, the Weird Worm goal bugged me the most.

Later in the day, I went for a swim (trust me, this is an important part of the story). My goal was to swim for at least fifteen minutes.I didn't have much more time than that to spend, because I had to get back to work. So why was it that I felt so frustrated after a fourteen minute swim? It was surely close enough to my goal to make the difference not matter. It bothered me that after all the work of getting ready to swim, going to the pool, and actually doing the deed, I still didn't feel like I'd done a good enough job.

I Don't Always Love To Write

I don't always like it, even. And to tell the truth, it makes me feel kind of guilty. Once upon a time I figured that when I found my "passion in life," it would be something that I'd want to do every second of every minute of every day, and that it would never, ever be too hard or bore me. So how could writing possibly be my passion, if it's just so darn frustrating 90% of the time?

Well, it turns out that I'm not alone. I was flipping through The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, and I came across this passage: "Well, I don't actually love writing, but then practically no writer actually loves the writing part." I was stunned, and had to re-read her words several times to make sure I'd gotten it right. Writers don't like writing? But what about the colorful image I have in my head of truly great writers happily chaining themselves to their desks for hours on end, joyfully slaving over their computers, typewriters, or sheaves of paper, giddily conjugating verbs and delighting in finding just the right balance of descriptive nouns and adjectives? After all, writing isn't something that tends to be hugely profitable, or gain you a lot of glory, unless you work really, really hard at it for a really, really long time. And sometimes not even then. So why on earth would so many people do it if they didn't actually like it?

It's hard for me, personally, to answer the question of "why I write." I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I'm putting things out into the world, and leaving my mark in some small way. I like influencing people, and seeing their reactions to the things I do. I like the fact that the harder I work, the more I get rewarded. And I like continually learning new things. Although Gretchen's words didn't make me understand why I'm subjecting myself to this writing thing, they made me feel much, much better about how I feel about writing. It's so good to know that I'm not alone in not liking writing all the time.

What do you think? Do you have times when you don't like to write? Leave your lovely comments below!

June 2011 Goals

A little late to the game, but I wanted to make sure that I wrote these down to hold myself accountable...

1. Write 18 15 Weird Worm articles. I'm not cutting myself slack just because I had trouble reaching my goal last month! I've written three so far, so I've got a bit of catching up to do.
2. Write 8 Trail's Edge Blog posts. I'm liking this gig a lot. Stay tuned for more info! If you're interested in checking out my most recent article, it's here: Best Outdoors Activities for Father’s Day.
3. Four posts per week on You Amuse Me. I've got a formula set up, so this one should be pretty straightforward. Blogging takes less time than writing articles!
4. Keep up with social media/promotions. A little more work with the new Facebook page and Twitter account, but still doable.
5. Launch my new mystery blog. This will also require more scheduling of posts, but I'm really excited about the new niche. We'll see how the timing goes with everything else that's going on.
6. Exercise. I'm going to start going to Ultimate one day a week, and running twice a week. I ran a mile last Sunday and my legs are still sore - that simply won't do!
7. Reduce the number of exclamation points I use! At least, in my articles. It's been pointed out to me that I sometimes use them to excess. I can't help that I sometimes want to convey my excitement about things!
8. Read The Happiness Project. My mom enjoyed it, so I figure it's worth a go.

Yay! I'm pumped up for June!