Over a year ago, I wrote my last post on this site. Time to change that.

Technically, at this moment it is Monday, November 2, but as I haven’t gone to bed for the night yet on November, I’m going to call this day one of November 2015.

Some people use November to write a novel: NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). November is also NaBloPoMo: National Blog Posting Month.

I’m not sure I want to do anything as formal as that. I would like to do more writing. So maybe that means I post a few thoughts on here each day for the next month to see how that goes. I want to look at this not as writing articles with a thesis, bullet points, and a solid conclusion. More like when I share a few connected thoughts on Twitter, but a little more structured. Maybe somebody else gets something out of the things I share, or maybe I just stretch my writing muscles in a public way. We’ll see.

Writing has long been something I’ve considered a skill of mine, and at times a passion. I used to write fiction and poetry regularly and majored in that for my BA. After college, that fell off, bit by bit. Maybe I got discouraged with publication rejection letters or not getting into grad school for a MFA. Maybe life got busy. Maybe I prioritized other things. Between work and marriage and having a young daughter, I certainly do have a fair amount to do each day, but I also do have some free time I could use for writing if I put my mind to it.

I have some more structured articles I’d like to write, and this month seems as good as any to get those done. More importantly, I’ve gotten well off track on a technical book I’m supposed to be writing.

Writing the Important Things like an article or a book can be intimidating. I get all knotted up and anxious, until finally I get so fed up with that feeling I finally write what I need to write.

I am hoping that maybe by writing something more casual, sharing a few thoughts each day in a blog post, I can quiet those inner voices enough to have more energy to write those Important Things. I am already getting some ideas for some personal posts that aren’t right for an article but hopefully will be of interest to more than just me.

So here’s to November. Maybe you will find something you would like to try this month. It’s okay if you don’t start doing that on November 1. Bend the rules however you need to trick your brain into doing what you would like to do. Or don’t. That’s okay too. I am trying to still that voice of guilt, and if you ever have that grim shadow leaning over your shoulder, whispering in your ear, I hope you can wave off that nonsense and step away towards the path you’d like to take. I hope I can too.