Happy August! Happy my-attempt-to-start-another-project.

Inspired by VEDA ("Vlog Every Day in August"), I wanted to find a way to break out of the creative rut I've found myself in recently. Lately when I've sat down to write, I've gone through the usual process of word vomiting and then overthinking--and then doing nothing about whatever I've just written.

So let's try something else: every month is "National Blog Posting Month" with a different theme at BlogHer. Participation this month is partially a challenge to myself to do what I couldn't do last year, which was attempt to blog at least every other day. I've always struggled with the idea of "an audience," especially on a personal blog, and it would often lead me to waffle on hitting "publish" after writing a post. As I scroll through my drafts, I see so many half-completed thoughts that I never got around to finishing. There was always this need to make it just right before sharing with the world.

But that's silly, right?

I'm imperfect. My thoughts are imperfect.

Writing has always been like breathing for me. Whereas spoken words often fail me when I need them most, the written word can bring me to my conclusion better than any other medium. And while judgement from others is something that sits in the "self conscious" part of my brain, I've come to realize that pursuing your authentic self is worth the risk. Who cares if it's my best friends reading my blog post on fears, or someone I just met? What I write is exactly who I am. That's more sharing to the world than I'll do in a walk down the street.

There's a verse in that Anna Nalick song--you know the one I'm talking about--that I always think about when I try to explain this thought process: "2 AM and I'm still awake writing a song / If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me threatening the life it belongs to / And I feel like I"m naked in front of the crowd, 'cause these words are my diary screaming out loud / And I know that you'll use them however you want to."

Anyways -- the point is: I'm going to do this. There are prompts for each day (weekends are "free topic" days), and if you'd like to join, here are the rules:

If you've never joined NaBloPoMo, this is the time to do so. It starts August 1 and runs until August 31. Just make the commitment to (1) blog daily for the month (nothing more to it than that!) and (2) to support your fellow NaBloPoMo'ers by reading a handful of the other blogs on the blogroll. Cheer them along and they'll cheer you on too. You can sign up for August's NaBloPoMo until August 5th. You can grab the official badge here and upload a link to the badges you make.

It's as simple as that: post daily on your own blog. That's it. You can get fancy and cross-post your blog posts onto the NaBloPoMo site. If you need daily inspiration, bookmark the NaBloPoMo prompts page for August, which already has all the prompts for the month posted so you can plan ahead.

NaBloPoMo is what you make of it. At its core, all you need to do is post daily on your blog. The point of NaBloPoMo is not to be restricted by the theme, but instead to either take it or leave it. If you'll do better blogging every day based on what's happening in your world, throw aside the daily prompts.