Every November (since 1999) is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) during which tens of thousands of slightly batty people (in accord with the season) attempt to write a novel in one month:

National Novel Writing Month is a fun,
seat- of- your- pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin
writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel
by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft,
NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought
fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time
and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters
in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The
kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks,
and write on the fly.

While NaNoWriMo is not for bloggers only, many do participate, and some folks start blogs specifically for this exercise. The brave ones, the ones willing to share something of what spills out onto the keyboard during this marathon.

For those who spurn such intensity, we have NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) — a somewhat more reachable challenge:

"What the heck is going on here?" you ask. Well, it’s pretty simple.
You get yourself a blog, if you don’t have one already — and don’t
mind me if I’m stupefied at the idea that there’s someone left in the
English speaking world without their own blog. Then you look at the
calendar, and when the whole world goes, "Oh, I can’t believe they’re
already playing Christmas music in the warden’s office!" you’ll know
it’s November and that is the month in which you post something to your
blog every day, in accordance with the National Blog Posting Month
challenge!

This is the second year for NaBloPoMo, which was begun (I think) by fussy. It now has a spiffy new website at ning.com; a forum; a blogroll; lots of special interest groups; and prizes! There is something for everyone here.

Some of us have gone completely nuts, and do both NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo. I am, sadly, one of those; I’ll be posting mostly at Watermark next month.

So — you will be seeing some new names here at Blogging Blog, as various blogging friends come to pitch in and keep this place busy and interesting. Keep checking in; I think you’ll like it.

And if you need some blog inspiration this month, check out our MEMES & CARNIVALS page for pointers to dozens of weekly and monthly prompts, linkfests, and carnivals to keep you busy and connected.