Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

My blogging during September was erratic, in part due to being depressed and physically sick. So I decided to give NaBloPoMo a try in October – National Blog Post Month is hosted monthly by BlogHer to encourage frequent blogging. I tried it last year and it went well so I figured it would be helpful. Rebuilding cognitive muscles, including creativity, requires diligence, application, and effort. Now I’m not a professional writer so I’ve rarely explored writing exercises, but I suspect they work. They may not get you a book deal, but they keep your brain engaged.

Insanity laughs under pressure we’re cracking
Can’t we give ourselves one more chance?

October was tough because the prompts from BlogHer didn’t resonate. It is considered fair to go off-topic, but my head wasn’t yet in the game. But I posted each day that 31 day month and decided to sign up for November to see if being thankful would inspire me. I think that it did, but it also helped to prepare me for some very challenging days covering trans bashing stories. I think practicing every day on things like “describe your favorite color” literally built up my blogging muscles.

Turned away from it all like a blind man
Sat on a fence but it don’t work

So, I signed up again in December. At this point, I was bouncing back and forth between BlogHer and the Daily Writing Prompts site for inspiration. Again, I think this practice helped me respond when two trans women were murdered in Cleveland within days of one another early in the month and the huge influx of traffic because no one else was writing about their deaths. The prompts themselves – from both sources – weren’t particularly inspiring, but I tried to have fun when I could.

And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves.

So now it is December 29 and I have posted every day for 90 consecutive days, sometimes more than once a day. That’s impressive (even to me.) I feel like I’m almost back in the game and ready to roll with difficult stories. Of course, I signed up for the January NaBloPoMo challenge, too.