NaBloPoMo & NaNoWriMo--ciaooooooo!

And now, the end is here. And so I face the final curtain. My friend, I'll say it clear. I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew [NaNo too?!]
But through it all, when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out [Take that Telecom!]
I faced it all and I stood tall and did it myyyyyyyy way!

Go ahead, give Old Blue Eyes a listen while you read the rest of this post.

So here we are at the end of a great, exciting month in the blogosphere. I survived NaBloPoMo, but came up a bit short on NaNoWriMo.

Thems the breaks.

The most important thing is that I'm happy with what I've accomplished, and I *really* am.

Thirty blog posts in thirty days is nothing to shake a stick at, as my grandmother would've said. And I'm proud of the content in each and every one of those posts to boot. I thank all of you for keeping up and commenting so fully and frequently; your continued support is appreciated more than you could ever know.

Now regarding NaNo, the novel that I'm working on requires a lot of research for one of the characters that I hadn't done prior to November. Sure I could've cheated and continued working on a book that I already have nearly 50,000 words written for already (remember my manuscript counter in the sidebar?). But that wouldn't have been very NaNo of me.

Instead, I wrote the half of the book that I was prepared to write going in, and I'm pretty happy with it. Indeed, I'm more inspired than ever to get into researching my other main character and get going on that part because I now see a wonderful novel coming out of these quickly thrown down words and ideas. There's so much potential for growth there, and I wasn't so sure of that before I began. So that's been a nice surprise.

Even better? I'm also inspired to pick up that old manuscript and get working on it again. I may even join NaNoFiMo, National Novel Finishing Month to get working on those last 30,000 words or so on that book. Who knows? It's all up to me, isn't it?

But back to the blog. I do have some unfinished November business right now--my November Monthly Musing:

With each leaf that falls
We offer thanks for present,
past, and future life.


Today I'm thankful for:

Eden Marriott Kennedy, founder and organizer of NaBloPoMo. She started with a fabulous idea last year and has built an impressive community around it. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of (mostly thankless) work that is involved in keeping up with all of this, but I would like to give this special woman and blogger extraordinaire a pat on the back from southern Italy for all those hours of keeping us in line.

You're a true blog heroine, Eden! Thank yeeeeew!

I'd also like to give a special thanks to BoogieMum who came up with the idea for 30 days of thanks. It's been an amazing exercise in stopping and appreciating what's important every day, and I will continue to do so in my own private journal.

P.S. Don't forget that the Dolce Italiano Contest is over at Jenn's The Leftover Queen today, where she's made a decadent Chocolate Salami.

Past posts include:

Mosaic Biscotti, Sara's Ms Adventures in Italy
Chocolate Kisses, Ilva's Lucullian Delights
Ricotta Pound Cake, Here!
Chestnut Brownies, Shelley's At Home in Rome

Remember, all you need to do is comment on any and all of the Dolce Italiano recipe posts to be entered into the drawing to win a personalized, signed copy of Gina DePalma's fabulous new cookbook full of Italian sweets and treats, Dolce Italiano.

And, finally, buon weekend!

Phew. Breath.