This post marks the end of my 30 days of daily posting for NaBloPoMo. I’m happy and proud to say that I made it all the way through. I think I was able to put together a nice mixture of posts — long and short, funny and sad — and I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

As I expected, I didn’t have a problem finding things to write about. I keep a file with a list of possible topics and a bunch of half-written posts, and the file keeps getting longer and longer. Even after this month of posts, I still have at least 15 ideas kicking around.

No, for me, the problem is always finding the time to work on writing. I was hoping that this month of posts would encourage me to find a regular time for writing, and to make writing a priority. I’m pleased to say that NaBloPoMo came through big time. I’ve learned that even 20 or 30 minutes set aside in my day for writing is enough to get my thoughts down. I’ve learned that I can do most of my writing in my head — as I read on a website once, “As a writer, I’m always writing” — and all I need to find time for is transcription. Although I don’t think I can keep up with the every-day pace — I do need to the the laundry sometime — I hope to post more often, and to find time for other writing projects.

I’ve also found that writing on a regular basis has improved the quality of my posts. Some days were just throw-aways, but some days I produced better text than I’ve written in the past. I recently heard on the CBC about an experiment in an art class, where half the class was asked to make something every day, and the other half was asked to only make something when inspiration struck. The half that worked every day produced a lot more crap, but also a lot more high-quality works that they were happy with. The lesson here is just to throw everything out there, and some of it is bound to be great.

Overall, it’s been a good experience, and I feel almost like a real writer. I’ll definitely be signing up to do it again next year.