30 Days, 30 Posts: A #blogathon Challenge

The upcoming National Novel Writing Month (#nanowrimo on Twitter) is a motivating challenge for aspiring fiction writers. Ever since I heard about this, I have wanted to try it. Only one problem: I have no aspirations to write a novel. I like reading them, I have my favorite authors, but that is as far as it goes for me.

Through Crystal Brunelle (@librarygrl2), I found out about National Nonfiction Writing Month. Hosted by Nina Amir, it is a similar set up to #nanowrimo. The goal is to complete a work of nonfiction in 30 days. Participants sign up and set a goal for number of words to write for the month of November, along with a plan for putting the sentences together once the month has ended.

So what is the end product for me? I am not sure yet, although I could possibly see putting together many of my blog posts into an educational resource someday. Looking more short term, why would I want to write a post a day for thirty days, with an average of 1000 words a post? My initial goal is to just become a better writer by writing more. It helps to read other educators' blogs. Many are a model for what exemplary writing looks like, which motivates me to write more. In my conversation with Crystal and other educators on Twitter, it was also brought up that writing every day is something we expect of our students. Wouldn't it be good practice to write every day ourselves?

Sold!

Being an administrator, I have an innate need to plan out everything. A strength or an idiosyncrasy, making a list helps me tackle large tasks like this. With that, here is my schedule of tentative posts:

So here it is. All laid out, just waiting for me to put the figurative pen to paper.

Anyone interested in joining me? I would be happy to add your blog link to the end of this post. You can connect with me on Twitter at @HowePrincipal, or leave a comment on this post. I will be using the #blogathon hashtag as well.

See you November 1st!

Blogs to Follow Tom's PLC Spot by Tom Whitford (@twhitford) Blogging, Exercise, and Education: They Belong Together by Phil Griffins (@philgriffins)