Remember, remember, um, something, anyway

November, is it? Well, as Gentle Readers are no doubt aware, November is National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short). Now, Your Humble Blogger has been to see the doctor recently, and it turns out that I do not have a novel in me. Whew. Although it turns out it wouldn’t do any harm to eat more fiber, just in case.

No, what Your Humble Blogger has in him is bile. Mmmm, bile. Digestion just wouldn’t work without it. It’s not like having a novel in you—when you have a novel in you, the general idea is to get it out of you, and good luck to those of you who are doing it.

There’s an lj meme that has turned up again recently where the memist offers to make an artwork for and about each of the first five commenters who ask for one, on the condition that the artwork recipients post the meme on their own journals (and, presumably, actually make the art for the first five who ask, and so on). It’s a terrific meme, serving two lovely purposes: increasing the amount of art in the world and strengthening bonds between individual ljers. In fact, it’s a meme peculiarly suited to lj, I think. It’s about highlighting the ways that lj fosters community, rather than commerce. I wonder, if you were to track the frequency of the meme’s appearance over time (because I think it does come around again and again), if it goes way up after events perceived as threats to that emphasis. Not meaning power disruptions, but things like adding ads in various places, the phony community business, and the sale of the company.

Anyway, Your Humble Blogger does not enjoy making visual art; it’s a flaw in my character, I suppose, but as an activity, it ranks well below washing dishes. My own creative contribution is verbal. Not that poetry stuff, either, or fiction, or the sober explication, or the three-act play. No, what Your Humble Blogger can do is rant. Specifically, it’s the form of rant known as the Impassioned Plea. So, for the first five Gentle Readers who ask (the other thing I appreciate about this meme is the artificial scarcity—hurry, this offer can’t last forever!), YHB will scribe an Impassioned Plea on the topic of your choice. Any side of any issue. I’ll beg for religious tolerance, or I’ll beg for increased viewership for ballroom dancing reality teevee, or I’ll beg for Proposition K. Not just begging, of course. I’ll provide three independent levels of analysis in favor of only listening to old-fashioned vinyl LPs. Or against. Your call. But the analysis serves only to support the plea; it’s the plea that’s important.

And, of course, if you take me up on this, Gentle Reader, you are obliged to offer some similar in your own life, blog or whatever, to custom-make some friends or acquaintances some creative endeavors, be they crayon drawings, sonnets, quilts or major motion pictures.

November is also NaBloPoMo, by the way. Not that I’m posting every day this month, or that I would have if I had known about it before I missed two of the first four days. I try to post about thirty or thirty-five times a month. After a scanty summer, I’m back into the swing of things, and have been enjoying posting again. The point of all this stuff is to provide motivation and structure, and a kick in the ass. My ass is fine, and I hope my blog is also.

chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.