We Want You!

The month of November is nearly over. I like November. It's starting to get colder here. The days have a nip in them until they get downright chilly like this morning. Tights and boots and summer dresses with thick cardigans pulled over them, not having to shave my legs everyday (come on, it's the little things,) Thanksgiving, all things spiced and pumpkin and festive begin, and this month that meant writing everyday here for NaBloPoMo. Some days what I wrote was fast and silly. Barely a twenty minute thought with a photo and a few words. But that's the beauty of writing every single day. The days that aren't amazing or perfectly crafted are just fine. They serve their purpose, they keep that writing muscle toned and limber and ready for when the really inspired posts come out. And there are these pieces I'm really proud of having written this month. Proud because they were difficult or important to me, reflective or funny, or just something I was excited to share.

That's the benefit of making myself write everyday. Those pieces come much more frequently when I know I have to write. I am more open to inspiration. I look everywhere for ideas. Out of the necessity to create everyday, I find myself letting a little kernel of something I would have overlooked in a different month developing into a full blown post. It also forces the perfectionist inside of me to take a break, take a breath and realize that I can't edit every post to Pulitzer prize winning perfection. And that's ok. There is a beauty in the short, dinky posts sometimes too. There is a beauty and importance in capturing a regular day instead of all the exciting trips and vacations and family visits and extravagant meals. There's beauty in the simplicity of a row of days added together to capture the feeling of what my normal life looks like. And blogging everyday enhances that for me. I don't plan to keep it up, mind you. But do I have some exciting plans for December? You bet!

Last December about 6,000 bloggers and I participated in the December Reverb project, where we wrote responses to a set of 31 prompts, one for each day of the month, reflecting on 2010 and thinking about what we wanted to manifest for ourselves in 2011. Well, the hosts of Reverb have bowed out this year and put it back on the participants to create our own Reverb groups. So that's what I'm doing. And I want you to join me!

I had no plans to participate in Reverb this year, last year the posts tended toward the new agey, slightly cheesy and repetitive. Too much manifesting and reflecting. I want more humor, lightness and whimsy in the prompts. I finished it because I had committed myself to doing it, but I didn't like it about 1/2 way through. In fact I think I complained about it rather annoyingly. My friend Kristen and I had talked about starting our own group, so why not right now?

Our Reverb group, the Reverb Broads (though men are more than welcome) is going to chuck that reflection theme since I think we are all more pragmatic and down-to-earth than new agey, and go with our own prompts, no rules, just creative and interesting. I've invited some fantastic bloggers to join us and help create prompts and write with our group. Because the more the merrier!

So if you've considered starting a blog or have a blog and would like to join us, please click here to go to our public Facebook page, like it and don't forget to post your blog address there too. Or leave a comment here to join. We'll add you to our Facebook group, our Google Reader bundle with the other bloggers and you can get writing! We'll be posting the prompts here everyday and sending them out through our Facebook page and group, you can write on any or all of the prompts that you want, the more the better, but don't feel obligated to write every single day. I've found the more I write, participate, read other's blogs and comment within groups the more I get out of the whole thing. This should be a great chance to flex your writing muscle, read some excellent work from other bloggers, and create a little community for ourselves.

We aren't interested in huge readerships or major publicity, but more interested in creating a quirky, fun, and thought provoking month of writing. If you decide to join in we have three "Writing Broads" buttons you can choose from to put on your blog, as well as a twitter hashtag " #reverbbroads11" so we can collect all of the posts more easily when you tweet. I'll be writing here everyday to promote the prompts and the other great bloggers, and do a bit of writing myself, but for now here's our growing line up of bloggers: 

Adrianne at arl275.wordpress.com
Amber at amberdsibley.com
Amy at 2bperfectlyfrank.blogspot.com
Andrea at andrea414tas.blogspot.com
Becca at beccaobergefell.com
Bethany at bethanyactually.com
Brenda at brendabethman.com
Bonnie at zebrabelly.wordpress.com
Catie at catiecake.wordpress.com
Colleen at colleenriggle.com
Craige at craigemorsels.blogspot.com
Dana at simply-walking.com
Deanna at www.soullikeaspider.com
Emily R at warmedtheworld.blogspot.com
Emily H at snowy-tales.blogspot.com
Eva at evawashere.blogspot.com
Jamie Sara jamiesara22.wordpress.com
Jen M at sidewaysrain.diaryland.com
Jen W at heymrswilson.net
Jennifer H at chasingthefirefly.wordpress.com
Jennifer at octolilly.com
Jenny P at kiltstokaapstad.tumblr.com
Jessica at profbanks.com
Julia at awholelotofumph.blogspot.com
Julie at julieclarsen.com
Julie P at jpkirchmeier.com
Kaitlin at kaitmonster.wordpress.com
Kassie (me!) at right here!
Kat at katwalsh.wordpress.com
Kate at katekinsella.wordpress.com
Kathy at kathypetras.com
Katie at theteachermcmillan.blogspot.com
Katrina at katrinatripled.blogspot.com
Keri at kerbearspeaks.blogspot.com
Krissy at vivalakp.wordpress.com
Kristen A at kristendomblogs.com
Kristen R at kristenmrothfeld.weebly.com
Lauren at bluecosmic.wordpress.com
Laurie at laurieaberry.com
Lea at leawasson.tumblr.com
Louise at jeezlouise.net
Mallory at mallorybower.com
Mandy at music-and-baseball.blogspot.com
Mary at blog.the-framptons.com
Matthew at thegeekygay.posterous.com
Melanie at plumbtuckeredout.blogspot.com
Melissa at melissabrown47.wordpress.com

Neha at whereyouarehere.blogspot.com
Niki at nikirudolph.com
Rebecca at smiles4u2have.blogspot.com
Sarah at howardsj.blogspot.com
Sarah H at shrub775.blogspot.com
Sarah at dontcrymuffin.wordpress.com 
Shannon at ablogofherown.wordpress.com
Stacy at stacyloliver.com
Susan at howardsj.blogspot.com
Tara at  faithinambiguity.blogspot.com
Taren at haphazardlyme.blogspot.com
Wendy at itisallrelativereally.blogspot.com
 

Check back tomorrow for our first prompt of December and please join us. Happy writing and reading!