NaBloPoMo FAQs

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about NaBloPoMo




When is NaBloPoMo?
Originally, NaBloPoMo (aka National Blog Posting Month) was only during the month of November. Then NaBloPoMo grew, and every month had a new NaBloPoMo challenge. November was still considered the "big" month and often had prizes and giveaways, but you could start a NaBloPoMo challenge on the first of any month.
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What do I have to do to join/participate in NaBloPoMo?
Post in your blog every day for a full month. - That's it! There's nothing else to join and nothing else to do!

NOTE: Back when there was an official site for NaBloPloMo, the following paragraph applied.

During some months, like November, prizes might be awarded. To be eligible for prizes (during a month that has prizes) you must also add your blog name and URL to the Blogroll (An official list of Bloggers participating in the challenge for that month), but adding your name to the Blogroll is never a requirement for doing NaBloPoMo. Adding your name to the Blogroll is optional and is something you can do "just because." (During a prize month it's something to do "Just because... you want a prize!)

If you want to participate and aren't interested in prizes or if no prizes are offered that month, or if you don't want to list your blog for some other reason, just post every day for a month. That's all you have to do!
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Is there a daily or monthly word count requirement?
Nope. The only goal is one post (of any length) each day for a full month. You can even post a picture. That counts too.
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Since it's called "National" Blog Posting Month, do I have to live in the USA to participate?
NaBloPoMo is open to everybody everywhere, but [If you join a NaBloPloMo site or group that's giving out prizes] there might be restrictions on prizes based on residency.
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What's a Blogroll and do I have to sign it?
When there were official sites for NaBloPloMo, the Blogroll was a list of blogs participating in that month's NaBloPoMo. Listing your blog on the Blogroll was not a requirement for participating in NaBloPoMo, but during a month when prizes were offered, that was the only way to be considered for a prize. You could also visit the Blogroll to find other blogs participating in NaBloPoMo. It was a great way to find new blogs to read.
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What if I missed a Blogroll's sign up deadline?
If you missed a Blogroll sign up deadline (or didn't want to list your blog on the Blogroll), you could still participate in NaBloPoMo, you just wouldn't be eligible for prizes during a prize month.

A new Blogroll was started each month, so you if you missed one month's sign up, you could sign up the next month.

NaBloPoMo was meant to be a personal challenge you set for yourself. You didn't have to do anything! - Except try to write a post a day for a month!

Remember, signing the Blogroll was not a requirement for participating in NaBloPoMo (unless you wanted to be eligible for prizes during a prize month.) You could participate in NaBloPoMo whether or not your name was on a list.
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How can I find my name on the Blogroll?
If you sign up on a Blogroll it could take a few hours for your blog to show up on the list. To find your blog, go to the Blogroll list and use your browser's FIND function to search for the name of your blog. A shortcut for this, if you're on a PC, is to hold down the CTRL and F keys on your keyboard, (CMND/apple and F keys on a Mac) then type in the name of your blog and hit the RETURN/ENTER key. This will search the current page.
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Can I post at my own blog? Or do I have to post on a different site? Or both?
You only have to post in one place, but you can post in more than one place if you'd like. Your blog is fine. Other sites are fine. Cross posting at both is fine. If you're blogging during a month that has Prize Giveaways (Usually November), make sure the blog you list in the Blogroll is posted in every day since that's the one they'll check to see if you've met the daily writing requirement.
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Can I list more than one blog in the Blogroll?
Yes, if you'll be blogging every day for a month in each of them. But [unless something has changed as of this writing] they'll each appear as separate blogs in the list, not as a list of blogs under your name.
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How can I have posts from different blogs count towards the full month's total?
To be eligible for prizes (during a month when prizes are awarded), judges need to see all your daily posts in one place. If you're blogging at different blogs each day, consider cross posting your daily posts (or snippets of them with links to the full posts) at a separate blog or a page that you create specifically for NaBloPoMo, then use that site's (or page's) address as your URL in the Blogroll.
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Can I use a private/protected/non-public blog for NaBloPoMo?
You can use any blog you'd like for NaBloPoMo. During a month when prizes are awarded, if you're randomly selected to win a prize and your blog is private, you may be asked to grant temporary access to the person running NaBloPloMo so they can verify that you've been posting every day. Once they've checked, you can revoke their access. If you're not interested in a prize, you don't have to grant access to anyone. You can blog privately or publicly.
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What's a "Daily Writing Prompt?" Where do I find them? And do my posts HAVE to be about them?
Sites hosting NaBloPloMo sometimes offer writing prompts. A writing prompt is a suggested theme or topic to blog about. Writing prompts are completely optional and are offered as tools to help motivate your daily writing. If you want to write about something different, you may. You can write on anything at all. It all counts! You can even write about past writing prompts!
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Do my posts HAVE to be about the monthly theme?
No. Monthly themes (and writing prompts, and Blogrolls, and badges...) are there to help motivate you and facilitate your reaching your goal, but you're not required to use any of them. You can write about anything at all.
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What are NaBloPoMo Badges? Do I have to use them?
NaBloPoMo Badges are little signs for your blog that say you're participating in NaBloPoMo. They're completely optional. Some people like to put one in the sidebar of their blog to let visitors know they're participating in the monthly challenge. Sometimes there are even "I did it!" (or "I failed!") badges available at the end of each month.
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Where can I get a NaBloPoMo Badge? Can I make my own? Do I need permission to use one?
Any badge at all (or none!) can be used, including one you make. In the past, people would share badges that they made for themselves and participants. You could use one of those too, or share a link to one that you made.
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What if I miss a day?/Can I schedule posts ahead of time?
Previously, NaBloPoMo was pretty strict about this. No missing days. The goal was to blog daily, not to write 30 posts all at once and post them whenever! However, the rules were more relaxed at BlogHer and you could get your thirty posts in any way you'd like, including scheduling posts ahead of time and back dating posts for dates you'd missed. However, If you were blogging during a month when prizes were awarded (usually November), and your blog was randomly picked to receive that day's award, your blog would be checked on that day to see if you'd blogged every day up until that point, to be eligible for a prize.
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I missed a day/started late. Now what?
At the "old" NaBloPoMo, you'd be out. Which is not the end of the world. You could always try again the following month! At BlogHer, however, the rules were more relaxed and you could make up the missed day later. However, if you were blogging during a month when prizes were awarded, if your blog was checked on that day (and you were missing posts for that month) you wouldn't be eligible for that day's prize. (You might still be eligible for prizes awarded later that month if you made up the missing day(s). I'm not sure.)
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There's Prizes?
Originally, NaBloPoMo was only during the month of November. Then it expanded and every month had a new NaBloPoMo challenge. However, November was still considered the "big" month and often had prizes. To be eligible for a prize your blog needed to be listed on that month's Blogroll and you needed to post every day during that month.
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Where can I read posts written by other NaBloPoMo members?
You can look at a NaBloPloMo Blogroll and pick blogs at random, or search online for NaBloPloMo plus the year and month you're interested in.
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I've done NaBloPoMo before, but my profile and all my old posts are gone! And the site looks totally different! What happened?!
On November 1st 2011, the old NaBloPoMo site (hosted at Ning) was closed. Then NaBloPoMo was hosted at BlogHer's site. Profiles and posts created at the old (Ning) site were not carried over to BlogHer.

In December 2016, BlogHer discontinued NaBloPloMo on their site. I'm not sure if previous profiles and posts from BlogHer accounts remained.
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Do I have to write a whole Novel in one month?
That's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month.) NaBloPoMo is National Blog Posting Month. - See the History of NaBloPoMo for more information about the similarities of these two names.
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Who's in charge of NaBloPoMo?
At the time of this writing, NaBloPloMo no longer exists in an official form and nobody is in charge, but individual bloggers sometimes host their own mini-NaBloPloMo. One way to find these bloggers is to do a search online for NaBloPloMo and the current month and year. For a brief history of NaBloPoMo, see the History of NaBloPoMo.
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2 comments:

  1. When does the March session of NaBloPoMo kick off? I can't find any mention of it. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry I didn't see your comment sooner. As far as I know, the first of each month starts a new NaBloPoMo theme.

      Delete

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