A Month to Kick-start a Habit?

 Yesterday was All Souls' Day. The first of a new month heralded by contemplation and the lighting of candles, a month in which the darkness creeps ever closer, and the vibrant colours of autumn are blustered away, to be replaced by stark shadows, damp, and cold. And this year? This year November brings even more uncertainty: the outcome of the US election may be being predicted, but I am wary of my echo chamber and fearful of polling numbers that have been so wrong so many times; a further and stricter lockdown is close upon us; and Christmas plans are already being re-written at a different level.

But November also brings epic challenges - challenges that centre on the fact that we are all, pretty much, stuck inside in the dark on our own... that all we have is time. Whether it's stitches for NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month) or words for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month - the Nation seems to be moot), there are people across the world using the fact that multiplying any step by 30 results in something pretty big to kick-start a project to keep them company as the nights get longer, and to make them part of something even bigger. What else is a hashtag, after all, but a way to indicate that you, too, are doing something on your own in a spirit of togetherness?

So here's my contribution, such as it is. I'm borrowing a leaf from Louise Tilbrook's book to avoid trying to build habits that carry from workday to weekend, and ditching the novel in favour of a web-journal but here I am, tapping away at the keyboard and avoiding the siren calls of distraction, to say that I'm aiming to write. To post something every workday in November: to see where that takes me; try something new; and find out what connections it might build.