The October Memoir and Backstory Blog Challenge

Want a good way to gear up for NaNoWriMo? Try The October Memoir and Backstory Blog Challenge!

Jane Ann McLachlan is starting a fun October blog challenge/hop with an interesting twist. Be sure to visit her site for more details, but here's how she has the challenge posted on her blog:

"Can you produce 25 blog posts in one month? Sure, if you have a theme to inspire you. So here’s the theme: write a memory or reflection for each of the first 25 years of life. It can be a personal memoir from your life, a reflection on turning a certain age, a recollection of someone else at that age, a poem or a photo, on the ages 1 to 25.

For example, on October 1st, you could write about something that happened the year you were born, or about the birth of your child. You could do a photo collage of your first year of life, or of babies. On October 2nd, write about something that happened at age two to you or someone else. If you write a poetry blog, compose a poem for each year of life up to 25. If you write a cooking blog, you could include recipes for healthy baby food, snacks for toddlers, etc. A gardener could reminisce about learning to love gardens at each age, or introducing the hobby to her children as they grow, or suggest gardening ideas for the various ages. Photographers can capture each year in photos. This will work with any type of blog, and you can experiment with different media or genres in your own posts. Br inventive - surprise us, delight us, inspire us, make us laugh, make us cry. Try something different every day or stick to one format and focus on content – anything goes as long as you blog about ages 1-25.

For those who write fiction, this is a good way to troll your past experiences for great story ideas. Or write your blog from the point of view of one of your characters (or a character from your favorite novel) recalling an experience from his or her past – great for fan fiction, character development or experimenting with backstory. If you’re participating in NaNoWriMo, this will be a good warm-up as you hear your characters reminisce in their own voices.

Skip a day if you have to, but try not to skip an age – and please blog the ages in order – that way we can see what others did with the same age we’ve just posted about. If you don’t finish it’ll still be fun as far as you get, and if you have to skip a day, that’s okay. There are 31 days to complete this in. "

So gear up for this fun writing challenge and have your life flash before your eyes.

Sign-up begins Monday, September 24.