NaComLeMo

Well so much for promises (soft or otherwise). On the plus side (for you not me!) I have no new followers to mention so I'm keeping that promise. However, while it wasn't exactly a promise I did say I wasn't thrilled about using a little narrow picture the day I posted the cheery balloons that came from a wallpaper and was therefore quite narrow and small.

Well, I beat that version of narrow and small all to hell here. LOL. But for good reason.

While using the "next blog" button to check out new blogs I came across an infertility site of all places. For anyone who is interested in checking it out for themselves or family or friends the address is http://chhandita-phoenix.blogspot.com/. If it is not something that pertains to your situation, consider mentioning it to family or friends, etc. who are so afflicted.

So, obviously as a single, never been married 40 something who doesn't want kids what caused me to stop there long enough to mention it here. Well, two things actually. Maybe three. First, the background template is the same sixties psychedelic orange and pink one as mine. One of the first other ones I've encountered.

Then there was the sidebar. That is the main reason I have for bringing up this site. The background template lured me in and the sidebar reeled me in. You see, that teeny, tiny badge or whatever with the doggie on it is all about a commenting contest that they were participanting in, a la NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo, that looked interesting.

Clicking on it (don't try it here as I just copied the picture as the code was not there to take as the contest has already started - you can either go to the site mentioned and click on it or go directly to the main site which I will also mention here) won't work. You can go directly to the contest originator's site, which is another infertility blog called http://stirup-queens.blogspot.com/

To get back to my (sortof) third reason for sticking around to check out the first blog - it caught my interest a bit by having a header that used nothing but pictures and only had one slight bit of text that was also underneath it and not so highlighted. While I thought the pictures were a nice touch, I would have liked to see more text and some of it probably either at the top of the pictures or more highlighted at the bottom. 

The final thing I want to say about the first site is that if you, or someone you know is having infertility problems, it is a good site to spend at least a second or two on. Why? Well, as it is not a problem of mine or anyone close to me, I didn't read much if anything of the site so I don't know about the quality of the particular blog itself, although I'm sure it's fine enough. What I did notice though, when looking at the sidebar, was the extensive blogroll of other like-minded sites to also check out.

But back to the main thrust of this post. The commenting contest. I, like probably every other blogger out there, love getting comments. I can never get enough of them. I am also guilty of not leaving enough for others, although I do leave a fair number when I do check out other blogs. That is the problem though. I check out other blogs a lot less frequently than I'd wish to to find good stuff and return the favor to other bloggers who read and comment here.

I do my bit most often through the blogger coffee shop forum that I've talked about here before. Less frequently do I use either my "blogs I'm following" Reading List or the next blog feature that I mentioned using to find the first blog I mentioned today. Finding this blog commenting contest has inspired me (I hope - I can't start it now till next month having found it about 3 or 4 days too late to register for the month, well actually week) to try to do all three on a more regular, and more importantly, systematic basis.

For those of you who want to hear the basics of the idea without going to the other site, here goes. Since going year round from the original one month of the year when the week not full month like NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo are comes up the criteria of leaving "x" amount of comments per day has been slightly decreased to make it less onerous a process. Now it is 3 comments to random blogs or blogs signed up with them and 1 reply comment to someone who has commented on your blog.

If nobody has commented on your blog then you aren't "free and clear" of that extra comment. It just becomes one more that you give to a "random" blog/one on the list. Of course, the idea is to properly read a portion of each person being commented ons blog and leaving a quality comment. Basically, do unto others... Sounds easy enough, right? Definitely sounds fun! So check it out.

Oh, and in case anyone caught it, my title and "pronouncing" of the title of the contest does differ from the official title which has gone through a couple changes and is now called IComLeavWe. I use my own acronym because I prefer the "symetry" mine has with it's forerunners that it took the idea from and made it's own. It also sounds better. Also, even though it is only one week of every month and not the whole month like NaNo... and NaBlo... it still comes up monthly.

So, I guess all that remains is to ask... "Are you going to jump into the commenting deep end (it's not really that deep - just 4 comments a day for a week remember) and play next month. If so sign up is from the 1st of the month to the 21st. Then the fun begins on the 21st and ends a week later on the 28th.

Carmen

P.S. Gotta love the catchphrase "Comments Are The New Hug". LOL. Definitely agree with that one.

P.P.S. Check out the originating site to find out the significance of the puppy on the button.

P.P.P.S. Check back tomorrow for a special post.
The C.A.T.