Momovember and Nanowrimo.

I'd like to introduce to you a couple of alternate celebrations we do around here every November.

Momovember

_{Traditional momos at the much-lamented Shambala in Montreal, 2014.}

Momos are traditional Tibetan dumplings, but we're really just using them as a type. All types of dumpling are welcome in Momovember, and encouraged.

<sub>Pumpkin varenikiy at Russian Tea Time in Chicago, 2014.

Spicy dumplings at Mary Chung in Boston, 2014.

Pierogies at our former favorite, Brasserie Zentral in Minneapolis. (r.i.p.)</sub>

For several years now there's been "Movember," a movement to raise awareness of prostate cancer by growing moustaches. As my household is continually at its moustache maximum for the entire year, that really wasn't an option for us, so we shifted to something else: dumplings.
<sub>Momos in spicy tomato sauce at Gorkha Palace in Minneapolis, 2017.

Gyoza at Kung Fu Noodle, Minneapolis, 2016.</sub>

We maybe do this more for the dumplings than the cancer awareness. I often tend to be road-tripping in November, which makes it even more convenient, as having a little quest tends to stave off the food decision fatigue of having to find new restaurants every day.

_{This was the best I could do in Corpus Christi last year. They had good boudin balls, though.}

I've only been doing this for a few years, but I could throw a whole bunch more pictures at you. The most-common dumpling of all is Korean man doo, which I haven't even posted any pictures of yet.

National No Writing Month

You've probably heard about that other NaNoWriMo, where people try to write a novel in November. This isn't quite the opposite of that, but it's here to help writers - mostly people who are writers all the time - stay sane.

The purpose of National No Writing Month isn't to do no writing. It's to promote intentional practice of one skill: understanding that doing no writing isn't a disaster. When you inevitably do no writing at a time when you feel like you should have, as every writer in history does from time to time, try not to beat yourself up about it.

That's it. National No Writing Month: don't be a jerk to yourself when you don't write. If you're doing the other NaNo and you don't finish it, great. You haven't lost, you've just chosen other activities. Nobody writes better when they're punching themselves, metaphorically or literally, and nobody needs the anxiety level of an average fiction writer. You'll get 'em tomorrow, or you won't, and either way it will be ok.

So that's November. Go eat dumplings! Write, or don't write, but either way don't waste your energy feeling bad about it.