Regular readers may have noticed that since the first of January I’ve been a bit more actively verbose on this blog than in months previous. Yes, that’s right. I’ve blogged every day of the new year so far. Did YOU notice? That hasn’t been by accident — though perhaps a factor of being on holidays — but instead has been a deliberate step into a crazy scheme idea I’ve had brewing. A blog-a-thon for 2010.

Yes, you a probably thinking exactly right; I really am going to try to blog every day in 2010.

And to sweeten the pot? Yup. I would like pledges. Huh?

Here are the rules:

1) I’ll be taking pledges until the end of the year (or end of the blog-a-thon, whichever comes first), but the event will only continue past January 31st if I get at least five different pledges from different people by that date. You can make a public pledge in the comments of this post, send me an email for an anonymous pledge, or I’ll set up something more automated later on when things get rolling.

2) The pledges should be between a minimum of 10c/day and up to a maximum of your choosing. That means you are in for at least (best case) $36.50 and right up to 365 x whatever your daily pledge happens to be. Pledge a buck means you might owe $365. Pledge $10/day, and that could be as much as $3,650. Please do the math before you pledge.

3) 100% of the pledges will be donated to a legitimate charity — you can do this directly (if you want the receipt) or through me — chosen by a blog-based vote/poll later this year. I’ll be asking for suggestions later. I’m not going to play collection agency here, so paying up when it’s over is up to you. The police aren’t going to come knocking if you don’t pay, but I’ll be posting the results when the whole thing wraps. Wink, wink.

4) The total amount of your pledge will be equal to the dollar amount pledged multiplied by the number of consecutive days between January 1st, 2010 and December 31st, 2010 where I’ve posted a legitimate, written-on-the-day post of at least 100 words. Beyond length here is no stipulation on content… though if you think it’s a bogus post (breaking the rules or the spirit) please comment. (For reference, this post is is roughly 530 words long.) The only exception for consecutive posting will be for up to two excused breaks of a maximum of seven days each for one of the following reasons: sudden serious illness, international travel beyond internet access, general system failure of the internet beyond my control, or other genuine emergency situation. That means if I miss a day mid-February it’s all over and you might end up only owning $4 or something. But if I don’t miss any days until December 31… kah-ching!

Now, you may be asking yourself why I’m doing this. And honestly, I’m not sure I could answer that beyond the need I’ve had to feel like I’m doing something more worthwhile with my time here. And that’s about it. It’s about the warm fuzzy. And is that such a bad reason?

Let the pledging begin! Yes, that means you…