Week Two: Hang in There

Ladies and gentlemen, we meet week two of our delicious NaPo writing! I’m just hanging in there – how about you?

Of course we’re all just starting off the bat, we have many more days and many more poems to go! If you are on the Young Writers Society, you may have seen (or been part of) our thrumming NaPo scene. It’s really amazing to be part of an enthusiastic and very talented community of poets. Knowing that there are poets around me writing beautiful, enviable lines makes me feel much more inclined to write, and write beautifully. If you’re out there and you’re missing some writing company please respond! If we can’t be your community, maybe we can find one for you.

I want to tell every poet out there not to give up. NaPo is a big month, and sometimes we get to a point and we think “I’ve hit the wall!” but you and I need to remember that any number of poems we do during NaPo is excellent. It sometimes takes years to write a book of poetry, and we’re putting together 30 poems in a month? That’s crazy productive! If you’re not meeting that number, it’s okay. Really, truly, it’s okay because we’re all just having fun writing. If you’re not having fun writing your NaPo poetry: Stop now! Take a step back and have a look at your poetry, look at your community. These kinds of activities aren’t meant to be lonely treks through the mountains, they’re meant to be experiences to add to your year, if you’re not enjoying them there is less purpose. Of course, finding something challenging isn’t the same as not enjoying it, which is why you’ll still find me slogging through unrelenting storms to get my poems in on time (or close to).

At day 9 I want to tell you that you can do it. Having fun is the key to writing poetry you’ll always enjoy reading, even if it’s a silly poem about a kitten, or a haiku that’s really a senryu, or an epic that might be about horse shoes. It doesn’t matter what your content is as long as you’re having fun writing it. Please, tell me how you’re all doing! Are you having fun, or finding NaPo just that bit too difficult this year? I can tell you, I’ll be curling up in a ball this time next week (so many poems!) so I’ll be right there with you.