Writing a poem daily is fun. But, don’t think it’s not a strain. And, writing in public to prompts does not lessen the pressure at all. Still, I’m glad I went the distance.

Now, if you take the time to read my poetry and the prompts, you will see that I came pretty close most of the time. In fact, any deviance from the prompt would be due to misinterpreting the meaning of the prompt. What can I say? It happens. You may also notice that some of the titles leave much to be desired. These are the markings of drafts in the true sense of its meaning.

What’s Next

Now comes the time to review, to edit and revise what I tried to say through my poems this month. I’ll have to see if I can remember how to fit my titles to the poems, like some of the great poetry I read this month. My plan is to revise the poems while keeping them really close to the original poem. It’s the most authentic, and it’s the rules too.

Submitting: If you participated in writing a poem daily and are hoping to be included in the anthology, the submission instructions are up at Read Write Poem. The deadline is May 7, so don’t delay in selecting and preparing your poems according to the guidelines set forth.

And after That

As of today, Read Write Poem is no longer a live site. It’s shut down to new members, to comments, to group activities, to everything except the repository of poems posted there. And what a collection it is, for your reading pleasure! Now’s my chance to go back and read the poems I missed during the month.

I’ve visited several of the community sites that are springing up and being revitalized as a result of the closing of Read Write Poem. They are community sites that offer poem prompts. I find I enjoy using prompts and seeing where they take me. The ones that have my attention so far, are linked in my sidebar by way of their respective banners. They’re worth checking out.

They don’t offer poems daily. For example, Writer’s Island has Saturday prompts with the first one today, already posted.

Time for Review

Posting about poets I enjoy: For my next one, it’s down to two from my bookshelves. Either way, I’ll be reading and exploring someone that I enjoy a great deal. Getting to know the writing of others is big schooling for me.

Poetry books on tap: Frances Mayes’ The Discovery of Poetry and John Drury’s Creating Poetry. I do this because 30 day poem sprints always make me want to go back to school.

What’s on your poetry agenda? What poetry communities have captured your attention? Leave a comment about what’s next for you, or link to your blog post.

If you have no plans for NaPoWriMo, visit the links in my sidebar for NaPoWriMo 2010 activities. Visit Read Write Poem to see all that’s going on! There’s likely to be something that interests you. And the posts are very well connected so you can get the full breadth of what’s up for grabs, without missing a beat.

I’m signed up and ready to go! I got my first poem in my email today. And I believe I may even have a theme to write to for this month as well. I’d been toying with the idea. And I think Pamela Villars may have pushed me over to the side of a thematic effort.

Good luck to us all! Remember to enjoy the effort! I’ll be reading the poems posted as time permits. I look forward to reading yours too. And I hope to hear from you along in the month.

The challenge is to whip one into shape to be a decent draft to post. This year will be my first time posting a new poem daily for the entire month of April!

Prompts to go Further

My challenge is increased by having to write to prompts. I had planned to continue writing to prompts through the first quarter of this year. That plan got away from me easily since it was easy to let things get in the way of the work of writing to prompts. My mistake. I should have kept up the practice.

I participated in the November with Poetic Asides PAD chapbook challenge. (The first versions are online in case you dare to look, not the edited ones I submitted.) I succeeded in writing a poem for each day, even if not on that day. The hard part for me was the push to write from daily prompts someone else set for me.

You don’t have to look it up—I didn’t win. Still it was a lot of fun. The hard part was also the fun part because prompts can take you to some interesting places when you’re open to it.

The Muse must Answer the Invitation

Through the end of March, my goal is to continue to post a poem daily. And, I’ll practice some writing to prompts, drawing from the Poetic Asides (last prompt Wednesday Poetry Prompt 083), and Read Write Poem weekly prompts (currently on prompt #118). These sites are worth reviewing as there’s always a lot going on.

Writing to prompts adds a little pressure for me, but it’s worth it in the long and short of things. It’s always good to be able to write on command, practice for getting the Muse to answer when called.

It’s important right now because I’ve decided to write to the Read Write Poems prompts for NaPoWriMo (National Poem Writing Month). I want to see how the RWP community does it. After all, participating in a poetry community is why I joined the site. I saw where they solicit prompt ideas from their members which is interesting. I’ll find out the rest come April 1, 2010.

What are your plans for NaPoWriMo? Tell me about it so I can read your work. If you’re writing on your own and want to be in a place where people might find you, visit napowrimo.net to find out how you can get listed. I’m listed there by Shari Lynne Smothers and linked to this blog. Hopefully, I’ll see you around, enjoying the poetics.

Related posts:

• Four Ways to Participate during National Poetry Month
• National Poetry Month 2008, 2009

I’m still writing. In fact, I’ve been working on several Haiku verses that I’ll post when I return home. My Haiku exploration was interesting and fun, and quite a pleasure to explore. I do believe I learned a few things. So, with all this in mind, I’ll extend my foray into Haiku instead of starting on a new poetic form.

For now, I just want to share a quick post about the excitement in the city of New Orleans.

Local Attractions

Super Bowl Forty-
four, Saints in it for the first
time in franchise life.

Mardi Gras has a
diff’rent winter taste with the
Super Bowl at stake.

Traffic’s rerouted
parades and crowds family and
friends celebrate.

Revelers blend two
saying “Who Dat!” to get beads;
“Throw me something’s” out

Election results
reported, visitors checked in,
French Quarter is packed.

New Orleans Saints
fans full of Super Bowl glad
anticipation.

© 2010 Shari Lynne Smothers

I’ve taken a lot of liberties here with the Haiku form. And I hope it’s not too painful to read. But, these lines reflect some of the many things that jumped out at me since I got here on Friday.

My doubting voice tells me that there are things that I can’t do—even when I can do them, or worse, when I’ve already done them. So, I listen to that voice (in case it has anything pertinent to say), quickly work through its offerings, and then I follow my plan. Acknowledging my doubt is all part of the process to reaching my goals.

Before you ask, I’m not the follow-through daemon that I would like to be, but I’m on my way. And that’s enough for me because there was a time when I didn’t follow up on anything…ever. It was out of fear and self-doubt that I put off actions. It even happened that I would do things successfully. Still, before my next effort, I would decide that it was a fluke that it succeeded on previous occasions. Go figure that process.

2009

Let’s see what this practice has gotten me through. I manage to finish the last 12 days of National Poetry Month, April with a poem a day. (And that was more than the year before; National Poetry Month page shows the lists.) That was an independent endeavor. By the end of the year, I was actively seeking my online connection to the world of poetry and I found great stuff.

Nearly the end of October, I heard of the November PAD Chapbook Challenge from Poetic Asides. I did the very ambitious thing and participated in writing a poem a day, (or the equivalent anyway), for the month of November. The other part of the challenge is to edit and submit the poems. I’m almost finished that part too.

Participation in the Robert Lee Brewer’s challenge exposed me to some really great writers and to other connections via their blogrolls and their communities.

It was a year of deadlines and cyber-space connections for me  in 2009. Deadlines have helped me in my personal writing, just as in my work writing. Deadlines compel me to produce the first draft quickly, before my hesitations have a chance to hang me up. Once I get that far, finishing is just the obvious next step. And I have it to do, and I blame it on the deadline, (as though it’s not something I set myself). It’s not 100% hardwired into my brain, but it is more than half the time that I follow through. I’ll take improvement over stagnation any day.

2010

So, this year, I’m finishing up my 2009 obligations to complete editing and submit my chapbook collection. Then I’m just going to grow in a few areas:

1. poetry skills sharpened
2. participating more in group projects for writing
3. researching publications to submit my work

It’s all a process. We continue, until we die. I don’t need to write the best (thank goodness) or compete the hardest. How I choose to continue is to do my best with the poetry that I find in me, and enjoy the poets and writers communities I discover online. Solid goals will come as I see development in the three areas above. And I am fine with that for 2010: my cyber-space odyssey.

It should be quite interesting, I think. What do you think? Are you vigilant about developing the processes you follow to reach your goals?

Related posts:

• Early Rising
• The Work of Forward Motion

Mom watching the Snow
Originally uploaded by ShariLS

This year the snow came early and it fell in abundance. It makes me feel hopeful about EVERYTHING!

As soon as I heard it was snowing, I was ecstatic! It doesn’t snow often here in Missouri City, Texas. And this is really early in the year for it too. I captured some really nice shots that I’ll be uploading to my Flickr account over the next few days.

Where the Inspiration led Me

It made me think of the possibilities of all that I want to accomplish in the coming year. I was inspired to increase my probabilities of success, just because it makes sense today. I want to start out aggressively. That way if I taper off (as I usually do) I should have moved forward quickly enough to be able to coast a bit.

Coming Up with 2010 Plans

Like most people, I’ll be reviewing and planning this month for next year. Originally, I was planning all conservative resolutions for the Read Write Poem group I joined for 2010 poetry resolutions. Today that’s changed. I’ve taken the weather, the images captured, and the exhilaration of the day as a personal sign to just do it.

And if I can keep that going throughout other areas, then next year will be a real adventure. This month, I’m setting up my plan for 2010, as clearly delineated as I can make it. It will be a plan forged in courage and the inspiration sparked by today’s early snow.

December Activities

I’ll close out this year with a bang. According to the Poetic Asides guidelines posted by Robert Lee Brewer, the submissions are due January 5, 2010. I’m going to finish this month. Tasks include selecting the best, not more than 1 poem per page, between 10 and 20 pages, and editing the poems to make them sing.

And, since find I rather enjoy this writing to prompts and participating, I’ll write the weekly prompts from Poetic Asides (Wednesdays) and Read Write Poem (Fridays). That way I can continue to be involved in communities. I don’t want to break the practice, and revert to my usual uninvolved routines.

Are you working out your plans for 2010? What’s on tap?

What I was going to tell you before my distraction was that I’m going to try NaNoWriMo again this year. Last year I signed up and didn’t get much further than that. Last year, I signed up on November 1, and fell apart shortly thereafter.

This year I gave myself a little more warning, little more time for self-talk, tools and ideas. Time to play around with the endeavor and sort of slide into next month like it was any other November.

Since November 7 is my birthdate, and that’s so close to the year’s end, I try to set goals for conclusion by that date. I figured that it’s so early in the month, my novel writing can be minimal (1666.67 daily to meet the 50,000 requirement by November 30) until the 7th and then I can go all out. That was the plan.

Poetry Interrupted

This blog is a hodgepodge of my less constrained proclivities and inspirations. The main reason I started it was so that I’d have a place to put the more random machinations I claim. First on the list is poetry. I enjoy writing poems, and this is my place to put the ones I’m willing to share. Pictures are included and writing in other genres, but poetry got me started here. And poetry is the reason I’m adjusting my plans for next month.

I read a tweet from @inkyelbows and had to check it out. Here’s what I found: Poetic Asides: 2009 November PAD Chapbook Challenge.

Yes, November—2009—next month. Overlap city, right? Here’s the thing though; both can suck. It’s not about achieving final-draft quality in a first draft. It’s about reaching the quantity goal. There’ll be time for editing after November.

Poetry is the stuff that sustains me. I give myself the task of writing a poem a day sometimes for weeks or months. So I know it can yield some useful material. Besides, it was on my list of stuff to do this year. And, although I was planning to postpone a new collection again,  I’ve had a second thought.

Just Do It

Without giving it too much room to scare me, I’m committing to both! C’est la vie, c’est la guerre. If I have to avoid family and friends in my spare time for one project, I may as well do it for the other too. Besides, it’ll be great to see just what I’m made of. [I could use a smiley face here.]

And I’ve been practicing and preparing to get it done. I’ve been working on my typing stamina, and playing around with ideas and scenarios. I’ve never written a novel, so the wow factor is good for a few boosts throughout the month. So it should work out.

Coming soon is my Writing page. That’s what was scheduled for today. On that page, I’ll post the cool meters I’ll be using for my progress. Here’s where you can add me at NaNoWriMo: Shari Lynne Smothers. Come check me out, cheer me on, or tease. I’m doing this! What are you doing for November?

It’s like asking the question of the key to life. I can’t answer it. I’ve never met anyone who could–and I’ve met some pretty smart people. Suffice it to say, I am very much enjoying the journey, exploring as I can.

Thank You

This is the place I’ve chosen to share the explorer side of my activities. If I have no audience, that’s alright too. Because inherent in this action, is the fact of expression. It’s nice that people read my work, don’t get me wrong. But, it saves me from exploding just to have the venue to get it out. So whether you comment or not, stay a while or leave shortly, I’m really glad you came by.

Up Next

This month, since I have done very little with it, I want to explore posting images. So it’s a good time, also, to update my Flickr account and see about linking to there from here. I do hope you’ll come back and see what I come up with.

If you’ve decided to switch things up a bit recently, let me know about your experiences. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts. Leave a comment, tell me you put it in a post at your site. I’ll come by and read it.