After eight years (2016-2023) of taking up the National Poetry Month Challange of writing and sharing one new poem each day, this year I will lie fallow. Why? After all, I have gained an octave of poetry-centric Aprils and twenty dozen–240!–new poems and been able to share them immediately. It has been exciting and truly enjoyable. I expect to return to this poetry-creation marathon next year, in April 2025.
This year, however, I am going to try something with a different shape of spontaneity.
Much as I enjoy the annual April challenge and have gained from it, for me it becomes a full time creative job for thirty days. A marathon. This novennial, I want to keep my creativity flowing, as it has been each day recently, into fiction, and I have realized (over the past two years of working on a long piece of fiction with Tim) that I can’t do both at the same time. This year, with 90,000 words towards a novel, and an upcoming novel-centric research trip scheduled for early August, I want to devote as much time as I can toward completing a (no doubt very rough) first draft without breaking that momentum. Yet, how can one ignore National Poetry Month? I can’t!
So, this year, I am going to share something here each day in April to honor poetry but in a more freeform way than I have before. I might share thoughts about a classic poem I love, or share a poem of my own written outside of the April Challenge context, or a prose passage I find highly poetic, or news about a poetry reading or publication. It is even possible that I will write a new poem during the month!
And, as of now, I plan to return in April 2025 to take on the Poem-a-Day Challenge with new vigor.
As always, thank you for your companionship and good wishes. May poetry enrich your life every month of every year.
I hope readers have as much fun as I expect to have! Thank you for the vote of confidence, Beth!
Thank you, Patricia. That is the aim, certainly!
This will be MOST educational and inspiring I’m sure, Leslie. Such a creative idea. Looking forward to it.
Looking forward to whatever you create, Leslie. It’s always interesting, thoughtful, and heartfelt.
Thanks for your moral support, Kirsten!
I look forward to your posts in April.They are always so informative and open up new explorations for me.
Glad you are taking the time to pursue the novel. It’s exciting.
Kirsten
Thank you, Bonnie Jean!
Thanks for the update, Leslie. I look forward to what you’ll be sharing in April! So grateful for your commitment to your artistry.
Thank you, Liz, and a BIG DITTO! I am always mindful that without NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo we would never have met, and without that, I would never have met others at Pernessey. I will be so happy to see your April posts this year, as always, whatever form they take.
Have fun!
Leslie
Thank you, Patsy!
Thank you! Especially coming from a novelist!
That sounds like a great idea. Good luck with your fiction.
How wonderful to share a writing adventure with Tim! I look forward to reading the novel.
Makes perfect sense. What a wonderful idea! I may do some of the same. I look forward to reading your posts, as always.