March 27, 2024
National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) 2024 officially starts on Monday!
What is it, you may ask?
Much like National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), NaPoWriMo sets out to inspire poets and non-poets alike to write one poem every day for the month of April. That’s a whopping 30 poems by the end of the month!
Much like NaNoWriMo, I encourage anyone who wants to participate to do it at their own pace. For those who can do a poem a day, great! Why not try? But that may not be feasible for everyone for various reasons – the style you write in, life obligations, health, etc. It’s important to take challenges like this at your pace. Set your own goals and see what happens!
I also encourage you to not worry about making the perfect poems. Whether you’re used to writing poetry or not, this is your chance to get something raw on the page. Experiment, get clumsy, discover how you write and what you want to write about. There’s no right or wrong way when drafting. When May rolls around, you can always come back and revisit what you’ve done and polish it up then. (A task I can also be of assistance with!)
Maybe you don’t particularly want to write poetry, but do enjoy reading it, or want to get into reading it. Why not set out to read a different poem or poet every day? Sites like poetryfoundation.org are a great place to start, as is social media.
Speaking of social media, I’ll be posting even more poetry-related content on Instagram throughout April. You can follow me at @k.d.editing.
While you’re here, check out these blog posts for information and inspiration while you wait for Monday to arrive:
– A Guide to Poetry Terminology
– How Poets Engage Readers
– Writing Emotion
– Writing Children’s Poetry? Here Are Some Things to Keep in Mind
– Spring Writing Prompts, Winter Writing Prompts, Fall Writing Prompts
– Reverse Poems
– 5 Recently Developed Types of Poetry
– 10 Types of Poetry You Might Not Have Heard Of
Best of luck, and happy writing!