NaPoWriMo Is Almost Here!

Summary

NaPoWriMo, a poetry writing challenge to write a poem a day during April, is approaching, with participants sharing their work in private groups to maintain submission eligibility while honing their skills.

Abstract

National Poetry Month in April brings about the annual NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) challenge, a creative endeavor akin to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) but for poets. The challenge is straightforward: compose one poem every day for the entire month. While there are no strict rules, sharing these poems with a community can enhance the experience. This year, the author plans to post their daily poems in a private Facebook workshop group, preserving the option to submit their work to literary journals later. To maintain the pace, the author uses various creative prompts, including word boxes, books of prompts, and Story Cubes. Success in NaPoWriMo not only earns participants bragging rights but also a collection of 30 poems that could potentially be refined and published. Additionally, the challenge serves as an exercise to improve poetry writing skills through consistent practice.

Opinions

The author values the community aspect of NaPoWriMo, choosing to share their work in a private Facebook group.
They believe in the importance of keeping some poems unpublished online to maintain their eligibility for submission to literary journals.
The author emphasizes the utility of prompts and exercises, like Story Cubes, to overcome writer's block and generate new ideas.
Completing NaPoWriMo is seen as an achievement that brings not only a sense of accomplishment but also tangible outcomes in the form of potentially publishable work.
The author suggests that daily writing is a key practice for improving one's poetry skills.

Will you be participating?

April is National Poetry Month, and that means NaPoWriMo is about to start. NaPoWriMo stands for National Poetry Writing Month, and it’s the poet’s version of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

The goal of poets during NaPoWriMo is simple: to write a poem a day for 30 days. There are no other requirements, although it’s fun to also share those poems with others.

I’m part of a poetry workshop group on Facebook, which is where I’ll be posting my poems this year. It’s a private group, so posting there doesn’t count as publishing — meaning I’ll still be able to submit my poems to journals, even those that don’t accept previously published work. It’s been awhile since I submitted poetry outside of Medium, so I’m making it my goal to submit at least 3 of my NaPoWriMo poems to non-Medium literary journals this year.

The trick to writing a poem a day for 30 days is to have some good prompts or exercises available for days when you need inspiration. I have a box of words on my desk, along with a couple of books of writing prompts. I also have some Story Cubes to roll if I get stuck. Story Cubes are dice with pictures on them — the pictures are open to interpretation and can be used to get ideas for what happens next in a story (or, in this case, a poem).

A set of Story Cubes (Author’s Photo)

What do you gain from successfully completing NaPoWriMo? Bragging rights, mostly, but also 30 poems that can be revised into something publishable, hopefully. The admins of my Facebook group will send prizes to those of us who successfully post 30 poems during April — bookmarks and such. The other benefit of NaPoWriMo is that it’s a chance to sharpen your poetry skills. We learn to write by writing — and one way to get better at writing is to write every day.