Ways to Streamline Writing to a Poetry Challenge

How to manage multiple poetry prompts.

Challenges abound.

There are lots of them to choose from. Many are multiples such as 30-day challenges or 100-day challenges. Most of them give you prompts to direct your writing.

I don’t know about you but I’m a sucker for a challenge. Especially if the prompts are interesting ones.

It can be daunting, though.

Thirty poems can be a lot to manage, and a writer can get bogged down in their own ideas.

Here’s what I do.

My process for writing to a challenge with multiple prompts.

First, I copy all of the prompts into a single file.

Then I add thoughts and words to the ones that inspire me.

Some inspire me right away. Others might take a bit of time.

If I think of something that might relate to the prompt, I quickly jot it down. That way, when I come to do the writing, there are some words to choose from.

Once I find a creative thought or thread that feels right for that prompt, I copy all of it into a new Medium story and write about it.

Sometimes my first ideas don’t work out at all, and it’s back to the drawing board.

My first ideas often walk me down a road into a completely different world.

When that happens, I’m willing to edit out the initial inspiration and go with the new direction, whatever it is.

Be willing to delete the parts that don’t fit with the whole.

Here’s an article where I take a stream-of-consciousness thread and show you how I turn it into a poem.

If you want to jump-start your writing, try writing a series of poems. It will exercise your writing muscles.

It’s a great discipline for your writing mind.