Guest Post by Queen of Spades

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Guest Post by Queen of Spades

Hello Reader!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by. Today I have a special Guest Post by Queen of Spades, whom I asked to drop by and talk to us all a bit. I’m happy to present you all with an inside look at Queen experience with NaPoWriMo.

Queen, after you…!

My experience with the Poetic side of WriMo

C. Desert Rose, thanks for allowing me to Guest Post on your blog. Today, I’d like to talk about my adventures with the Poetic side of WriMo, but first let’s give a bit of background on the Novel side of WriMo, if you will.

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

At: http://www.nanowrimo.org

The month of November marks National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). In short, it is an annual Internet based creative writing project that challenges its participants to write 50,000 words (the minimum number of words for a novel) from November 1st until 11:59 PM on November 30th. The main goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing and keep them motivated through the process (Source: Wikipedia).

I do applaud those who are participating in NaNoWriMo. In fact, I will be the one doing the cheering.

Yet, this isn’t the type of WriMo I have previously anticipated in.

There is another type of creating project of this same magnitude that I participate in—the poetry equivalent, called NaPoWriMo. This occurs in April, to coincide with National Poetry Month. The goal for NaPoWriMo is similar—to write thirty poems in thirty days.

I did not participate this year (more on why to be revealed later)—I did a different spin on honoring National Poetry Month—but I have done it in the past. Through it, I have learned quite a few things, which may or may not be different than what story writers experience.

(1) The first rendition may not be the best rendition.

The majority of the poems I write in 30 day challenges tend to be freestyles. Meaning, I just go with whatever thought is in my head without doing the whole edit as I write. Sometimes, the end result is something worth bragging about; other times, it’s something you wouldn’t even tell your mama about.

What do I do in that case? Do I tamper with it or leave it be?

Well, it depends.

If it’s a poem I think I want to include in a collection, then I come back to it. However, I wait until after the thirty days and edit in terms of flow (obvious syntax goofs I tackle on sight). If it is really one that won’t go beyond the pages of my notebook or my online journal, then I just leave it be.

(2) Everyday writing can get exhausting.

There are so many claims touted when it comes to everyday writing. One of the main statements is that everyday writing decreases and can eliminate writers block. To others, there’s no such thing as writer’s block.

From my own experiences, the everyday writing hypothesis isn’t accurate all the time.

Also, for me, writer’s block is a thing.

My pen is definitely more fluid when I can write about what I choose (freestyle) or something I’m familiar with. Yet, there wouldn’t be much of a challenge if one isn’t taken out of her norm. For example, let’s say the following was an assignment.

Day 9: Write about Star Trek in the form of a sonnet.

From the surface, one would think that given the subject matter and the form of poetry would be an advantage.

However, if I’m struggling to write even a few words in general, the addition of a topic I’m not exuberant about only compounds anxiety as opposed to taking it away. It takes extra energy to write when there is a block, and if I look at the finished product immediately, I tend to chunk it in the trash.

Or, even worse, I got so exasperated to the point where I’d feel like skipping a day and just end up writing two entries to make up for it the next day.

(3) The percentage of content that sees the light of publication may not be as high as originally projected.

In the thirty day challenges I’ve taken over the years, I have found that on average, only three to six poems a year make the cut for publishing contention. Usually, I hold on to the hope that at least half of what I write during the NaPoWriMo craze is what gets seen. Over the years, my percentage has been adjusted from 50% expectancy to 30% expectancy, and even with that, one may not get there.

(4) At times, it was more stressful than fun.

I’m the type of person who likes reaching my goal, so I do feel bad if I don’t achieve what I set out to do. On top of that, I also am a “wee bit” of a perfectionist.

In 2014, the writing of thirty poems in a month got somewhat stressful and my best work didn’t come into fruition. That led to my decision to take a bit of a hiatus and not do it for this year.

During this hiatus, something interesting happened. I was able to write lines and stanzas that did not feel forced. No, it wasn’t always every day but it was frequent enough to where I knew for certain there weren’t any restraints mimicking a block of any kind. Soon, I had enough poetry for two projects.

One was the joint venture I did with M.J. Holman entitled Waves to Light.

The other is my poetry collection coming this December—Spaded Truths 2: Life-O-Suction.

Does this mean I won’t be doing NaPoWriMo anymore? We will just have to see what April 2016 will bring.