NaPoWriMo – National Poetry Writing Month – April 2013

Like its cousin, NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month (November), NaPoWriMo is about getting words on paper, encouraging writers to switch off the inner critic and simply write. Around other commitments it would be impossible to write a poem a day for 30 days (and probably wouldn’t be possible even if I had no other commitments so could devote 24 hours to each poem). If the target is in terms of writing a draft or notes for a new poem each day for 30 days, it is achievable. If 30 draft poems can be written in 30 days, they will still require editing and some drafts may not make it as final poems.

On my NaPoWriMo page, I will list titles against the date drafted as a measure of progress. I may post the actual draft perhaps with notes and comments if I feel reasonably happy with it. I won’t be able to update every day, but will be aiming to write a draft or notes for a draft daily. Occasionally a draft will look very similar to the finished poem. Some drafts simply record an idea which may not have found its final form so the final version will look very different from the initial draft.

The most frequent changes are usually titles. I’ll start with a working title which may be too explicit or signal the ending (so diminishing its impact). The title may change because the initial poem didn’t work and new approach requires a new title. But generally titles change because they have to grab the reader’s attention and compel them to read the poem and a working title rarely achieves that.

After NaPoWriMo, I’ll keep the list of dates and drafts. If any of them do make it to completed poems and publication, I’ll update the list accordingly.

By Emma Lee