Every month is NaPoWriMo

Last week, Carrie Etter drew my attention to the fact that it's almost National Poetry Writing Month time again. I've signed up to it a couple of times in the past - you have to write an post a poem a day throughout April - and have found it a lot of fun and a great way of generating ideas, plus a fair few poems worth working on.

I'm going to have to give it a miss this year, because work and other commitments would make it hard to keep up with things, but Carrie did point out that there's no reason not to give it a try any time.

So, later this year, I'll be doing my own one-man NaPoWriMo (unless you'd like to join in), and attempting to write a section of a longer poem every day. Not only is it a good way (I think) to throw off the shackles and finally get something down on paper reharding an idea that I've had for a long time now, but the more I think about it the more I think a diary-like approach might suit the subject matter well. I'll keep you posted.

Decisions, decisions...

So, do I do a poem a day in April for National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo)? I'm wavering, but I'm beginning to think it might be the kick up the arse I need at the moment.

That was the month that was

Well, the madness that was April and NaPoWriMo 2011 is all over. It was the first time I'd taken part since 2007, and although I'm not sure how much of what was written will stand the test of time (by which I mean, will I still think it's worth keeping a month from now), it was a great exercise in forcing me to make time for writing every day. It also pushed me in one or two different directions, which could be interesting.

Anyway, I've taken the posts down for now, but as soon as I get a moment or two in the next week, I'll post them all to a page that's now listed in the bar at the top of this blog. Hopefully I can get the formatting, etc, to work a bit better. In the meantime, thanks very much to all those who offered advice and congratulations.

New Walk

Time for another intermission in the constant stream of hastily-written NaPoWriMo poems, this time to flag up Issue 2 of Leicester-based literary mag New Walk.

It well and truly confirms the good impression made by the debut issue back in the autumn, with poetry from, among others, Alice Oswald, Carrie Etter, Matthew Stewart, Dan Wyke, Tom Pow, D A Prince and  Martyn Crucefix, plus fiction from Bill Jones and Robert McGowan.

Best of all, perhaps, given how difficuklt it can be to find extensive writing about poetry these days, there's a wealth of good reviews, essays and comment. J M Coetzee writes on Zbigniew Herbert, Martin Stannard (the academic, not the poet) on Larkin's Letters To Monica, and there's much more - I look forward to getting stuck into it this weekend.

Among the reviews, there's Geoffrey Heptonstall's take on hydrodaktulopsychicharmonica. I'll take a closer look at it on here later (probably after NaPoWriMo is finished), but for now I'll just say that I'm grateful to him for such a thoughtful and generous response to the book.

Here I go...

Well, I've decided to take the plunge and have a go at NaPoWriMo 2011. I'll post a poem on here every day during April (I can't make any guarantees as to length, or quality, mind you). I'm not exactly sure what'll happen at the end of the 30 days - many magazines, webzines and journals treat even a brief posting on a blog as "previous publication", and thus disqualify any poem so displayed from appearing within their pages. On the other hand, I think it's fairly doubtful that what I post will be in anything like a 'finished' form, so it'll all probably be pretty unrecognisable by the time it eventually gets considered for sending out to editors.

Unlike four years ago, there'll be no unifying inspiration or theme. Instead, I'm going to go back through my notebooks and have a go at writing some of the poems I've meant to get round to for ages, but have put off tackling until now. There'll probably be a few spur of the moment pieces, too.

NaPoWriMo 2011

Back in 2007, I took part in NaPoWriMo for the first, and so far, only time. Basically, you're challenged to write a poem a day throughout the month of April. I used my iPod to provide inspiration each day in the form of a random song, and quite a few of the poems I produced ended up published, albeit after some fairly lengthy tinkering later.

I'm still undecided about taking part this year. My excuse to avoid it is that April's going to be a really busy month (readings, hosting a readers' holiday at work, a friend's wedding, and more), but on the other hand much the same can be said of most months, so taking part would be a welcome dose of discipline in my writing life.

But whatever I decide (and I can feel myself edging towards taking part even as I write), there's now a new, simple to use website for all participants. Register on it if you want to be part of it, and enjoy a hectic, but potentially very rewarding, 30 days.

In brief...

It's that time of year again already - yes, NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) 2008 is upon us. The idea is a simple one - you sign up, and then write a poem every day throughout April, posting them as you go along, and getting feedback from the other participants. Of course, you also get to read their poems and provide constructive criticism.

I'm not going to be taking part this year, because I'm still rather tied up with trying to finish a sequence I'm writing about the Midlands Revolt of 1607 (more interesting than it sounds, honest!). But I can recommend having a go. Last year was a struggle, but an enjoyable one which resulted in a fair number of decent poems. You can, of course, revise them once it's all over, and that's where the crits came in handy.

Elsewhere, I liked these poems by Peter Dent, over at Stride. Oh, and things have gone birdsong-crazy over at The Herald.