National Poetry Month!

April is officially National Poetry Month, which means I can geek out on poetry with some good company. While every month is poetry month to me, it is really exciting to see a large community of poets come together to encourage the writing and reading of poetry.

Poets approach this event in a number of different ways. Some write a poem a day, while others interact on social media. Educators emphasize poetry in their classrooms and writers promote their work at National Poetry Month events. No matter the activity, April is all about ensuring poetry continues to prosper as an art form.

I’m celebrating National Poetry Month by participating in two poetry challenges:

2015 April Poem A Day (PAD) Challenge on Poetic Asides (via Writer’s Digest)

This challenge is also a competition. Each day a prompt is posted and poets are invited to post their poems in the comments. A judge then selects one poem, which will be published in an anthology at the end of the competition. I participated in this challenge last year and really enjoyed the process. The community is so encouraging and inspiring.

My goal for this challenge is to continue my practice of haiku. I’m focusing on contemporary haiku which breaks the 5-7-5 syllable rule. The simplicity of contemporary haiku is very appealing to me, so I’m looking forward to experimenting with line and syllable counts.

NaHaiWriMo’s April 2015 Daily Writing Prompts

NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku Writing Month) is officially in February, but the organization offers daily prompts for every month. I had so much fun in February, I continued through March. The thought of missing a day was so sad, I decided to keep going through April.

My goal for this challenge is the same as the April PAD challenge, but I’m leaving the door open for the traditional 5-7-5 haiku and senryu. Seeing as there is no requirement to post, my journal will be full of little experiments.

Whether you are a writer or a reader, I hope you join the fun and celebrate National Poetry Month!

 

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c.b.w. 2015

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2015 Goals: March Status Report

1. Work towards getting The Muse published.

I sent out two more query packages. One has already responded with a rejection, while the other has not responded. It’s only been a couple of weeks, so a response of some kind is still possible. As for dealing with another rejection, I proudly added it to the others and made immediate plans to move forward.

As March comes to an end, I am busy tailoring three more query packages for the next round of agents on my list. One of them requires a synopsis, so I’ll be working hard polishing my synopsis draft.

2. Start writing Lineage.

On the shelf at the moment, as per my plan!

3. Submit poetry.

I submitted poetry to two different competitions:

• Poetry! Goodreads Newsletter Contest – I didn’t make the finals, but it’s the first time I entered a poem in this competition. I get email notifications all the time, but never do anything about it. This month I decided to take the plunge, which means I hit a personal best!
• Robert Spiess Memorial Competition (via Modern Haiku) – I submitted five haikus at the last minute! This competition is probably way out of my league, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.

I also completed another month of National Haiku Writing Month’s daily prompts via NaHaiWriMo’s Facebook Page. While February is the official haiku writing month, the organization offers up daily haiku writing prompts every month. I ended up writing close to 40 haikus during the the month of March.

In addition to NaHaiWriMo, I continued my involvement in the Poetic Asides community via Writer’s Digest. I didn’t miss a single Wednesday Poetry Prompt.

As for my black out poetry submission, I’m still waiting on the results to this challenge: WD Poetic Forms Challenge: Erasure Poetry.

4. Don’t give up or get distracted.

This month brought its fair share of distractions, including the passing of my beloved grandfather. However, I still managed to stick to my writing goals. In many ways, my daily practice offered some escape from the grief.

5. Be flexible.

As always, I’m staying open to opportunities and inspiration wherever they may be hiding.

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And let’s not forget the word of the year:

Persistence

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How are you doing with your 2015 goals?

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c.b.w. 2015