30 Poems, 30 Days: NaPoWriMo Has Begun
Calling all poets! April is National Poetry Writing Month — NaPoWriMo for short. Modeled after National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), NaPoWriMo is an annual project encouraging poets to write one poem each day in April.
We love discovering poetry in the Reader and are proud of the poets who call WordPress.com their online home, like Pushcart-nominated poet Kellie Elmore. If you’re an established or aspiring poet, or want to dabble in free verse, lyric essays, and more experimental prose, we encourage you to participate this month.
A poem a day
First time participating in a post-a-day project like this? We asked poet and publisher Maureen Thorson, the founder of this project, for advice:
Be open to the possibilities. The point isn’t to turn out a fully formed sonnet each day — although if anyone wants to try, I’m not going to discourage them! The point is to just get something down on the page without worrying about doing it “right.” Many people, including published poets, avoid writing because their inner editor keeps saying, “oh, that’s not good” or “you’re not taking this seriously.” But then you end up writing nothing at all.
I’d suggest that people “let go” of any preconceived notions of what poems have to look like or be about. A poem can rhyme, or not. It can be in a traditional form, or not. It can be about something like love or death, or . . . it could be about how much you like the smell of new erasers. Again, this project is more about getting words down than on making sure they’re perfect. You can always edit later — like in May!
Ready to participate?
For more inspiration, visit the NaPoWriMo website throughout the month — Maureen posts daily prompts to give you an extra boost.
Tag your poems with NaPoWriMo so other participants and the rest of the WordPress.com community can find your posts in the Reader. We’re excited to follow along and will share our favorites at the end of the month.
It’s day one of your challenge. Onward!
WordPress.com News 
I was Divinely Guided, via a dream I had this morning to write a poem on my blog; I AM actually in the middle of writing it now.
I had no idea about National Poetry Writing Month, but I AM in and shall participate. Thank you for this post.
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Great motivation. Thanks!
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Reblogged this on The Considered Kula and commented:
Even though poetry is not a major focus of this blog, there’s a fair amount of it on here. I mean, come ‘on, it’s poetry. How can one accompany any reflections on the human spirit without poetry? I’m glad I haven’t missed it this year.
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Here’s another kind of poetry challenge, for anyone interested!
http://anexerciseindiscipline.com/2013/03/28/poetry-challenge-for-april/
Cheers, and Happy Poetry Month!
Melissa
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I just posted a verse…http://wordwriter1958.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/springtimemarantha-d-jenellenapowrimo/
I would like to join the challenge.
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willing to try this one….
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I”m going to try it and see if I can muster a poem. I used to write a lot when the kids were small…so maybe it’s time to try again!
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Poem a day sonnet
Think how productive we would be–
couldn’t be as daunting as it seems
the paper alone we would count in reams–
a poem a day, hey, maybe three.
Write about food and cooking and sex
make believe, god –just your best
just words, that’s all, and then rest.
maybe a spell or two or a hex, then
Lay your head on the pillow of your words.
Nap knowing you’ve done all your chores
quick before baby or hubby or those bores
who mark time by the sucklings and the wars
Come calling, come knocking on your door.
For the poem is why you live,
within it contained all you can give,
stanza and line, one two three four.
They needn’t be special or erudite
They don’t need to be long,
or good or even a song
They needn’t give you a fright
or goosebumps or even
master some outlandish believin’.
Jane Galer 2013
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Im soooooo participating!!!!!!!!!!!
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We’re sooooooo glad! 🙂
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Hi. Do you accept Spanish verse?
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Hi there — you can post poems in any language on your blog. Enjoy!
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Great idea! I am going to share the challenge with my 10-year-old daughter, a born poet!
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I would like to start today – is it too late?
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National Poetry Writing Month begins today — not late at all and you’re right on time. Have fun!
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Thanks so much for alerting me to the National Poetry Writing Month! I started a new blog and will begin today as I attempt to write a new poem for each day in April.
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Great idea — count me in.
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Poem number one, it is now done. http://wp.me/p2CJjk-97
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A WordPress size hug to you fellow NaPoWriMo Peep! : http://wp.me/p1ho8l-Fy
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This should be fun and also challenging…getting started now!
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Reblogged this on EdTechToolkit and commented:
After having used NaNoWriMo in the past, it would be nice to use this in the classroom as well. NaNoWriMo has some excellent student materials and resources for teachers, but it seems that NaPoWriMo still has a way to go in incorporating K-12 education into its reach.
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Reblogged this on Brought to You by the Letter V and commented:
It’s my favorite time of year again! Happy National Poetry Writing Month! Let the poems begin!
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Reblogged this on da.cali.scope. and commented:
April is the cruelest month…
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Reblogged this on Mind and Matter and commented:
I will be participating so please feel free to read my poems and leave your thoughts. If you like it or not doesn’t matter, just let me know your thoughts.
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Reblogged this on NadiaJWriter.com and commented:
I’m in. Are you?
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I’m in! One down 29 to go!
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I am so excited! I just finished a daily running challenge in March, so a daily poem in April made me smile. I compose the poems while I run. :-)))
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Reblogged this on O2B heavenly minded and commented:
I’m so glad I’m following you in my reader or I might have missed this inspirational challenge. I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) but NaPoWriMo is new to me. I’m accepting the challenge. Anyone else with me?
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I really shouldn’t take the time for this, but I’m hooked. http://newpillowbook.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/well-being-overloaded-makes-me-a-little-crazy/
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I do write poems when inspired to write one but this would be a fun thing to do let alone a first official challenged that i’d be joining. Tried posting one today and it was called “Options”. Thank you for this.
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Reblogged this on ellidwek and commented:
I sometimes write poetry. No I’m not a Vogon. I’ve never tortured anyone to death by reading any of my work but I did fall asleep writing a poem once. Poetic disposition…naps…you know.
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Reblogged this on The Geeky Corner and commented:
I haven’t written poetry in ages but sure, let’s give it a shot! Anything to write! 😀
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I’ve got about twenty ideas scribbled down so far. Probably I don’t have the time for this, but I’m going to try. Thanks for the post 🙂 I shall start tomorrow
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I just knew that April is National Poetry Writing Month. Interesting 🙂
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I’m not too good in writing poems. But, i would like to join in.
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I just squeezed day one in: http://momtheobscure.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/poem-1/
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Definitely going to do this. Posted a Haiku today. Might have a lot of Haikus, but at least it’s something:)
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I love this idea. Poetry always seems like such a spring time activity. I will definitely be joining in. Even if I don’t post a poem, I’ll write one down for sure! Happy Poetry Month
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In the “for what its worth” department, I created a page-wide banner for the top of my Chateau themed blog … as a featured image for my NaPoWriMo pages. It is maroon/black//gradient backed with antique quill / antique paper / 3-D-ish lettering (saying NaPoWriMo 2013, of course). Anyone is welcome to lift it. Shout-outs appreciated, but not required. Good luck all in this month of creativity!!
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Reblogged this on The Connection Project and commented:
Here’s a challenge to write a poem a day in April – bring in Spring with your creativity!
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This is simply marvellous. I already have a poetry blog on wordpress and I think it’s a great offering for all poets. Am surely participating in this one. Thanks Team WordPress 🙂
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Hi I don’t have a web site. Am I still able to enter poems? If so, how do I do it?
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This project would work best if you had a blog/site to which you could post your content. If you’re interested, register for a free blog/site here at WordPress.com: https://signup.wordpress.com/signup/
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That’s me giving it a go with month of free verse and maybe some light verse
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I missed April 1, sorry:-( I will write 2 today, I have already posted my first one…
http://liveuntil.com/2013/04/02/poem-1-30-poems-in-30-days/
Cheri, this is an awesome idea…so glad I came to WordPress
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I’m in for the poem a day Month of April and thankful for the challenge because it has been months since writing and it will be interesting to see what arises when i take Maureen Thorson’s advice to not worry about the inner editor until May : )
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It’s been years since I’ve written poetry and the first has turned out oh so very dark. Thanks to my time zone, I’m staring a day behind, but what the hey, I’m in.
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Reblogged this on My Thoughts Uncensored and commented:
For any writers who write stories and articles. But not poems, I ask you to try poetry. I didn’t write any till a friend asked me to do so.I don’t have write many poems myself. I find it difficult to articulate my feelings in such few words. By sharing this I hope you discover the poet in you.And I hope it encourages me to do the same.
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Reblogged this on Cheryl Andrews and commented:
April is National Poetry Writing Month. NaPoWriMo 2013 encourages established and aspiring poets to write 30 poems in 30 days.
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wow excellent idea! will start today as yesterday I was traveling. unaware of this I wrote a song yesterday with a musician… will that count? 🙂 will post poem either in English or in Italian on my personal blog and tag you but I also have a big project at the Art Academy where I teach on poetry an photography and we publish every 4 days on WP (Luminesia). See if I can get my students (70) involved!
Thank you Cheri for this exciting idea, thousands of poets at work daily and publishing in the same month, a true force!
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Can I tag old poems I have written on m blog?
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That’s probably not the best way to participate, as older posts will likely be buried within the “NaPoWriMo” topic stream. The best way to participate is to publish new posts — you could republish older poems and/or write new stuff. We’d love to see the latter!
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Nuts! I’m a day late 😦 … can I still join in?
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Of course you can. You could write two poems today if you’d like, but we won’t penalize you if you don’t 🙂 Just have fun with it!
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Thanks! 🙂
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I’m in! I can’t wait to to see what poetry comes out of this and I can’t wait to see what other writers do with it! 🙂
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sharing number 2 of 30 in 30 hope you guys like…
http://liveuntil.com/2013/04/02/poem-2-30-poems-in-30-days/
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I’m so excited. The reason I chose to create a WordPress blog was for it to be an online home for my poetry and short works. Wow, one of the few times in life my timing has been right.
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Day 2 already and the second poem is up! Woot for NaPoWriMo! =D
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Poetry doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves and there are a lot of poets such as myself to use WP as their platform to showcase their work. Thank you for bringing attention to this!
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Don’t know if I’ll play along all month . . . but here’s a sweet tidbit for spring:
http://nrhatch.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/with-sugar-on-top/
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I’m late — I will try to catch a verse.
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No worries — you’re not too late. The month has only just begun 🙂
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Wrote one yesterday to participate but im not technically savvy enough to figure out how to link yet. Help, anyone?
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Hi there — not sure if you meant linking here in the comments? You can simply drop the URL of your post here if you’d like to share with others.
However, what we’d love to see this month is for you to tag your poems with “NaPoWriMo” so your posts can be discovered in the Reader. To tag your posts, see our support page on tags. Thanks!
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Can we also use previous published poetry?
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It’s up to you what you ultimately publish on your own blog — you could republish older poems this month, sure. I think, though, it’d be a great challenge to write up completely new stuff each day this month.
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Wow… Great challenge… Here’s my first one for April: http://lumar1298yahoo.com/2013/04/01/let-it-shine-2/
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This is motivating,,, Wish I have time to write even a few lines.
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Thanks for highlighting this–hope more poets will pick up their pens 🙂
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I look forward to NaPoWriMo every year. Have fun with it!
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Hi folks,
To where should I put my poems? (Which site?)
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Hi there — you can publish poems on your blog, and you can tag them with “NaPoWriMo” so other WordPressers can find them in the Reader.
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LOVE this month…poetry and my birthday…perfect way to celebrate!
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Reblogged this on Keepin' it REAL and commented:
30 Poems…30 Days…Can I do it?
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Reblogged this on Keep on keepin' calm and commented:
Remember my idea of relaxation – poetry? Try it out; see if writing poetry relaxes you during this whole month of April, which just so happens to be “NaPoWriMo,” National Poetry Writing Month. I dare you. 🙂
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I’m going to give it a go. Hopefully this will get my writing jumpstarted again!
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I have a small group of high 4th grade readers & writers. We are going to write a poem a day, but only for the days we are in school. I’m hoping they’ll want to write poetry outside of school too. I love the easy to implement ideas that I can use with them.
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A poem a day
for the month of April
I do now pledge.
Can I honour
a promise
at month’s beginning
not yet knowing how to make it through
to month’s ending?
How to find inspiration in memories
to record every day
all that will occur
in the ravages of emotions
of depression, anger,
joys, new beginnings,
in
flashbacks to winter’s
unrelenting grasp,
glimpses of spring.
Expectancy, anticipation
uncertainty,
yet a firm resolve to attempt
to write and record thoughts
in my inner most being.
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Reblogged this on Run On, Sentences and commented:
A poem a day may be a stretch, but a month dedicated to poetry is fantastic.
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When I wrote A Poem A Day to kick off my own week of writing a daily poem, my entry would have be apt for this challenge. Too bad I found out about this today. I guess I’m too late to enter.
https://wordpress.com/dailypost/2012/11/02/weekly-photo-challenge-geometry/
Can I still start today??
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Yes — you can start today. Enjoy!
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hey 🙂 It’s already late one day but.. Mind if I participating? 🙂 This is my first : http://axelismyname.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/night/ so enjoy 🙂 (oh, i’m just a beginner so don’t mind to criticise mine)
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Reblogged this on a day with depression and commented:
Well, I’m a day behind, but this looks like it could be a lot of fun – and a great way to express things that don’t lend themselves to prose. I’ll give it a shot!
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This is interesting. I didn’t know that there was a national poem writing month! I’ve never been very good at writing poems though! So I stick to telling other peoples stories! Think I’ll give NaNoWriMo a go this year though!
Yasmine
x
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My April 1 entry: http://abuffetofthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/04/02/a-poem-a-day/
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Good day
I am keen to do this challenge but have noticed that it is a national challenge – can I be part of this from South Africa? I received notification of this last night and wrote a poem to start. Am not good at blogging but love writing – any help or advice would be appreciated.
I will do another poem tonight to stay in the race so to say – just in case it counts!
Kind regards
Abigayil
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Anyone can participate. Enjoy!
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Great, I started my own “Being a Poet” 30 day challenge, so hopefully I can be a part of this by tagging my posts with the tag required. I didn’t realize March is going to be a Poetry month, but I guess the timing was spot-on from my side!
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Sounds like a challenge I can’t pass up. I don’t call myself a poet, but who cares!? Maybe I’m the next Rilke…here we go!
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Reblogged this on Waiwari & Other Stories and commented:
This is what I’m talking about. NaPoWriMo for the win!
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Love this idea… anything to get people writing 🙂
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Reblogged this on Vitamin D and commented:
a challenge, could I manage
to find words in my mind?
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Reblogged this on DANTON MEDRADO and commented:
30 poems, 30 days – NaPoWriMo
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Reblogged this on @tahir and commented:
I think this is going to be really interesting, As a first experience.
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I shared my second poem for NaPoWriMo today here: http://ajwagoner.com/2013/04/02/upside-down-napowrimo2013-2/
😀
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Reblogged this on smilingwiththestars and commented:
I did not realise that NaPoWriMo was this was this month, I shall have to do this!
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Reblogged this on jellyonacracker and commented:
Glad I saw this! Sent the link to every address in my writer’s group.
Thanks!
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I love poetry. I’m in!
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Reblogged this on Antebellum Rose and commented:
Definitely participating. I’ve got yesterday and today, just not typed yet.
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Reblogged this on a remedy for memories and commented:
Hurray for NaPoWriMo! I’m a little late but I think I can catch up 🙂 This gives me great motivation 🙂
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I’m so glad to have found this! I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo a time or two, but haven’t quite finished either time. This is right up my alley! Question though…..my blog is on Google, so is there any way to tag it so that it’s easily accessible to WordPress bloggers?
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Cool — glad you found the post!
And good question. Unless a WordPress.com blogger is specifically subscribed to/following your blog in their WordPress.com Reader, no, they won’t see non-WP.com posts. Currently, the WordPress.com Reader displays latest published posts on WP.com blogs, and WP.com bloggers follow specific tags (ie “NaPoWriMo”) which would then display these tagged WP.com posts, too. Hope that answers your question!
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Reblogged this on kakadudream and commented:
This is the first time I have logged in to WordPress in aaaages and to find this here seems serendipitous. I need to write more, and this could be the perfect thing to get me started again!
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Reblogged this on iWonder and commented:
This is definitely worth sharing! I’ll have to write two today because I am just finding out about this now.
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Reblogged this on 0rwellian and commented:
Ek, I’m a day late, but I think I’m going to do this!
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Second haiku of the month http://tuckedintoacorner.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/possibility/
I’ve done NaNoWriMo a couple of times, so I’m looking forward to this for a new challenge 🙂
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Reblogged this on michaelbrandeis and commented:
Starting a day late, but I am going to start doing the National Poem Writing Month challenge!
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I’m in, placing my entries into a page format on my blog to separate them from my other poems & regular posts…. Follow along if you like:)
http://peejaybayliss.wordpress.com/napowrimo/
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30 in 30 days, tickles the wonder, weezy should get on this aha. but are we not to rest on the seventh day.. :]
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Day 3 poem…so far so good, i’m keeping up…
http://liveuntil.com/2013/04/03/poem-3-30-poems-in-30-days/
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I wrote this one yesterday:
SUCCESS!
Half a century or more ago,
a fellow schoolboy asked of me:
“In life, what would your ambition be?”
I thought two seconds, maybe more,
in somewhat pessimistic mood:
a B – Form brain; no family wealth;
no luck with girls and, worst: Cold War!
The answer then came to my lips:
“To be a Grandfather”, I said.
That meant enough success and luck
to raise a family; survive the War;
and pass my genes on down the line.
The 24th of March this year, I won!
Sebastian is my Grandson’s name.
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Reblogged this on TechTalk and commented:
What a terrific way to get students engaged in Poetry! I hope some of our KPDSB classes hop on board- even if we are starting late, such a terrific way to share the love of poetry.
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But; what about in the case(s) where creativity is divided, in a meaningful balance, between quality and quantity? Would a forced imbalance cause a drop in quality and, if this is so, would there be long lasting effects on the poet through a sort of discouragement, distraction, guilt manipulation, etc? I worry (in this regard) about, “a small group of high 4th grade readers & writers” who may be more vulnerable than adults but, will admit, that’s a concern which is only based on my viewpoint.
Every poetry project that has a large organization behind it and, which I’ve been in (or one’s to which they get involved in and, thereby, push their agenda) I’ve been criticized for using rhyme, or the like, and been told that I shouldn’t work so hard, but I respond that; that’s how the poem comes to me and it would make more work to downgrade it to the standards which they go from “suggesting” to harshly persecuting me to use. I feel as if I’ve been driven away from any trust I may have had in an organized agenda.
I will refrain.
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