Day 12 of 30 in our 2018 NaNoWriMo & November Poem-A-Day (NovPAD) challenges – almost halfway … but don’t let that start you from starting.
There are times I jumped into the NovPAD challenge in the latter part of November (due to life’s obstacles) and been proud of what I have written. And these are poems – usually less than a page; it’s easy – if you give yourself latitude to play with a prompt – to do several days worth within a single day. They don’t even have to be good! The goal – like NaNoWriMo – is just to get in the habit of writing every day. Or- realistically- almost every day. Spending time with your muse. Making YOUR own development a priority in your life.
And I am starting to see some NaNo writers starting to state they should quit “because I’m so far behind” To that I answer –
- You still have most of the month; your inspired writing may just not have come yet (skip to “the fun part” – that writing will flow)
- That 50k word count is just A goal; there are other NaNoWiMo Goals – the primary one being just to finally treat yourself to writing the story you always wanted to write. What is YOUR goal for doing NaNoWriMo? Work on meeting that – not some stranger’goal of 50 K words.
- If you are going for 50 K words, don’t edit! (Repeat after me- November is for writing, December is for editing) Backtrack if you must, rewrite if you must – but all those mistakes and detours can go a long way towards your 50K word count. This is the first draft, it IS going to unpolished – it is okay to keep what isn’t working, to record what not to do. Writing is a learning curve, this is part of the lesson on telling your story. It will, in future edits, be edited out.
- You’ll be amazed how much can be written over the last 4 days of the challenge- I once wrote the last 3rd act of a NaNo novel over a Thanksgiving weekend (and I was the one cooking!) That “deadline” is gold for motivating you to write, write, write!
I get it – Life happens. And life keeps happening even during November. Today’s post is late because “life happens” – but we gotta roll with the punches. And personally – November challenges are FUN for me! With all the crisis that comes up – I NEED the fun and whimsy this month offers. Maybe you do too? And at the end you will have something tangible – a novel, a chapbook – that you can work into an opportunity.
Okay – on to prompts …
While yesterday was the real Veterans Day today is also the day the US observes it AKA shuts down business & government to muse & meditate on our veterans, sacrifice. So I am setting today’s prompt as “when you were gone”. Think of all the stories your family told about a relative being in one of the wars; there’s a poem in there.
Over at Robert Lee Brewer’s 2018 PAD Challenge, Day 10’s prompt to write a disaster poem.
Poetry Potion’s Poem-A-Day Challenge has posted “the old guard” for Day11’s prompt.
For NaPoWriMo prompt, it reads “adverbs are fine, actually.”
Have fun writing …
And I had to pause and write – because “while you were gone” was getting a loud response from my muse. so my poem for today’s prompt …
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My archive of blog’ poetry prompts is here.
You know I’m all about the prompts!
Ariel
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Cover image provided by NaNOWriMo 2018.
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