poem a day challenge

i participated in Robert Lee Brewer's PAD Challenge last November, and i'm thinking about doing it again this year. it started yesterday, open to all people, and he's very flexible on dates and participation, with only a final deadline for the month's submissions, and another for the optional chapbook. the only thing holding me back is a theme. it's not necessary, but i like the focus and challenge of trying to write thirty poems about the same subject; and i enjoy seeing the variety of poetry that comes from the different prompts.

so a theme. no idea. last year i jumped in the first day without a clue, but a theme emerged in the first few lines of my poem. 'fear' was a great theme for me, but this year i'm blanking out. i could take the first prompt anywhere, and the second, but for now they don't seem to intersect. i contemplated 'oilfield' or 'numb' or 'letting go'...but i'm done with the oilfield (mentally a few months ago, physically in a few weeks) and 'letting go' is far from consistent. i haven't felt much of anything lately, not strongly or for very long, so numb is the current favorite. but if the first two prompts are any indication, it could be a rough month trying to write around that subject. i might enjoy the challenge, but if nothing comes i won't write anything. i hate forcing poetry. luckily i can submit a few days at a time, so i might just play around with some more ideas for a few days before i decide.

last look at november

november was nuts. started with a new company, moved and dealt with a few personal issues, while participation in a poem a day challenge and nanowrimo. the thirtieth was the deadline for the move and the two writing assignments, which was the sunday after thanksgiving. going into the holiday weekend i knew what i had to do to accomplish all my goals--type 50,000 words, half a months worth of poems and move all my stuff out and clean my soon-to-be-at-the-time-but-now-ex apartment.

sunday night came around, moved out, but still nothing typed. and i wasn't scrambling to do so, i didn't even try the entire weekend. i didn't have the internet for the last half of the month, so i couldn't submit my poems, and i got too far behind to begin typing. but i completed both tasks. thirty poems, one each day, and over 50,000 words, hand-written. and i never doubted my choices. the challenges were personal, not for show, and i succeeded for me; i couldn't be happier.

and thank you to all who supported me throughout the month of writing and writing and whatever else and writing. who knows what comes in the months ahead for my writing, or life, but right now i'm hungry. dinner on PWR (that's my new company, professional wireline rentals).

thoughts after 100 pages of nanowrimo

1. 100 pages is a lot to write
2. the callous on my middle finger and the muscles in my hand were not ready for this challenge, getting better though.
3. my PAD project is a nice break from nano
4. my choice of bic pen (the standard, crystal cased (don't let the name fool you, its really plastic) black pen) only lasts about sixty pages with minimal editing and a few poems
5. my nano region (dfw) voted on a mascot and i missed it, but that's ok because they chose the rhinoceros, which i like, and is crazyfun to say altogether...nanowrimo rhino
6. i bought a small rhino for inspiration
7. i wrote a rhinoceros herd into my story about a prisoner in southeast asia (as a metaphor)
8. i want a nanowrimo rhino t-shirt
9. nano makes me drink a lot of tea

NaNoWriMo and PAD

i had no idea what those two acronym[ish] things meant until late last night. i was poking around online, considering taking the plunge and making some of my work available to people i don't know, and i came across a blog for poets. http://poetswhoblog.blogspot.com%20...i/i'm thinking about it.

reading into some of the poems, i stumbled upon PAD...Poem A Day. http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/default,month,2008-11.aspx. i thought...why not. a poem was already written for the first...why not write one for the second. and then the third. awesome.

looking at some of those poems, someone mentioned NaNoWriMo. it's just fun to say. it stands for National Novel Writer's Month. check it out --> http://www.nanowrimo.org/. i initially thought 'not for me' because i am not a novelist. i read a bit, and it's not just for novelists...just crazy people who want to try to write 50,000 words of a novel in the thirty days November affords us. still i was skeptical. but then i started writing, and now i think i'm crazy enough to do it.

and the poems