Thursday, August 09, 2012

Rejection: a community experience

I still haven't found a publisher for my book, but I am sending it out again. The first year I concentrated on contests; now I am sending to presses. Well, one press so far, but I am very excited about it.

I recently traveled home, where I got to connect face to face with many of the people I treasure. Some of these were friends from grad school. Many of my Goddard friends are lucky enough to live in the same town. I used to be one of them. Seeing them and hearing about their check-ins made me realize how much I needed that - even if it has to be electronic for most of the year.

Now we have a weekly email check-in. Sometimes it means fessing up that I didn't do any writing or submitting - but even that feels good. Because I know the check-in is coming, I have accomplished more than I ever would have on my own. And who better to tell my disappointments than my writing friends?

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Happy National Poetry Month!

And you know what that means...NaPoWriMo!  I haven't been writing for months.  Feeling stuck, to say the least.  I got up on April 1, saw a Facebook tag about NaPoWriMo and thought, well, I guess I'll start writing.  Apparently, it was that easy. 

NaPoWriMo stands for National Poetry Writing Month and it is modeled after NaNoWriMo.  In NaPoWriMo, the goal is to write every day in April (National Poetry Month), but not necessarily to produce something "complete" or "good" every day (at least, that's my goal).  I find that the writing I produce is often the start of something worth keeping and working on.

Some people use prompts, but they aren't required.  I find them helpful.  Two sites with prompts are http://www.napowrimo.net/ (site of the founder of NaPoWriMo) and http://chrisjarmick.wordpress.com/ (a writer and participant's site; Chris also keeps a detailed list on readings/performances in the Seattle area throughout the year). 

Many people share their writing on their websites.  A list of participant sites can be found on http://www.napowrimo.net/.  Sharing is also not required.  I choose to share on Facebook.  I find it inspirational to see my friends sharing.   It keeps me motivated and nurtures a sense of community. Also, sharing is humbling and helps me take myself less seriously.   I give myself an "out" if it's really awful, but if the writing is just mediocre or dull - I post!