It is no secret that I made an attempt at National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) last month, putting together a poem in each of the thirty days of April 2025. The first one is here, itself a response to a long-standing thing and one I’ve indulged in in previous years, while the last is here and is much less structured, much less formal, and much less embedded in traditions in which I participate happily. So much noted, I am glad to have made the attempt, even if on my own and in my own small way, and I am glad to have actually seen it through amid the busy time that April is for me, what with tax day and my daughter’s state-mandated high-stakes testing and all.

I think I might well do it again (circumstances permitting, of course), although I think I will approach the task differently if I do so. I feel I tend to do better work if I work within a structure, so I think the next time I do NaPoWriMo, I will do so as a series of a particular kind of poem. Sonnets come to mind for me, of course, since I seem to be able to write them, and there’s a long tradition of sonnets in sequences that I can look to for inspiration and guidance. But they’re not the only form in which I’m conversant, and form is not the only structure that I can use to help direct and focus my efforts.

The thought also occurs that I might use a particular theme to guide my writing. So much has been recommended for compiling chapbooks and the like, if my readings are any accurate reflection of things, I’ll admit, too, that I already do something very much like that; those of you who read much of what I write will notice some series of poems, a few of which even get numbered from time to time. I don’t know that I would use those themes for new projects–it feels a little bit like double-dipping, and I’ve long been trained against such things–but I’ve no doubt that I can look to other themes for inspiration, and it would be good to stretch myself a bit.

There are other events like NaPoWriMo to be found. National Novel Writing Month is one that comes to mind, and I’ve attempted it before, although without success. (I can still help you with your writerly efforts, though, and gladly.) There have, evidently, been some things happen over that way (I’ve been busy and haven’t kept up), so I don’t know that I’d do anything formal with it, but I didn’t do anything really formal with NaPoWriMo, either; the idea’s good, even if the surrounding organization may not be so. And I might try to do something parallel to it in a kind of NaSchoWriMo, insofar as I do any kind of scholarship anymore…hell, the Robin Hobb Rereading Series might get a month of solid focus.

I probably ought to write something for its anniversary, anyway.

So, yes, I am glad to have done NaPoWriMo this year, and I look forward to the opportunity to do it again–as well as to do other, similar projects, as time and circumstances allow. Whether they will, of course, I cannot say; I am familiar with the past but can only guess at the future. But, if they do, I will do–and I hope you’ll come along for the ride!

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