Na/GloPoWriMo review: was it worth it?

This year I finally took over the National/Global Poetry Writing Month (GloPoWriMo, hence), inspired by the well-known NaNoWriMo, which I also gave a try last year. The concept, in case you are not familiar with it, is to write a poem a day for April, just like NaNoWriMo challenges you to write a 50.000-word-novel in November. So when you enter the website (which, by the way, does not include an incorporated word counter, contrary to NaNoWriMo's) during April, you’ll find the daily post with featured participants based on their responses to the prompt of the previous day, a recommended poetry journal or magazine, and an optional prompt. Below, you can share your response or read others’. But was it worth it to spend at least half an hour a day writing poetry for a whole month?

In my case, and though I do not remember how I got to know about the website and this challenge, last year I was really looking forward to participating – I spent the last few months of the year writing short poems. Nevertheless, something happened between last year's December and this year's April, and by something I mean certain insecurity which may have grown inside me due to the exposure to seemingly endless possibilities of poem types and mistakes I might make. Therefore, I started the year with no actual desire for writing or reading poetry in fear of failure. 

I was well aware of this insecurity of mine but still decided to give GloPoWriMo a try as I supposed that doing exactly what I feared would make me get more involucrated in the craft, and thus, make me feel more confident and excited about it.

I was right. During April, I allowed myself to fail, switch languages, publish whatever I wanted on my humble blog, pick photos from online image banks or make collages, and write on my cell phone during my breaks at school, just as long as I didn't stop writing. I do not regret having decided to join the GloPoWriMo online community by taking part in this challenge.

Now, why, specifically? Some factors that contributed to my favourable experience may have been the emphasis on the optionality of the prompts, the fact that the structure remained intact throughout all the posts during the month (which contributed to the making of a habit), and the personal compromise that it required. This way, I was able to write at least one bad stanza every day.

Regarding the prompts themselves, I loved to try out different poetry forms and resources. They did not include the usual ones you might think of, like haikus – though you could write them if that's what you felt like–, and sometimes they were about overly using a resource or were inspired by a specific writer. But most importantly, they were poetry prompts, and though it might sound redundant, it is a remarkable aspect for those interested in participating as there are so many creative writing prompts out there but not so many for this specific art form.

Lastly, joining a month-long challenge is a challenge itself, and the mere fact of writing something, whatever it is, was already rewarding for me, but even more considering that, by the end of the day, I had material to work on in the future in case I feel stuck or want to improve my craft. This is to talk about the quality of the final products.

As writers, we usually want to have written good works, just as any artist wants to make good art. We want to be good as much as we want to write, and the process of developing skills and doing what we want to do is also where our confidence may drop. The solution to this paradox is challenges like these, in which being consistent and keeping on writing is more important than the quality of the final product. After all, it can always be edited over and over again.

Hence I enjoyed NaPoWriMo: no restrictions, no inhibitions, nothing to lose – just a digital keyboard and me. I was able to let go of my fears and focus on the work of art I was producing, whether good or bad, real still. There's no external pressure if you don't write a masterpiece -- it's a personal challenge, like being a writer is as well.

In conclusion, here is why I would recommend NaPoWriMo to every poetry writer as much as I would recommend NaNoWriMo to (almost) all novelists: the self-discipline, the adrenaline of a challenge, the recommendations, the community, the versatility of the prompts, and, last but not least, the fact that you keep on writing.