ANNOUNCING...
...the Poem A Day Challenge.
To preface this announcement, I'd like to begin with a discussion of the origin of creativity. Is it a well, that must not be overtapped? Is it a spring, that gives water only at the whim of fate? Or is it just another skill, that must be practiced? For a long time, I held to a mix of the first and the second ideas. I believed that sometimes I was in a poetry mood, and sometimes in a prose mood. And sometimes in no mood at all. However, my dreams of making a living as a writer necessarily demand that I hold more to the third idea. Editors and publishers don't care about moods, just deadlines. Neither should they.
For quite a while, my poetic output had been nothing or not much better. Much of my creative output has been focused more on prose-related activities, and I thought this a fine justification for not sitting down in front of my notebook. This has to change. I need to stretch, to expand. Thus, this challenge: all throughout the month of May, I'm going to be writing a poem every single day and posting it here. Each poem will be original, and written for no other reason than to please myself. Mostly.
That's where you come in. To be honest, I have no idea who reads my journal. I suspect it is a small number, and that's fine. I only have a small number of friends on Livejournal. The whole reason I'm doing this on Livejournal, in fact, is to make it more public, so I'll actually have a reason to do it. So thank you, whoever is reading this. You're making this easier for me.
The first poem will come May 1st. I often don't have an internet connection on the weekends, so those updates might come Mondays.
This is gonna be a lot of fun, I think. Let's ride!
To preface this announcement, I'd like to begin with a discussion of the origin of creativity. Is it a well, that must not be overtapped? Is it a spring, that gives water only at the whim of fate? Or is it just another skill, that must be practiced? For a long time, I held to a mix of the first and the second ideas. I believed that sometimes I was in a poetry mood, and sometimes in a prose mood. And sometimes in no mood at all. However, my dreams of making a living as a writer necessarily demand that I hold more to the third idea. Editors and publishers don't care about moods, just deadlines. Neither should they.
For quite a while, my poetic output had been nothing or not much better. Much of my creative output has been focused more on prose-related activities, and I thought this a fine justification for not sitting down in front of my notebook. This has to change. I need to stretch, to expand. Thus, this challenge: all throughout the month of May, I'm going to be writing a poem every single day and posting it here. Each poem will be original, and written for no other reason than to please myself. Mostly.
That's where you come in. To be honest, I have no idea who reads my journal. I suspect it is a small number, and that's fine. I only have a small number of friends on Livejournal. The whole reason I'm doing this on Livejournal, in fact, is to make it more public, so I'll actually have a reason to do it. So thank you, whoever is reading this. You're making this easier for me.
The first poem will come May 1st. I often don't have an internet connection on the weekends, so those updates might come Mondays.
This is gonna be a lot of fun, I think. Let's ride!