I’m really excited about NAPOWRIMO this year, because I’ve made a comittment in a way that’s fun and I’m looking forward to the journey!

I’ve decided every day during April, I’m going to write a poem. Even if it’s trash. I’m going to write. 

I’m also going to do what I did when I wrote The Locust Years during the pandemic quarantines – write with a goal in mind.

Some of you know about my second book that’s in the works. “Twisted” – its working title. It’s all about how as humans, our perspectives on everything are so different, yet all of them probably completely inaccurate! And yet we sure get a death grip on them, don’t we? But that’s a post for another time.

So let me tell you my NAPOWRIMO plan in case you want to use it too!

The Plan:

★ Go to bed by at least 8 pm every night (I’m no good at anything without enough sleep, and I’ve made peace with that!)
★ wake @ 4 / 430 am (This is so I can have time to meditate and, frankly, calm my ass down before I start writing. If you don’t have that problem, feel free to skip this step!)
★ 10 mins: Look at photos or works of art and write a silly poem (I tend to take myself WAY too seriously,  and that spreads to everything including my writing craft. I figure this will help me loosen up. It will also be no-strings-attached pure FUN, more of which this recovering perfectionist could really use!)
★ 30min- 1 hr: Look at abstract art or photos, put pen to paper and let my mind run off in whatever direction it wants. Free-associate. Free write. I’ve always enjoyed that, and right now I really need a low pressure activity in my life. I know I’m not the only one! So let me tell you my plan in case you want to use it too.

I may also look back on verses or quotes, review my journal or read some verses of modern poetry, like maybe EE Cummings, and write a poem on perspective.  To accomplish this goal, I’ll freewrite about the theme of perspective,  then distill the concepts of the freewrite into a poem. I may, as my good friend the miraculous poet Tresha Haefner taught me in her Poetry Salon classes, make lists of imagery, concrete nouns, verbs, adjectives, metaphors or anything else I think would help guide me toward a poem that [accomplishes the goal of what I want it to show about the perspective/s on a given topic.

The Rules:

★ Have fun
★ There are no “wrong poems”, and no “wrong” ways to write them 

I can’t wait to see where it takes me on my “Twisted” journey and share it with you!

Let me know how you like this plan (especially the abstract art part!) by commenting here or emailing kelly@kellyhanwright.com. Sharing is half the fun! Hope you have a blast doing NAPOWRIMO with me!