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A Peek Into My NaPoWriMo Planning

It's just over a week until National Poetry Writing Month begins, and I'll be posting daily with my resulting poetry. This post is for those interested in seeing what my daily planning process looks like.


Truth be told, it's not at all extensive. In general, I'm somebody who likes organization, structure, and scheduling. I find I work the best when I have a system laid out. This applies to everything from working out consistently to writing novels. That being said, I don't approach poetry that way. I can't exactly explain why that is.


My creative process for each poem tends to differ, and I don't have a one size fits all approach. Sometimes I write by hand first, sometimes I just go straight to an online document. Some days I oultine a poetic form I want to use, while others I just write spontaneously. Often I already have an idea in my head when I sit down, while on other occasions I'll write random words to try and get inspiration. (I randomly wrote the word 'Nineveh' once, and a poem quickly resulted from that.)


When I'm not doing a challenge like NaPoWriMo, I normally write poems only when I feel like writing or have an idea. That's why I don't preschedule poem inspirations, but I do prescribble them in a notebook to refer to later.


My minimal planning for National Poetry Writing Month for this year looked like this:


I entered my website as a participant on the official NaPoWriMo site,

(http://www.napowrimo.net/) then I posted their badge as a proud participant on the header above this post. Because of this, they could potentially feature my work, but that's unlikely for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, because there are hundreds of people involved and only 30 days in the month, which means only 30 poems they'll feature.

Secondly, because to be featured you have to follow the prompts on the website, which can be a theme or a format to adhere to for the poem each day. I only did this in one poem out of 30 last year, since I prefer to garner my inspiration and styles.


In order to do the latter, this year I designed a spread in my bullet journal for NaPoWriMo. (I love bullet journaling because you get to be organized and artistic at the same time!) On the left I made a space for writing down any concepts, lines, or even titles that come to me at any point through the process. (Last year I just did this in a regular notebook.) On the right, I have a place to log each completed poem's title in one place.



It doesn't matter if you jot down ideas in a notebook that's falling apart, on a google doc, or on your hand. (Well... maybe that does matter, as we should all be washing our hands a lot, and I'd hate for you to lose them.) All that to say, if you're going to do NaPoWriMo, I'd highly recommend you designate a place to do your jotting, because you're not going to feel inspired every day, and it really helps to have ideas to fall back on.


And if you're not doing NaPoWriMo, I'm going to present you with a strange challenge. Designate a place for the month of April to write down musings, praise, compliments for others, or blessings you want to remember later on. These can inspire us to pray more, give thanks, love more, laugh more, and speak beautiful things to those around us.


Let's ask the Lord to write our very lives into poems that ever increasingly honor Him this April, even in these difficult and scary times.


As it says in Psalm 103:1-5

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.


I'll close with these lines I wrote on January 1st of this year.


Resolved: a poem be my life

Through all days, toil or cheer

Written by Him who cometh soon

For Him whose reign draws near


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