Hi all,
Christine, I enjoy NaPo. I think it works for me because it encourages play, and it's so low stakes that I don't feel uncomfortable sharing less-than-polished writing/images.
I find I get about six good ideas from the month - and the pressure to keep up the pace towards the end can drive me in unusual directions, which I appreciate. My first ever published poem was a NaPo poem from 2015, written somewhere in the middle of April in a hurry on a train.
Also, participation in various frenzied Aprils got me in the habit of creating/writing something every day - however tiny, however fragmented, however silly. I just do that now, creating as a daily practice, but I needed the push of writing in company to get me started.
It's really interesting to find out people's different reactions to the idea, too. I can 'get' how it seems unappealing as well as appealing.
(my sneaky annoyance in NaPo is when you get someone who posts say seven excellent poems - really polished poems - and you just know that these are unlikely to be first drafts, and they're just sharing them for kudos and see the month as a competition to be won)
Sarah-Jane
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