How'd you do?

So! Here we are! April 30th, the blessed end of the long distance sprint that is the National Poetry Writing Month challenge.

How'd you do?

Also, what did you learn? How did you improve? How did your poetry change, if at all?

I learned that I should never read one poet exclusively during NaPo, I learned that the perfect poem is a combination of head, heart, and imagery (hat tip to Navita), and I definitely felt my poetry changing to a certain degree, evolving over the course of the month.

It was also surprisingly difficult. I write nearly a poem a day to begin with, but the expectations of NaPo added a pressure that changed the atmosphere for me.

Anyway, let's hear it!

(PS: Does a Mod want to make this a sticky?)

Well, this was my first year doing it, and I thought it was going to be really easy, but it was hard. Even if my poems weren't the greatest, there were a few that I thought really shone! It was fun, and I was glad I was able to commit to something and finish it. I'll definitely do it next year.

If I might use some biological/mathematical language to describe NaPo, I'd say it was a sigmoid curve, like the one for the population number of a species establishing in a new habitat as it gets closer and closer to carrying capacity, when resources become more scarce (now, that sounds like economics).

In short, it was a slow start, a fast middle and a slow finish.

I agree with Kylan about not reading one poet only in NaPo - it was so much fun to read everyone else's threads on here, along with a healthy range of many other poets; being exposed to so many different writing styles was not only inspiring, but also eradicated the monotony of reading my own writing for the whole time. Had I not joined YWS early on in April, I might never have discovered NaPo at all.

It became almost an obsession, at one point in time, of dreaming up more ideas, or delving into my memory or experiences for a poem. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't entirely sure I'd make it to the end when I began - but I've somehow ended up with a collection of eighty poems that need some serious reworking before I so much as think about calling them the anthology of April 2010.

I enjoyed it and I'll miss it - and, while I know I could carry on writing a poem a day, somehow it won't seem the same. I feel like I need a brief respite from poetry, like I need to concentrate on some other area for a while - I prefer short and intense spurts to long drawn-out ones, and although one month isn't quite long enough to be the end of my 'short burst', I would love a change.

But it's definitely taught me a lot about writing - and thank you to all those who took the time to write comments - they were most appreciated!

I learnt that I'm not supposed to try to please others when writing. I mean, it's amazing if someone likes what I've written, but I don't write solely for other people. I can always improve my writing and get better, but the most important thing is that I feel good about what I've written -- and this April I really did feel good about most of the poems I wrote.

I also discovered more about my own writing style and got to know it better. Moreover, I was able to look at my poems objectively, and this also helped me notice more bits that needed changing.

I think this will make me write more than I usually have, which hasn't been very much to begin with. Overall, I'm happy with my NaPo this year, and I'm eternally grateful to anyone who read and/or commented.

I learned that all you people are splendid people capable of splendid work and are a good way to pass slow workdays.

And about myself? I noticed my writing has changed A LOT since 6-8 years ago (when I last wrote poems extensively). I used to take the time to detail imagery and make similes and really churn that stuff out. Now? All my stuff is mostly literal and I usually care only about making a point or telling a story. I enjoy reading imagery just fine in other people's work, but it's just not for me. I would sit down and try it a few times, but I just felt contrived, laborious, and like I'm beating around the bush--I could only manage in small doses.

I learned that raps are fun to write.

I'm quite happy with my NaPo overall, too. I will likely go back, edit all of them, print 'em out, and bind them together then dip back into them every now and then.

Well spoken, Navita. You start off slowly, wondering what you want to write about. You break the skin and think of a few experiences and say, "Yeah, that works." Then with it comes a deluge of life and emotions, until you squeeze out the last few drops (and wonder if those last few drops were worth it).

What's unfortunate is that I feel like I exhausted my life with it. 30 poems detailed the 30 most important things in my life...and now I have no choice but to start overlapping. Or take up jet-ski-motorcycle-hang-gliding-romantic-drama-gun-fights...of which you will soon see poems about in 3 months.

I didn't finish! On the other hand, I wrote some poems that I am reasonably fond of, and this month reminded me why I love writing prose so much, and actually got me started back on prosing, so, a win overall.

5 poems. 5 poems and I would of finished. I'm quite disappointed.

I think I reversed myself actually. I went back to the short poems I'd worked to get away from. But I enjoyed writing them, specifically ones surrounding old memories and music. I'm not sure if or how I evolved but I'm glad I decided to do it.

I lasted three days. Yup. I only got to April 3rd. Lol

I got the whole thirty done. I learned that sticking to a strict form can be very rigid and not neccesarily benficial.(Thanks Jiggity!) I also learned that I can tell a loose story through connected poems and write completely as a character rather than using myself or elements of myself.

I got 20 and I feel pretty satisfied, I think I got some good ideas and material out there, thanks everyone

I failed pretty hard. Hahah. And as a result, I learned that school>writing most of the time. Which is a sad, sad thing.

I failed. I got to April 4th.....