That’s right. April is National Poetry Month. For many years poets like us have been writing like fiends during the month of April.
Thousands of poets all over the world rise up to the National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) challenge: 30 Poems In 30 Days.
This madness was inspired by the older NaNoWriMo, November’s National Novel Writing Month challenge of 50,000 Words in 30 Days. This writing challenge has grown to 552,335 writers from around the globe, drinking gallons of coffee and risking their relationships with family trying to live a life while they write each year. Sound crazy? It is. It’s also so exhilarating and fun that I have personally done it twice resulting in two nearly ready full length fiction novels. The NaNoWriMo challenge was the garden where some best selling novels emerged like Water for Elephants and The Night Circus.
It’s cousin, NaPoWriMo, also lures the poets to their abandoned notebooks and asks us to rise each day for a month and find a small slice of time to craft a poem. It can be anything from a striking Haiku to a full blown Ode if you’re inspired. Any topic, any style. But you must write each day. I preferred early morning writing one hour each day. You may be a night owl. Who sees these poems as we post them each day? That would be THOUSANDS of readers all over the world.
Last April, as I was posting my daily poems on my blog site that was linked to the NaPoWriMo2020 main site, a poetry publisher in the U.K. started reading my work each day. At the end of the challenge, they invited me to be a part of their NaPoWriMo 2020 Anthology. I was honored to be one of 39 poets from around the world included in their book, which is available through Amazon here: https://abpoetryjournal.com/napowrimo-anthology-2020/
This blog can be the place where you submit your poems if you decide to join our team of NaPoWriMo 2021 writing team. You’ll submit your poem to our email address each day and I will post all of our entries nightly. Sign up on the contact page here on the LeelanauPoets.org website, or add our email address to your contact list: poetry@LeelanauPoets.org
The prize? The satisfaction of achievement and the sharpening of your writing skills earned by carefully crafting entries each day.
LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE
So, maybe THIS is the real prize. What we can do with these poems…
Each of us will be creating 30 new poems. By May, we will have a large collection of NaPoWriMo 2021 Poetry. If we can sort and select several pieces from each collection, we would have enough to publish a book that can be sold through Amazon, local bookstores and, if we vote to donate some of our proceeds, we can make them available at local arts associations like the NAA. Combined with the visual imagery from our own art or that of other local artists, these books of words gathered every April can bring increased visibility and some money to our poets, and a donation brings needed funding to 501c3 Non-Profit associations and will create a lasting record of our work.
This book can be sold in print-on-demand, eBook format and hard copy format. Our collective will be deciding how those funds are distributed and what portion of our proceeds we want to donate to non-profits.
How to join the fray-
Email: poetry@LeelanauPoets.org and let me know that you will be joining the Leelanau Poets NaPoWriMo 2021 Team. I’d like to have a short bio from you, a link to your website if you have one, a photo of you (and don’t worry about it being perfect. I’ll be using it to create a cartoon style image so we are all portrayed in our alter-super-writing-hero style.) And, if you are also a photographer or artist, give me a picture or two of a few of your works so I can add it to your team bio. Let me know if you’ve been published before and if any of your work is available for sale at booksellers or online.
I’ll need your sign up before March 20th so we can launch this site with a bang and have followers that can access our daily writing to enjoy from day one of the challenge.
In the meantime, I would like to have at least one or two poems from each poet that can be shared here along with your bios so visitors to LeelanauPoets.org will have a feel for who you are and how you write.
It’s going to be fun!
…and after NaPoWriMo, I’ll be whipping you into a frenzy to create more Poetry Video Presentations, like submitting our poems for the NAA’s August’s Starry Night Poetry Project 2021, that will combine our words, visual arts and music in collaboration with local acting talent who are willing to read our work, unless you’re the whole enchilada type that wants to read their own work! In that case, we’ll get you recorded.
Until then, join us as a part of the LeelanauPoets.org contributing poets!
COMPETITION!
Here are two 2021 NaPoWriMo Writing Teams and what they’re doing to rise to the 2021 Challenge…
https://www.womenwritingbloomington.org/product/napowrimo-kick-off-2021/
Come on Leelanau Poets! We can do this!
You can read my last two years of entries by searching NaPoWriMo on my personal blog site: www.wordninjagirl.com
Leelanau Poets 
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