I took a vow to stay away from the blog after a month of poetry writing but then I had no idea, that this challenge had got me into the habit of writing on a daily basis. I stayed away from my blog for the last 2 days and I felt there was something missing, something that I had forgotten to do; so here I am back again. As a beginning, I thought I’d write about my experience with NaPoWriMo (30 day Poetry challenge). An honest straight-from-the-heart write-up on the 30 days.

First the good. NaPoWriMo taught me more about poetry in 30 days than I had known in the past 3 decades. The prompts were enlightening and as I look back at my poem on day 1 and my poem on day 30, I know I have learnt. I certainly have a long way to go but a beginning has been made. Thanks to family, friends and well-wishers, the journey was amazing.

Now for the challenges faced. Being a once- a- week blogger is probably one of the reasons that the challenge got me ruffled up the wrong way. Posting on a daily basis was demanding and by day 9 when I wrote the poem “Confused”, I was exhausted and so confused. I am not sure how I managed from Day 10 to Day 30.

Secondly, the challenge required me to make a mental shift in my attitude. I like doing things at my pace- not being pushed or forced. And here I was having to return from work, finish my household duties and then sit in front of the computer till mid-night to put up a poem before the next day’s prompt because of my own deep need to stick to my word.  The prompts of-course were optional but what’s a challenge if you don’t have rules. So I followed the prompts to the “T”.

Thirdly, I have never really stuck to any hobby in my life, hence I remain a jack of many trades, yet master of none. I am not proud of this but this is simply me. Blame it on the stars! Sticking to anything can be torturous and even excruciatingly painful for somebody like me. Towards the last few days, I literally had to drag myself towards the finish line and even promised myself that I wouldn’t write poetry again.

However, thanks to the enthusiasm of all the other participants, the likes and constant positive feedback I managed to write 30 poems over 30 days!

As a thank you, I am providing a link to a few of the participants without whose support this journey would not have been possible. We were strangers across continents who had connected through poetry.

Thank you Nicola https://nicolahulmeblog.wordpress.com/  for prodding me on. Thanks Preethi for all the positive feedback https://viewsofpreethib.wordpress.com/. Thanks Vandana for the light https://feelings161.wordpress.com/ and Angela for the positivity https://procrastinationcoach.wordpress.com/; Sangbad https://thoughtsofwordsblog.wordpress.com/. Thanks Robbie for sharing my poem on Chocolate on twitter https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/

P.S. I do remember the promise I made to all the others who follow my blog and whose blogs I follow that I would read their posts once the challenge got over. I intend keeping my promise over the next few weeks.