November Write-a-Thon!
Happy Poetry Friday lovely people! Today we are hosted by Buffy Silverman- head on over to check out Buffy's snowy poetry extravaganza! Every year at this time, I find myself turning inward towards hearth and home, and that usually also means an outpouring of words. (If I owe you a poem or letter, keep an eye on your mailbox!) But this November, I'm kicking it up a notch.
I've been inspired by NaNoWriMo's partnership with The Mighty Pens, where participants use their words to raise money for We Need Diverse Books. (Check out their awesome prizes and get more information on how to participate here!) But, what I'm writing these days isn't a prose novel, and I don't really have the social spoons to join another writing chat at the moment. So, I'm going to sort of... adapt the concept and do a write-a-thon tailored to the projects I'm working on right now. If you'd like to join in with a personalized write-a-thon of your own, or if you're participating in any version of NaNoWriMo adventures, let me know so I can cheer you on!
Goals for November:
10 poem first drafts
10 flash fiction first drafts
10 poetry revisions
I'm going to pledge to donate $3 to We Need Diverse Books for every poem/flash fiction draft and revision I complete. And if I *really* get going...
Stretch Goals For November:
+5 poem drafts
+5 flash fiction drafts
+5 poetry revisions
+5 flash fiction revisions
For every stretch goal poem/flash fiction/revision I'll donate $5 instead of $3. But... getting to these stretch goals will be a real challenge for me. These days, I'm writing slow and rooted, instead of sprinting across the page. So, I'm going to hold my goals loosely, and focus on enjoying the process of creating.
You may be wondering why I'm including flash fiction in this challenge, even though I'm sharing the post on Poetry Friday. And really, it's because... 1) I'm tailoring the write-a-thon to what I want to work on, so why not? 2) It gives me an excuse to give a brief ramble on the intersection between flash fiction and poetry. Ramble incoming in 3... 2... 1...
Flash fiction (the way I write it anyhow) uses a lot of the same writing techniques as poetry. While writing flash fiction I still enjoy the cadence of words, have a twist/emotionally evocative punchy bit at the end, and employ all sorts of poetic devices to heighten/explore a central concept. My flash fiction is short even by flash fiction standards-- I frequently use only 300-400 words or so per story. In a lot of ways, my flash fiction baubles are similar to prose poems-- except they're not poems. They're stories with poetry hearts, and a ton of fun to write.
So... thanks for following along with me this month as I work on crafting words in support of We Need Diverse Books. The work WNDB does is incredible, and has pushed the children's publishing industry forward in so many wonderful ways. If you haven't looked lately, please take some time to explore their website-- especially this amazing Resource Page with all sorts of treasures to discover! And, happy writing!