Year One

It’s officially been one year since I began this blog. The anniversary snuck up on me, which is why this post is coming two days later instead of on the day itself. 

My objective in creating this blog was to further my writing practice and improve by setting aside time every day to create one original work of poetry. I set the following rules for myself:

1. I was not allowed to use a poem, or part of a poem, I had previously written. It all had to be newly composed in the same day and posted before midnight.

2. Once the poem was posted, I was not allowed to change it or add to it except to correct errors of spelling, grammar, or the most basic formatting (font size and type) for ease of readability. This was to keep myself from obsessing, and to not be overly precious with each individual poem.

3. I was not allowed to take a day off from writing unless there were extenuating circumstances.

There were a few times when I missed a day over the year (maybe 4 or 5), but I always made up for it by publishing an extra poem or two. By the end of the year there were 400 posts, with well over 365 of them being poems.

So What Now?

I haven’t been writing for anyone but myself. Posting the poems to this blog was just a way to keep myself honest. And honestly, I don’t have very many readers. For those of you who’ve stuck around, I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read, and that you will keep coming back. You have my deep and heartfelt thanks.

Starting August 27th, I’m going to continue writing and posting a poem a day. The same rules I set for myself at the outset will still apply. There are days I don’t want to write, and the resulting poems sometimes suffer for it, but it’s always ultimately worthwhile for what I learn in the writing.

In addition to a poem a day, for at least the next year, I am also going to post a weekly writing project. The work will be something I develop over the course of each week in addition to my daily poems, that I then publish every Saturday. It might be a poem, but it will more likely be a work of short fiction or an essay. The goal is to create a weekly series of 52 short-term projects that are generally more thoughtful and artful than the daily posts. I will post the first of these on Saturday, August 27th.

So, here's to another year of creative experimentation! I’ll let you know if additional creative projects develop.

Thanks again to my dedicated readers. This is part of my daily writing practice, but it means so much to me that you read and share. I hope my writing enriches your day even if only a little.

Be good to each other.

MS