April is done... and so am I!

April has come to a close... with a new layer of snow on the ground again.  Sigh. 

If you've been following me this month, which I'm sure you have because you're reading this right now, then you'll know that I signed on to write a poem a day for the entire month.  And today's poem, poem number 30 (actually 32 because I threw in two bonus poems) is for you!  Enjoy!

But I also signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo - a scaled down version of my beloved November National Novel Writing Month.  It was a set your own goal kind of a challenge, so I kept my sights small.  I set a goal of 500 words a day.  And I met that challenge, too!  I added almost 20K to my novel.

Which leads me to my biggest brag.... I started the novel in 2007 when I was on maternity leave with Connor.  I added bits here and there over the past five years, sometimes in spurts, sometimes in dribbles.  (Hmm... spurts and dribbles is a good way to describe this stage in my life, with four children life is anything but dry... but I digress).  Anyway, when April challenged me to sign up for this Camp NaNoWriMo, I decided that my goal would be to revise and finish my novel.  And guess what?  Last night I typed "The End".

I finished it!  I finished my novel!  Holy crap!  I never finish anything, I just flit from one hobby to the next until I get restless and start something new (I think I might have written a poem about that).   But this one, despite having taken me five years, I actually saw through to "The End!" And I don't think it sucks!  It took me all month but I revised, tweaked, and completed chapters and filled in most of the missing plot holes.  It's big... over 100,000 words and over 400 pages long.

Next step, share with a few people, get feedback on plot holes, dropped plot lines, confusing bits.... and then revise.  Phew, I'm tired just thinking about it!  :)

Anyway, I'm blathering on.  Here's the poem.  Enjoy!  I'm shutting off the computer for the rest of the day and taking a break from writing.

Time to dust off my scrapbook table and switch modes for a while! :)

Laura 

# 30 – To My Handful of Blog Followers

The challenge to write thirty poems,

Seemed like an arbitrary one,
But I learned a lot of new techniques,
In this poetry 101!

I tried my hand at sonnets,

Free-verse, tankas, and pantoums,
I threw in a couple ballads,
But skipped those pesky short haikus.

Turns out I like my poems to rhyme,

I like consistent metre too,
Some took me quite a bit of time,
Others, I whipped off in a few,

Minutes, that is. While my baby naps,

Or after she's in bed at night,
Or while I'm feeding her; turns out
There's lots of stolen time to write.

Some poems were silly, some were sweet,

Some just bad, I'm sure that you agree,
But I hope that I amused you,
While I blogged my poetry,

National Poetry Writing Month,

A challenge to write creatively,
No prize except the awakening,
Of a long dormant part of me!

If you liked reading all my poems,

Then please check in again back here,
I might post a few more, once in a while,
And I'm signing up again next year!

• Laura Freeman -
  April 30, 2013