I wanted to call this NaPoWriMo 2025 – All go (but will we survive?), but apparently that sucks for SEO.
Ahem. This is to confirm that yes, The Poetry Class will once again be running an NZ NaPoWriMo site for people who want to torment themselves gradually devolve into lunacy challenge themselves poetically and join like-minded maniacs masochists poetry fans in attempting to write a poem every day for the month of April.
What is NaPoWriMo, I hear you ask? It is a (mostly online) writing challenge, to celebrate April being National Poetry Month in the USA. Every April, people from all over the world set themselves the challenge of writing a poem every day for thirty days. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll possibly froth at the mouth occasionally, but most of all, you will write. And learn that you can just power through. And that it’s ok to write rubbish.
There are loads of free sites online posting writing prompts – just google NaPoWriMo or GloPoWriMo – but for those of you who think that it’s worth paying me ten bucks for the privilege of joining a private site to share (or not) your attempts, joys, struggles, thoughts, and fantasies of vengeance against me for my twisty, shifty, tricksy exercises … jump on over to the Current Classes page, and sign yourself up.
What you will be getting:
- a new writing exercise every day for the month of April.
- A place to post your own efforts (if you want to – lurking is also fine).
- A place to read the efforts of your fellow NZNaPoWriMo-ers.
- A community to cheer you along.
- A safe space in which to push yourself.
What you won’t be getting:
- feedback from me. Well, mostly. I do sometimes comment on things, but for the most part I let y’all do the commenting. I’ll answer questions and offer clarifications when needed, but the point of this event is to push yourself to write every day. And to marvel at other people doing the same alongside you.
There’s no penalty for not managing a poem every day. Some times you can, sometimes you can’t. Life happens. Likewise, there is no requirement that you post publicly, or comment on things. Other than needing to post in the initial check-in (to make sure you are able to access things properly), it is absolutely fine if you decide you’d rather just write on your own, and not post or comment. Whatever works for you. Come and go as you please. You’ll still have access to everything.
Thirty days, thirty exercises, thirty attempts to mine for poetry. And who knows: maybe you’ll mine enough material that you’ll turn up some seams of pure poetic gold …
A Dark Feathered Art 