This past Sunday, I risked sappiness when I wrote a poem for O to meet my NaPoWriMo challenge. I could not believe I was going to write a poem about O, yet I decided to write it anyway. I was tired after a long day and wanted to go to bed. Not having a poem written for the daily NaPoWriMo prevented me from falling asleep.

I kept telling myself how no one would see it. What surprised me is that a few lines are decent. Perhaps I could turn it into something I like. No matter what, I bet O will like it. Not when she’s a teenager, of course, but when she’s older and I’m dead.

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The reason I could not believe I’d write a poem about O is that I thought poems about parenthood were tired. To be quite honest, it’s rare I find a childbirth poem or parenthood poem I like. I’m willing to admit that I may not have read enough of them. If you have suggestions to change my mind, please post them in the comments.

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The Lessons of NaPoWriMo

I learned that writing this much and often is mentally exhausting. After I’ve worked and spent time thinking about what to write, how to craft it, and then actually written it (and done that 14 times in 11 days) I want to veg out.

I learned that I can write poems in my head and then sometimes even remember them to write down later.

I learned that it works well for me to have a subject in mind as opposed to writing a steam of consciousness.

The first time I ever participated in a “WriMo” was National Novel Writing Month. One writes 50,000 words in 30 days, which comes out to 1,666 words per day. That experience taught me that I can make time for writing despite my full-time job as both search engine marketer and parent AND my part-time job as a publisher and editor.