NaPoWriMo: Day 1 - Poem of Negation

Today is the first official day of NaPoWriMo: hooray! Today the prompt from NaPoWriMo.net is an intriguing one: write a poem of negation - a poem that describes something by saying what it's not. I think I am going to describe a piece of much-awaited mail I received yesterday...



I go to my mailbox, unlock it, reach in
The mailbox isn't empty;
I pull out two pieces of mail,
This one isn't anything noteworthy; I don't keep it.
But this one isn't junk...
It isn't the large envelope I had hoped for.
So it doesn't look like good news.
The flap isn't folded properly,
As though something didn't fit quite right inside.
And the envelope isn't sealed in the typical way either.
The tape doesn't want to come up,
But I don't want to tear the envelope open;
I don't leave it sealed.
Not quite what I expected,
There isn't one thing inside the envelope
(But two).
One of the items isn't a letter.
I don't really read it
(But just skim to get the gist),
It isn't hand written.
I haven't been rejected
But I can't get any assistantships or scholarships.
This isn't good news,
But it isn't bad news either.
This isn't a question
(but it brings a big one up!)
I wasn't excited when I saw it in my mailbox.
I wasn't relieved when I read it.
I wasn't excited after reading it either,
(but people expected me to be).
I don't know what to do,
But I can't do nothing.

Now I exist in that gray space
Between eager anticipation and disappointment.
The dream seems just a little beyond my reach.
I know that I should be happy that I wasn't rejected,
But I'm not.
This answer only caused more questions.
And now I return to the place of uncertainty.
Though I am no longer waiting,
I don't know what do,
But at the same time, I can't do nothing.

And on top of that, there's more mail coming.



This was an interesting challenge, that I did enjoy. I don't often think in terms of the negative when trying to describe something. It's kind of like if you were trying to describe a photograph from its negative (do people even know what that kind of negative is anymore?) I think it was a good thinking exercise; I kept having to ask myself: "how do I say this, without saying that?". Not a perfect attempt from me, but I am content with the results. Perhaps I could even describe the whole experience with more negatives....What do you think? Add more or is it good as is?

Give it a try!

Sharon

NaPoWriMo 2015!

Call me nerdy, but when NaPoWriMo tweeted that they would be having countdown posts for the next 7 days leading up to April and the beginning of NaPoWriMo, I got pretty excited.

I do plan to ATTEMPT to write a poem every day in April, hopefully from NaPoWriMo's daily prompts (sometimes I have trouble getting inspired to write poetry, but I really do enjoy it).

So this post is meant to :

A) Inform you that I'll be posting a whole lot more now (at least once daily! [fingers crossed])
B) Encourage you to look into NaPoWriMo (and maybe even participate!)
C) To affirm that I am participating if any fellow NaPoWriMo-ers should happen to stop by before I post a poem (on account of my never having posted a poem here before)

There are three reasons that I'm excited about NaPoWriMo:

1) Ever since I discovered NaPoWriMo (I'm honestly not sure when that was, at least four years ago, I think?), I've attempted to write a poem inspired by the daily prompt, but as yet, I have not managed to stick it out through the entirety of April, but I'm really hoping that this year will be different since I'll be posting the poems on my blog instead of keeping them in a personal journal (even though that is my favorite way to write poems - there's something special about pen on paper, you know?).

2) It is a challenge: can you write a poem every day for 30 days? Yes? Prove it. "Don't believe me; just watch."

3) A lot of people claim they have no regrets, but you know what I do have regrets; I'm not perfect and I make mistakes and recently, I have realized just how much I wish I was a writing minor. I really miss creative writing and writing prompts and positive feedback on my writing and all the things that go with non-technical writing. As a biology major, I do a lot of writing (believe it or not), but it is always technical; I do enjoy it, but I just really want to be creative. Writing used to be my outlet and I have somewhat gotten back to that with this blog and with my journal (which I'm not keeping daily, but I always have with me to jot down quick ideas and whatnot), but I still feel a little bit of a creative void and I'm hoping that NaPoWriMo will help with it.

You might be wondering why I don't add a writing minor and the answer is simple, I'm graduating this May (everyone keeps counting down and I just wish they'd stop; I have too much to do before graduation and I currently have no clue what I'm doing after graduation [other than being in my childhood best friend's wedding! - but that's not what I mean...])

Finally, I hope you'll consider this post an invitation. I hope you'll consider taking this challenge with me, whether it's through following my blog (and calling me out if I haven't posted a poem that day!) or actually writing poems every day through April (whether pen and paper or blog form).

Will you be participating in NaPoWriMo? Do you wanna help keep me accountable? Are you going to follow my poetry posts or actually writing your own poems? Let me know; I'd love to hear from you!

In the meantime, I'm on pins and needles til NaPoWriMo posts the first prompt!

Eagerly,

Sharon

Journaling

When I was in high school, I used to journal a lot.

I had this spiral notebook that I always carried with me. It had a purple cover.

I wrote my thoughts and my feelings and things that happened in it.

I rarely let anyone read it.

And if I let you read it, well that meant that you mattered a whole lot to me and I trusted you a whole lot.

It had helped me to process, to cope, to remember.

But at some point, I stopped journaling.

I'm not sure why.

So the other day I bought a little tiny pink-ish leatherbound (I think it is leather) notebook.

I plan to start journaling again, but the weird thing is I don't know where to start.

I guess I'll just carry it around until the mood strikes me or I think something that seems profound or whatever.

Am I the only one who sees a blank page and has mixed feelings?

It's like I want to write, but I'm worried that it won't be inspired enough. Like I'm worried that later I won't think it's good enough. But that isn't the purpose of journaling...

Do you journal? What do you write about? How do you start a new journal?

xoxo,

Sharon