10 tips to prepare yourself for national poetry writing month

I don’t think I’ve ever written a listicle on Substack, but today’s the day, friends.

Last night I hosted an event called What Would I Even Write About? Getting Ready for Unfold (here’s the recording). I shared some tips I’ve gathered over the past decade-plus of participating in National Poetry Writing Month & other 30/30 challenges. As I prepped my outline, it became clear that I wouldn’t have enough time to go super in depth with any of those tips, so I’m sharing them in written form as well!

10 Tips to Prepare for #NaPoWriMo

1. Consider your mindset

There’s a reason this is first on the list. As someone who tried and failed at writing 30 poems in 30 days for years before finally figuring it out, I can tell you 90% of my eventual success came from changing my mindset. Ugh, I know. Annoying. Hang with me.

If you tell yourself you have to write perfect poems, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If you tell yourself you cannot miss a day of writing, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If you tell yourself there’s a way to fail at this month, you’re setting yourself up for failure :)

This month is about showing up to the blank page, to yourself, and to community. To try new things and fumble and laugh and probably also impress yourself a few times. To see what happens when you make space for writing consistently. To tell yourself it’s possible.

There is no wrong way to be a poet, and especially for the purposes of NaPoWriMo, there is no wrong way to write a poem. Every attempt is a poem. An unfinished draft counts as a poem. A haiku is a poem. An outline you later return to counts. A blackout poem? Yep, that’s a poem too. Every attempt is a poem. Repeat it to yourself until you believe it.

I recommend approaching this challenge with curiosity and an experimental mindset. Give it a try without heavy expectations for yourself. Find out what emerges when you try. Adjust as you go. Remember why you started in the first place.

“Success” is going to look different for each of us, and I want you to take the time to consider what it means to you—in the context you find yourself in, with the time and motivation you have, knowing what you know about your life. Is it writing every day? Surpassing 30 poems? Making a new friend? Writing something you’re proud of? Attending workshops every week? Writing a poem each week?

Also, you know yourself better than you probably give yourself credit for. What are the things that get in the way of you writing regularly and confidently? Make a list of those things. Sometimes just getting them down on paper makes them a little less scary. It’ll help you catch yourself in the traps you accidentally set for yourself. Make a game plan now about how you’ll navigate those challenges when they pop up.

Try this: Answer the questions above and consider watching the recording of the entire event I hosted on exactly this topic a couple weeks back!

2. Lean into community

Community and accountability are the two pillars of Unfold, and they have equal weight. We care about writing and showing up, sure, but we also care about each other. Whether you join Unfold or not, give yourself a chance to lean into poetry community. There are dozens of workshops online, your community might host an open mic or poetry slam, and you could maybe make a friend by lingering in the poetry aisle of the library and asking anyone who comes near what they’re doing with their one wild and precious life. Your mileage may vary with that last one. My point is: There are people out there who care about the same things you do, and if you haven’t found them yet, they’re waiting for you.

Post your drafts on social media or a blog. Text them to your best friend. Find an accountabilibuddy to cowork with or just check in with each day. If you’re an Unfold member, let yourself be known! Hang out in the group chat, share your drafts in our Google classroom or on Instagram, and cheer each other on as we all attempt this wild, wild challenge. The more you show up, the more you’ll feel part of something. Bonus: The built in structure of Unfold makes it hard not to write a poem sometimes. Show up and let the magic carry you to a draft.

Try this: Commit to sharing your drafts somehow with someone throughout the month. Whether it’s through a text, reading them out loud, or something more formal, knowing that someone is waiting to read and love on your poems can be a huge motivator.

3. Pace yourself

National Poetry Writing Month is a marathon, not a sprint. It is easy easy EASY to burn yourself out right away. In Unfold, our collective goal is to get to 30 poems each by the end of the month—not necessarily to write every day.

If you’re someone who does well with routine and you know you can sit down at the same time every day to write, amazing. Do that. I love that for you. If that’s not realistic for your life, though, don’t worry! There are a million ways to do this. It’s absolutely okay to miss a day when you’re not feeling it or something comes up. You will also have days in which the poems are flowing and you write more than once—I promise. Rest is just as productive as sitting down and writing, so please commit to taking care of yourself.

Read poems when you’re stuck. Give yourself a break or day off. Read other things. Engage with other forms of creativity. Move your body. Find ways to take the pressure off. If you can’t come to a day of Unfold, you can still write to the daily prompt/theme!

Try this: Get out your calendar and map out where you have free time throughout the month. That might look like putting all the Unfold workshop times in your calendar. It might look like finding 30 minute windows here and there when you can sneak away. It might look like intentionally scheduling creative time now before other things pull at your attention—because they can and will.

4. Quantity over quality

I’m going to say something that may feel backwards. For National Poetry Writing Month, we care about quantity over quality. It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but it’s intentional. We are human beings with limited capacity, and April is not a time for editing. Your editing brain and your creative brain are entirely different energies and I don’t know about you, but I exhaust myself trying to switch between them. You can’t stay in both head spaces at the same time, so pick the creative energy for now—editing can have its time when you’re ready for it.

Attempting to write a poem equals success, period. No one said this has to be painful. You don’t need to reach for a long poem or a form poem or a perfect poem if they’re not coming easily to you. You know when you’ve made a real attempt, and it always counts.

Is there a particular kind of poem that you find easier or more fun to write? Cool! Keep that in your back pocket and pull it out when you’re lacking the energy or ideas to fully try something new. Personally, when I’m having a hard time writing, I find it helpful to try making a blackout poem or writing a cento. Something about working with what I’ve got (vs. conjuring a poem out of thin air) makes it feel low stakes and that helps me get it done.

Try this: Find a way to visually track the number of poems you’ve written. Let yourself see your progress as it builds. If you’re an Unfold member, you’ll be getting a handy poem tracker in the mail soon. We also collectively count the number of poems our Unfold community writes in April, so this will help when I ask you to send in your numbers each week :)

5. Let yourself play

This is supposed to be fun! Why else would you do something as bonkers as writing 30 poems in 30 days? No one would choose that kind of torture without a good reason.

Try writing in a new form or a new location. Try writing something silly. Give yourself a day (or month!) off from heavy if you tend to gravitate toward harder subjects.

In Unfold, week 3 is always Weird Week (best week of the month). By the time we’re halfway through April, many of us are getting tired and maybe falling behind. I’ve learned that it’s not the time to throw a super complicated workshop at people. Instead, I encourage everyone to write the weirdest poem they have in them. That week always includes dream poems, found poems, and lots of other topics that encourage (and sometimes even NEED!) you to let loose a little.

Back for another year, we will be playing NaPoWriMo Bingo in Unfold! In your welcome package, you’ll also receive a bingo board. It includes challenges like “write a duplex,” “write in public,” "or “use the word ‘unfold’ in a poem.” Participants had a blast with bingo last year. It’s a fun way to challenge yourself to try new things and feel a sense of progress (and maybe even to start a playful competition with your friends).

Try this: Play Unfold Bingo! Use your bingo board when you’re feeling stuck or want to try something new.

6. Give yourself small wins

If you wait to feel like you’ve accomplished something until you hit 30 poems, you’re going to be waiting for a while. Why not celebrate some of the small achievements along the way? Sometimes that little burst of energy is just what we need to keep going.

Maybe it’ll feel really good when you get to 10 poem, if you go a week without missing a workshop, when you write your first long or short poem, when you get a bingo, or something else. Whatever you can think of to motivate you—go for it! Here’s the tough part though: you actually have to celebrate them. Maybe it looks like buying yourself a new book or going on a cool hike or informing the Instagram world of your progress.

Whatever feels good is worth doing. Tell your people (and other Unfolders!) what you’re doing and let them celebrate you. In the grand scheme of things, there are very few active writers in the world, even fewer poets, and WAY fewer who write this prolifically. Believe and feel that you’re doing something monumental.

Try this: List 3 small wins you anticipate happening in April. Pick a friend to share them with and ask them to celebrate with you when you cross them off your list.

7. Write the same poem over & over again

Raise your hand if you feel embarrassed about how often you return to the same couple topics in your writing.

🙋🏼‍♀️

I TA for Sierra DeMulder’s poetry workshop, Turn the Crystal. It’s a workshop that helps you write a themed collection. I won’t spoil all of the class because you should absolutely join us for the next session in June, but I will say this: The metaphor is that if you hold a crystal up, the light looks a little different each time you turn it. Same goes for poems.

I have written 126 poems about losing my grandpa to ALS. And honestly, I might be missing a few in that count. It’s a topic I can’t set down, no matter how many times I tell the same stories. I’m still not sure what I’m trying to say, but it feels important to say it, so I keep writing.

I want to read all 126 versions of the poem that you can’t let go of. Each time you write it, it’s a little bit different, even if you’re coming at the topic from the same angle. There are infinite entry points into the same topic and there is no shame in sticking to a topic. It’s probably what you’re supposed to be writing.

Try this: What are 3 topics you return to often in your writing? Pick one and make yourself a mind map. Maybe you’ve already written the straightforward poems, but if your topic is grief, this might help you write a poem about seeing a shadow that moves like the person you lost. The further out you let your map go, the more ideas you’ll have.

8. Maximize what’s already present

A truth: You have an important voice and things to say. Every one of you. There is someone out there who needs to hear your writing. There is a topic you know more about than others. There is a specific lived experience that you can speak to. Take some time to inventory those facts about yourself—they might reveal some invitations into writing.

If you’re reading this, you likely have some relationship to writing, even if it’s new or inconsistent. You might not even realize it, but you’re already doing something that works. What is that in your life? Do you journal after every tarot reading? Do you have a billion lines saved (and then forgotten) in your notes app? Do you write in writing workshops? Whatever it is, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel! Build on what’s already working instead. Maybe that looks like using your daily tarot card as a 10 minute writing prompt after you finish journaling. Give it a try.

Try this: Make a list of writing things that you’re already finding success with & build on them!

9. Bank your resources

Every poetry teacher has a different name for it: compost pile, good line graveyard, the 100, sandbox, fragments, etc. Whatever you decide to call it, it can be really helpful to keep an ongoing list of tiny inspirations. Maybe it’s single lines of poetry that you haven’t been able to fit into a poem yet. Maybe it’s a question that inspired you. A memory. A color. A photo. A word you’d like to use in a poem. A song that makes you feel something. A dream recap. All of those can lead you into a new poem, and it’s so easy to lose track of them if we’re not intentional. Start now! Even if you only use it for April, see what can happen if you track your ideas on a single document somewhere.

Mine the rest of your life for nuggets that could turn into poems and add them to your list. Flip through old journals, photo albums, all those screenshots you saved then never looked at again. Sorry if I just called you out.

Try this: Create a document to hold all of your poem ideas, single lines, interesting words, etc. & use it when you’re stuck. Give the document a fun name (come on, you’re a poet—you can do this).

10. Find inspiration everywhere

It’s not super sustainable to depend on feeling inspired if you want to write consistently, BUT. I will say: inspiration can make the writing feel like magic when it visits you. That can come from anywhere and your answer will likely be different from a friend’s. When you’re feeling uninspired, prescribe yourself a visit with some go-to inspiration sources.

Read poems. Read other things. Listen to music. Try a different art form. Bake something. Move your body. Whatever the thing is for you, do it! You have a hefty task ahead of you, but your month won’t only be writing 30 poems. Make space for the activities that light you up, even if you have to do it in service of your writing as an excuse.

Some of the coolest poems from last year’s Unfold cohort were about extremely niche hobbies some poets were excited about.

Try this: Make an April mood board: 10 things (songs, poems, poets, activities, videos, whatever) that inspire you. Revisit it when you’re feeling blah.

Wheeeeew, that turned into a long list! I’d love to know what other advice you have for new 30/30 participants. Drop a comment below! (also, please register for Unfold)