It was brilliant finding your group. I was fairly new to Substack and finding my voice again. Yep, I set a number, at first it was 50, having had a dry patch for so long, I’m now aiming for 100. I’m loving the prompts that challenge me. I also did the Beth Kempton #tinywinterpoems challenge thing. I’ve not finished them yet. I now have 40 poems written. Most of the tiny winter poems need revision as the task was 10 mins no revision and boy I’ve written some really, really awful ones that belong in the bin. I had a great week last week at wrote 4, this week so far inspiration has only worked for revision. But like you say that doesn’t matter.
No numerical goal for me but the sheer pleasure of finding poetry again! So far I am writing one a week purely because of this community and the prompts. It’s magic. Thank you Nelly and everyone xx
This was so interesting to read, Nelly ❤️ I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve loved the Poetry Pals community and I’ve been reading and writing more poetry as a direct result of it!
I set myself the target of 100, and I’m up to 35 poems so far - though lots of them are very rough snippets, certainly not completed poems! But I’m still super happy with that, it’s considerably more than I’d written last year in the first few months of the year 😍 and for me it’s all about the process rather than the finished number, and the process has been absolutely lush. Very grateful for this space ❤️❤️
I don’t know how many I write as I’m so chaotic in how I write. I may see if I can work it out roughly.
I did the daily challenge by letsescapril on instagram last year and I may try again this year although instagram has changed how you find Pepe through hashtags it may be harder to find other people doing it as it will tak me to the most popular posts instead of most recent
I find it inspiring how you balance setting a goal & being gentle with yourself. This is something I struggle with so much! In the past I've set goals then been overly-rigid in achieving them. So recently I haven't been setting any goals, but then I worry I'm missing out on my potential. You do such a beautiful job balancing the pull toward achievement and self-compassion...thank you for sharing.
I didn't set a number (maybe I didn't dare) - my number of finished poems in the whole wide world is eye-waveringly small. But I loved the photo of your journal page with the titles, and I REALLY loved the progress symbols - I have so many random lines floating around that this inspires me to keep them all together somewhere, and start working some of them up. And maybe I'll see fit to dare to set a number....
I'm new to the community and so glad to be here. As it happens, I set myself the task at the beginning of the year of writing a couplet everyday. I've turned some of those into short poems and a few haikus and then a couple of times the act of being tuned into writing led to a poem unconnected to the couplets. So I'm aiming for a couplet a day (366 couplets since it's leap year) and a poem or so a week, so at least 52 poems.
Thanks for the inspiration Nelly, I really want to get back to writing regularly but make so many excuses. I wrote a poem a day a while back for about a month and it was tough, this might be an "easier" challenge... Thanks for your wisdom!!
Yeah, there's a lot of dubious 'poems' from that time!!! Ha!! I have used prompts and have found them helpful to get started when I can't think of a subject to write on, but I often feel that they are more first drafts than anything good... x
It was brilliant finding your group. I was fairly new to Substack and finding my voice again. Yep, I set a number, at first it was 50, having had a dry patch for so long, I’m now aiming for 100. I’m loving the prompts that challenge me. I also did the Beth Kempton #tinywinterpoems challenge thing. I’ve not finished them yet. I now have 40 poems written. Most of the tiny winter poems need revision as the task was 10 mins no revision and boy I’ve written some really, really awful ones that belong in the bin. I had a great week last week at wrote 4, this week so far inspiration has only worked for revision. But like you say that doesn’t matter.
The number doesn’t matter but I’m secretly clapping your 40 (amazing) and loudly clapping that you’ve rediscovered your voice x
No numerical goal for me but the sheer pleasure of finding poetry again! So far I am writing one a week purely because of this community and the prompts. It’s magic. Thank you Nelly and everyone xx
52 odd poems on the cards. And we get to read so many of them too 🥰
Ha yes that's true, and they may well be odd too (although I know that's not what you meant 😆)
This was so interesting to read, Nelly ❤️ I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’ve loved the Poetry Pals community and I’ve been reading and writing more poetry as a direct result of it!
I set myself the target of 100, and I’m up to 35 poems so far - though lots of them are very rough snippets, certainly not completed poems! But I’m still super happy with that, it’s considerably more than I’d written last year in the first few months of the year 😍 and for me it’s all about the process rather than the finished number, and the process has been absolutely lush. Very grateful for this space ❤️❤️
35 is awesome 👏. Just being in the game seems to help them to materialise doesn’t it!
I don’t know how many I write as I’m so chaotic in how I write. I may see if I can work it out roughly.
I did the daily challenge by letsescapril on instagram last year and I may try again this year although instagram has changed how you find Pepe through hashtags it may be harder to find other people doing it as it will tak me to the most popular posts instead of most recent
I find it inspiring how you balance setting a goal & being gentle with yourself. This is something I struggle with so much! In the past I've set goals then been overly-rigid in achieving them. So recently I haven't been setting any goals, but then I worry I'm missing out on my potential. You do such a beautiful job balancing the pull toward achievement and self-compassion...thank you for sharing.
I didn't set a number (maybe I didn't dare) - my number of finished poems in the whole wide world is eye-waveringly small. But I loved the photo of your journal page with the titles, and I REALLY loved the progress symbols - I have so many random lines floating around that this inspires me to keep them all together somewhere, and start working some of them up. And maybe I'll see fit to dare to set a number....
I can highly recommend the journaling bit. Yes! A way to remember all those snippets and drafts of poems.
You’ve made me think I might start a log of all my one lines/words/tiny noticings too. They are all over the place right now.
The number isn’t really the thing. But it is a tiny bit satisfying if you do dare… x
I'm new to the community and so glad to be here. As it happens, I set myself the task at the beginning of the year of writing a couplet everyday. I've turned some of those into short poems and a few haikus and then a couple of times the act of being tuned into writing led to a poem unconnected to the couplets. So I'm aiming for a couplet a day (366 couplets since it's leap year) and a poem or so a week, so at least 52 poems.
That’s great going! A couplet everyday is a really nice idea. A non pressurised way to stay connected to your writing practise I imagine x
Thanks for the inspiration Nelly, I really want to get back to writing regularly but make so many excuses. I wrote a poem a day a while back for about a month and it was tough, this might be an "easier" challenge... Thanks for your wisdom!!
Ooh yeah a poem a day is quite the challenge. I’d def be calling some of my, erm, notes ‘poems’ in that instance 🤣. Did you use prompts? X
Yeah, there's a lot of dubious 'poems' from that time!!! Ha!! I have used prompts and have found them helpful to get started when I can't think of a subject to write on, but I often feel that they are more first drafts than anything good... x