Quantity first, then Quality

Well, my Personal Poetry Month has ended. I gave myself the task of writing a new poem every day in April, and it is now May.

I didn't manage a new poem every day as such, but on some days I managed more than one poem, so the overall total is more than thirty poems, so I am very pleased with myself. I definitely managed to get the quantity done.

But what of the quality? Well, I wasn't aiming to get thirty fully polished and publishable poems every day. I was just trying to up my written matter to work on. The hard work starts now, I suppose.

But I've had a bit of a look at what I have written in April, and I am surprised at the quality of some of the poems there in my notebook, and on my computer. Some of the poems have had a little going over to sharpen them up, some of them came out already sharp, and some of them need lots of work if they are ever going to be anything.

But overall, I can recommend this method to anyone who is able to devote half an hour every day to pen a poem. Even if, or maybe especially if, you only write poetry every now and then, give it a try. Worst case scenario? You have thirty poems you don't like much. But I think doing this exercise can bring you closer to your poetry, and focus you more on the idea of working on your writing.

If you seriously care about improving your poetry, getting this many poems to work on is a huge help. With thirty poems, you don't feel so protective of them and you become more at ease with editing properly.

Give it a try, you'll be pleased you did!