All About 30 Poems in 30 Days

August 31, 2008 by J.C. Hewitt · 2 Comments

30 Poems in 30 Days

30 Poems in 30 Days is an Internet writing project. It is an attempt by myself, and anyone who wants to play along, to write thirty poems in a month. As part of the project, I will be posting an article about poetry every day. At the end of the article there will be a poetry writing prompt. The prompt is there to help. There is no requirement that you follow the prompt. I may not even follow it myself. The goal is simply to write poetry. This project is similar in some ways to National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO). In fact, this year I have adopted a clever acronym – PD30 (pee-dee-three-oh).

How does PD30 work?

Every day in September I (or a guest writer) will post a short article about a poetic concept, a poem, a poetry form, the poetry world or a poet / group of poets. I will follow that with a poetry writing prompt. The prompt may be related to the subject of the article, but it may not be. As a participant, I would like you to either post a poem or at least post a note saying that you wrote a poem and perhaps include a line or two from the poem. It is also nice to comment on the poems that other participants have written. Additionally, because some writers do not want to post their poems publicly (for a variety of reasons) but still want to participate, I have created a private workshop. To get an idea of how this works, you may want to look as last year’s project.

Do I have to write a poem every day?

No. The goal is 30 Poems in 30 Days. Some people write in batches, other people write every day. As the moderator, I prefer daily postings because it keeps the conversation moving, but I understand that different people have different styles of working.

Do I have to do them all in September?

No. Once the posts are up, they’ll be there for the foreseeable future. You can start and end at any time. Do not expect, however, to have very much feedback after September because most people will have moved on.

I really, really, want feedback. I need to know if I’m any good. Will I get lots of feedback?

First, stop worrying about how good you are and just try to enjoy the assignments. Second, like any group project, the way the project develops depends on the group. If there are people who love to comment, that will be very helpful. I can’t guarantee feedback though, and I can tell you that begging for feedback rarely helps. It tends to annoy people.

How can I access the private workshop?

You can use my contact form to send me a note asking to take part in the PD30 private forum. I will then send you further instructions.

Is the private workshop better than the public posting?

I really have no idea. It is a new experiment this year. It may turn out to be where all the action is or it may be as dead as the careers of VH1 reality show participants. A forum is really only as good as the people who participate in it. There are a few tools in the forum that are nicer than comment tools. There is also less risk of your poem getting caught in the spam filter. Participation is really what will make the difference though.