I wrote a poem a day for (almost) a month and these are my takeaways.
Writing every day is like working out (from what I hear). Sometimes you feel like it, sometimes you don’t, but you’re always better off for having done it. A lot of my writing happened around midnight in part because that’s when the prompts became available and in part because I am a compulsive night owl. On the nights when I wrote I found I could not go to sleep until I had written my poem.
Chances are, you’re going to miss a day (or a few). That’s okay. Give yourself lots of grace, get rest when you need it, and maybe spend a few extra minutes on the next day. I still have a week’s worth of poems remaining and although I would have like to finish within the month of April, at the end of the process, I’ll still have 30 poems.
Don’t overthink it. You’re not going to hit a home run every day, and that is also okay. Simple is good and profound would not be profound if we experienced it regularly. Try your best, but don’t stress. I wrote a one-word poem with a five-word title and I love that poem. Sometimes a good poem is just a punchline.
All in all, the APAD Challenge was a lot of fun and reminded me that the practice of daily writing strengthens my creative mind. I’m contemplating how I’ll go about it next, and I am open to ideas.