I have a Freewrite traveler. It *is* an expensive little toy that does not get near the use it should by me. The main reason is that my writing time is limited, and I have a definite goal in mind that I am pushing for: I can absolutely NOT handle the “run with the creative flow and edit later” that the Freewrite was designed for. The Freewrite to me is a perfect replacement for the pen and notebook I used to carry with me everywhere I went. I’m telling you, if I took off walking around town with no bag and no purse, you would still find Chapstick in my sock and a mini notebook and short pencil in the back pocket of my jeans. Yes, I am old enough to have existed without dragging around the old cellphone cuffs– and I am so thankful! The cell phone has smothered more creative possibilities than the world will ever know.
But this isn’t about cell phones or even my Freewrite; it’s about writing. I have a manuscript ready to edit (financially delayed), and everything I have read and studied about writing as I venture back into this area of my life tells me in no uncertain terms not to sit around and wait on the magic day I send the manuscript to the editor. The sudden death of an author shall ensue. Well, we can’t have that! After all, this is the first of a ten-book series. So I have been busy, busy, busy shaping, forming, drafting, and writing the second book. I finished January with over 20,000 words of the rough draft. I also have a full-time career that is highly demanding and can turn into significant overtime without warning. (Nursing through a pandemic, really? What was I thinking?) (Well, I might’ve read somewhere that a very tiny percentage of writers can pay the bills by using words.)
I said all that to say this: I review writing prompts in several locations (FaithWriters, Writer’s Digest, The Writer Magazine, and others), but usually when I sit down to write, I focus on book number 2. I don’t have the time or energy to develop characters and plots that won’t further my novel. So, unless a prompt just really takes hold of me, I have abstained. Until the folks that sold me my nifty Freewrite traveler sent me a little email about February being Haiku-a-day month courtesy of #NaHaiWriMo.
#NaNoWriMo was a hit at my house. I got a couple of chapters of Making Shipwreck completed, and my daughter wrote a short story. Those were wins beyond any win ever. Before I finished reading the email, my mind happily noted today was the first day of the challenge, and voila! A 5-7-5, 3-line nonrhyming poem was right there in front of me. (My writing began with poetry, usually poetry that rhymes, though I have ventured through many styles.)
Well, this pleased me so much. I couldn’t wait to share it. I went to various social media sites, posted my haiku, and used all the hashtags. Then I went to NaHaiWriMo’s website, where I found the logo proudly proclaiming NO 5-7-5 and an article to explain how English students have been taught the Japanese poem incorrectly for decades and an explanation of the correct way. I also found out there is an actual daily prompt to go with the official NaHaiWriMo challenge for February.
That’s all well and good.
I got excited about the email I received from Freewrite. I got excited about my little simple poem on writing that doesn’t have anything to do with the prompt given. And I got excited about challenging myself to venture out of my novel if only for a snippet of a poem each day. So, I mean no disrespect to the correct way to write a haiku or the people that work so hard to make a daily prompt– but I’m going with my initial idea of what the challenge was: A daily attempt to write a 5-7-5 poem. They may all be about writing, the month is still young. I may get too busy at work/church/home to write anything. And I may get so caught up in the next chapters of Making Shipwreck that I can’t stop for a 3 line reflection. Whatever happens, I will share my progress here and I will add all the fancy hashtags. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I do.
You can join me on this journey at on the NaHaiWriMo 2023 Forum.
#nahaiwrimo #nanowrimo2022 #GetFreewrite #AYoungGirlsSecret #debutnovel #AsLongAsTheresBreath
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