Tuesday, March 29, 2022

the cusp of april


I've been going back and forth over whether or not to attempt NAPOWRIMO.  On one hand, I've just finished up unreal city and it would be a great time to embark on a new short series or zine.  On the other hand, I've been writing a bit more fiction of various sorts and am eager to keep doing that.  There may be room for both, but I may just be overly optimistic on my writing energies in any given day--especially now that I spend more time writing generally for paid purposes. I do have a tiny kernel of a project rattling around in my head that might be perfect.  I don't think it will take a whole month, but I have found my most successful, productive Aprils, even if I bottom out and don't finish with 30, have been the ones where I switch up projects a couple times through the month--either new things or continue working on something already in progress.  Last year, the yields were the Walter Potter poems and the beginnings of the bird artist.  The year before, though covid and lockdown stalled me out, I finally got around to The Shining-inspired poems, which I was able to finish later that summer. 2019 and 2018, the only year I actually finished completely, were similarly productive in terms of smaller series like licorice, laudanum and the poets zodiac.

The thing I have going for me this year is that not being at the library means there is no April crunch in terms of programming (April and October always being particular beasts.) Outside of what I've been working on in general the past two months, there won't be any huge change in workload on the horizon that makes poeming difficult and my head muddy. I will be releasing animal, vegetable, monster, so there will be promo work for that, and new chaps, and some other, new shop offerings.  It's my birthday month, and spring will be here, despite the temps today.  It always leaves me in a better, more productive mindset. 

If I do participate in the daily poeming, I will probably just post them here, or maybe bits on instagram, which seems a far livelier place than facebook these days, so watch this space...