What with that whole earth-spinning-on-its-axis and international-date-line thing, NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo comes earlier to some of us than others. In fact, by the time first day of April rolls around to NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo headquarters in Washington, DC, it’s already well into the day for many of our participants.

Normally, our daily posts, with a featured participant, optional prompt, and link to an interview with a poet will go live each day at midnight DC time. But for those of you who want to get a jump on things (either because it’s already April 1 where you are or, who knows, maybe you’re just a glutton for poetry!), here’s a special early-bird prompt: the haibun!

The haibun is a combination of prose poem and haiku. It was originally developed as a sort of travelogue or character sketch , in which the writer would first describe a place in prose, and then pen a haiku appropriate to the place or scene. You can find an explanation and example haibun here, and many more examples here.

For those of you getting a jump-start on April, happy writing! As for the rest of you, I’ll see you back here tomorrow with our first “official” prompt, featured participant and interview.

Hello, everyone! We have just two days to go until April, and the beginning of National Poetry Writing Month/Global Poetry Writing Month.

One surefire way to get inspired to write some poetry is to actually read some poetry! There are a few good daily-poetry websites out there, including Verse Daily, Poetry Daily, and Poem-A-Day. Sites like these are a great way to add a little poetry to your life, and to discover new poets and books.

Also, for those of you who will be posting your work to a personal website, we have some “blog buttons” that you can place on your site. These are totally optional – use them if you like them, ignore them if you don’t!

We’ll be back tomorrow with an early-bird prompt for those of you located in areas of the world where April 1 comes a few hours earlier than it does in Washington, DC, current home of NaPoWriMo.net.

In the meantime, if you’d like us to link to a website where you’ll be posting your work, you’ll need to submit the web address using the “Submit Your Site” feature above. And you can always follow our prompts and other posts on Facebook and on Twitter (@napowrimo2017).

Hello, all! Today is March 29th, which means we have just three days until the beginning of National Poetry Writing Month/Global Poetry Writing Month. I hope you are getting ready – whether that means buying a new notebook for your drafts, or just dusting off your keyboards.

One good way to learn about what’s going on in Poetry-Land is to check out poetry-related blogs. The Poetry Foundation keeps a good one here, which features long-form pieces from guest bloggers, interviews, and interesting poetry-related news. Or maybe you’d like your poetry information to be more audio-based? Then you should check out PennSound, which archives hundreds of readings and interviews. And if you’d prefer a truly multi-media approach, perhaps Moving Poems, focusing on videopoetry, is more your style!

We’ll be back tomorrow with some more resources to get you excited for April. Until then, please remember that if you’d like us to link to a website where you’ll be posting your work, you’ll need to submit the web address using the “Submit Your Site” feature above. And you can always follow our prompts and other posts on Facebook and on Twitter (@napowrimo2017).

Hello, everyone! It’s March 21, and that means we have just ten days left until April. We’re getting close to NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo now!

As you gear up for April, remember that NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo isn’t the only thing going on! April is National Poetry Month, and there are a lot of ways to celebrate. You can sign up to receive a poem each day by email from the Academy of American Poets, or plan to participate in their Poem in Your Pocket Day event on April 27th. If you happen to be in New York City, you can drop in to a National Poetry Month book exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library. You could check out poetry festivals in Miami, New Orleans, and Boston. Attend a poetry reading in your area! Can’t find one? Maybe you should organize one — find a local coffee shop or bar and put together an open mic.

Or maybe you could just write 30 poems (hee).

We’ll be back on the 29th for our three-day countdown to NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo, with more resources and an early-bird prompt. In the meantime, if you’d like us to link to a website where you’ll be posting your work, you can submit the web address using the “Submit Your Site” feature above. And you can always follow our prompts and other posts on Facebook and on Twitter (@napowrimo2017).

Hello, everyone! Is it March 15 already? We’ve got just over two weeks left until April 1 and the start of NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo.

To help you get in the mood for our upcoming month-long sprint of poetry writing, why not peruse Poetry International? The site contains a wealth of information on poets from all over the world. You can find many poems in both their original languages and in English translation, and can search by country, language, poet, or even poem. I’ve spent many pleasant hours hopping from one country to the next, one poet to the next, learning about global poetry movements, styles, and finding new favorite poets as well.

We’ll have some other poetry resources to share with you as March winds down, and we start gearing up for April in earnest. In the meantime, please remember that you can follow our prompts and other posts on Facebook and on Twitter (@napowrimo2017).

Hello, everyone! There’s a little more than three weeks left until NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2017 begins! I hope you are getting your pencils and, er, your keyboards, sharpened.

If you’ll be posting your poetry-writing efforts to a blog or other website this year, please go ahead and send us the URL through the “Submit Your Site” link above, so that we can link to it.

Throughout March, as we all prepare for our monthlong stint of poetry writing, we’ll be posting occasional links to resources to help get you in the mood. Today we invite you to check out the poetry and prose at that Center for the Art of Translation, where you will find English versions of work originally written in other languages.

It’s March 1, and you know what that means! There’s just one month to go until National Poetry Writing Month (or, for our international participants, Global Poetry Writing Month).

If it’s your first time here, welcome! The FAQ will give you the details, but in brief, this site provides encouragement, support, and community for people who want to try to write a poem a day for the month of April. Each day during April, we’ll post an (optional) prompt to help get your creative juices flowing! We’ll also feature a participant each day, provide a bonus poetry-related feature daily — this year, we’ll be linking to interviews with poets — and, if you’ll be posting your poems to a website of some kind, we’ll link to that website. Just use the “Submit Your Site” form.

If you’re an old hand at NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo, welcome back! Our site submission form is back up, and waiting for your links.

As we get closer to April 1, we’ll be checking in weekly (and in the last week, more like daily) with poetry-related links, updates, and general cheerleading. You can also follow our prompts and other posts on Facebook and on Twitter (@napowrimo2017).

In the meantime, if you have questions, comments, or ideas for prompts, please email us at napowrimonet-AT-gmail-com.