FAQ
How do I participate in NaPoWriMo?
Easy! Just write a poem a day for the month of April. You can post them on the internet. You can hide them in a notebook. You can make up a special book just for yourself out of them. Really, all you need to do is write a poem a day for the month of April.
If you choose to post your work on the internet, you can submit your website for inclusion in our online roster of participants. See the “Submit Your Site” link above.
Can I participate in NaPoWriMo if I don’t have a website?
Sure! Nothing about writing 30 poems requires you to have a website. However, for purposes of the NaPoWriMo.net website, we are unable to list participants that do not have websites. The focus of this site is on providing interested people with links to websites where they can read NaPoWriMoers’ efforts.
I would like to participate, and to post my work online, but don’t have a website. Can you help me?
If you don’t have a website, and would like one, sites like Tumblr, Blogger, Weebly, and WordPress offer free blog services with easy-to-use templates. You can go from nothing to having your own blog (and posting your poems) in ten minutes or less. You can also post your poems elsewhere — to your Facebook page, for example!
Should I resubmit my website each day, linking specifically to each day’s poem?
No, that’s not necessary. The participant’s list is meant to be just that — a list of the participants, and not a list of all the poems written. You just need to submit the URL for your main site once. However, if you’d like to share your daily work with others, there are some great ways to do that! For example, you can share day-specific links in the comments to each day’s post on the NaPoWriMo homepage. You could also post your individual poems on Facebook, link to them via twitter, etc!
Can I organize a NaPoWriMo group at my local library, school, etc.? How do I do that?
There is no licensing process or fee for NaPoWriMo. If you want to organize a group to participate, that’s great! If you set up a website for your group, you can submit it to be listed on this site.
Are there prizes or money available for doing this?
Anyone who participates in NaPoWriMo is eligible for the prize of having written 30 new poems. There is also the awesome feeling of a job well done! But as for $$$, not so much.
I know someone who is posting poems for NaPoWriMo on his or her website, but you don’t have the site listed. Why not?
Probably because they haven’t submitted it. Anyone who wants to submit their site may, but we do not go out looking for people who might be writing a poem a day for April, and listing their sites in the absence of a submission. Individual NaPoWriMoers may not want their sites listed, or perhaps they just don’t know about this site. Go ahead and let them know, and they can decide whether they want their site included here.
Do I have to use your prompts?
Nope! The prompts we post each day are totally optional. Use ’em if you like ’em; ignore ’em if you don’t.
There are other websites that organize similar projects for writing poetry in April. Are you affiliated?
No, but neither are we in competition with one another. We’re happy to see so many iterations of this kind of project, bringing poetry to so many. And you are totally welcome to participate in as many of these different projects as you like! If you’re following the prompts from a different website or organization, you can still submit your site for inclusion here. Yay for poems!
I’m confused about the part of the submission form that asks for “Name or Website Title.” Which do you want?
Sorry for the confusion! That really just means you should type in whatever name or title you want your site listed by for purposes of the participants’ listings. Maybe your website is called “Monica’s Musings,” but you want it listed under your actual name, “Monica McCloskey,” so your aunt in Toledo can find it. Or vice versa. If you goof up or want to change the way the site is listed, please email us at napowrimonet-AT-gmail-DOT-com.
I submitted my site, but it isn’t listed yet. What gives?
It usually takes a few minutes for the database to process a site submission. So if you submitted your site and it’s not showing up immediately, don’t worry — you might want to check back in a few. But if that doesn’t do the trick, please email us at napowrimonet-AT-gmail-DOT-com.
I submitted a comment to today’s post, but it hasn’t shown up. Why?
Alas, a couple of years back the site was deluged with comment spam (some of it very funny!) and we had to put comment moderation software in place. First-time commenters may have their comments held up in moderation; once you’ve had one or two comments manually approved, the moderation software generally lets any additional comments by the same commenter through without problems. Sometimes, though, it holds up a comment for no obvious reason — maybe there’s a word it associates with spam, maybe the moon is in the eighth house of Aquarius. Who can fathom the mind of a comment moderation program?
Also, just a thing to remember: this site has no “staff” — just one lady with a dayjob who is trying her darndest to keep on top of the moderation, but who has to sometimes step away from the internet for a few hours. If you’ve made a comment and it hasn’t show up in a few hours or so, please email us at napowrimonet-AT-gmail-DOT-com.
My site still isn’t showing up/I want to change something/something’s not working right.
If you have trouble with this site, or have other questions not resolved by this FAQ, please email us at napowrimonet-AT-gmail-DOT-com.
Who runs this site? What is this all about? Are you doing anything with the information people submit?
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Maine. She started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April, and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project. This site was designed by the very nice people at 2the9design, who know waaaaayyyyy more about back-end coding stuff than Maureen does. But this site isn’t meant to be “official,” or to indicate ownership or authority over the idea of writing 30 poems in April. There is no corporate sponsorship of this project. No money is intended to change hands anywhere. Maureen just likes poems and wants to encourage people to write them. The site doesn’t ask for your email address, or any other personal information. Heck, you don’t even have to give your name.
