I applied to be part of the project back in the summer, and looked forward to participating in my chosen month, September. But as September drew nearer I started thinking about things I had forgotten about - like that school started (for the whole family) then, that it was the start also of soccer, choir, chorale, and kid-swap days; that there would be grading, driving, coaching, swimming lessons, homework-overseeing, and generally exhausting schedule-related activities that would all hit around the beginning of September. I started to fret a little that I would not have something to write about each day. But some of this was pro forma fretting - I know that when pushed, my brain can always dig up some little scrap to work up for display. I just don't enjoy pushing it to do that (isn't this always the case?).
But - this was something new, something to shake me out of the non-writing rut I had fallen into, something to use as an example in the Adventures & Experiments class I teach. I thought about how often I urge Cora to try new things and to go into new things thinking positively.
And, of course, once it began I found that I loved it - I loved the accountability of having to produce a new poem each day. I fell into a weekday routine of starting to think about what I would write, taking Cora to school, coming home and sitting down with my notebook, my coffee, and what became my favorite pen (a yellow and green one made from biodegradable "corn plastic" and with the Waste Management company logo - I am pretty sure there is a bucketful of metaphors in there somewhere). And while not every poem was a keeper, several were, and all were worth the effort.
I also found reconnection with other poets, something I still really miss about the Cities. Our group of 30/30 poets has been such a good place to discover. I have loved reading their poems, checking in multiple times each day to see whose poem has gone up, what they wrote about, how they wrote about it, what they are doing with language and form. Thank goodness we have Facebook, because I don't want to stop hearing what they have to say!
Did I make a strong enough habit? Without having to publicly produce work, with people actually waiting on me to do so, will I still write as frequently?
Let me put it this way: I came home this morning from dropping off Cora. I sat down with my coffee and my notebook. And I wrote.
