2015 April PAD Challenge: Next Steps
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “What a poetry challenge!” Here are some numbers for 2015: So, what’s next? First off, there’s a lot of poetry and…
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, "What a poetry challenge!"
Here are some numbers for 2015:
- 30 days
- 34 prompts (including 4 “Two for Tuesday” prompts)
- 26,000+ comments (and counting)
- 30 guest judges
- 1 incredible month!
So, what’s next?
First off, there’s a lot of poetry and poeming that happens around the Poetic Asides blog throughout the year. I’ll share more on that in a moment (see below), but I’m sure at least a few of you are wondering about how the judging will happen, when results will be posted, and so on.
The “official” cut off for Day 30 prompt is 11:59 p.m. EST on May 5, 2015. However, I’ve only copied over poems for the first 15 days so far (hint, hint). That means Days 16-30 are still “live,” though I plan to start copying over other days very soon.
I’ve already started the process of going through the earlier prompts and narrowing down “finalist” lists for the guest judges. This process will include sending poems to screening readers, who will return them to me. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll hand off a finalist list to each of the guest judges around the end of May. Then, they will give me their winners in June.
If all goes to plan, I will announce all the winners and finalists on July 4, 2015. The announcement will be on the Poetic Asides blog.
And then?
The winning poems will be collected in the second volume of the amazing anthology/prompt/work book titled Poem Your Heart Out that will be published by Words Dance Publishing. Click here to order a copy, because it’s going to be filled with 30 incredible poems, space for you to add your own, and even if you make it into the anthology–you’ll want a copy to give your mom, right?
Yes, the 30 winners will receive a copy of the anthology. Sweet!
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So that’s it?
Well, no, of course not. There’s a lot of poetry-related mischief happening at Poetic Asides throughout the year. I’m probably going to take a long weekend off, but this is what you can expect:
- Wednesday Poetry Prompts. Yeah, we get together to poem on hump day throughout the year.
- Poet Interviews. I’ve interviewed more than 100 poets on here over the years. In fact, maybe even more than 200. I don’t keep count, but each and every interview is a snapshot into another poet’s poetic outlook, process, and more.
- Poetic Forms. Every month or so, I share a new poetic form I’ve found. And that leads to…
- WD Poetic Form Challenges. These free challenges are devoted to a poetic form, and the winning poem/poet is featured as an example of the form in Writer’s Digest magazine.
- November PAD (Poem-A-Day) Chapbook Challenge. It’s like April, but it gets even more involved, because the ultimate goal is to produce an amazing chapbook of poems.
- And more! I don’t know what yet, but I’ve had some great guest post pitches, and I get bored easy–so who knows what tricks I’ve got up my sleeve?!? Seriously, because I don’t.
Still got questions? That’s cool. Drop them in the comments below, or send me an e-mail at robert.brewer@fwcommunity.com.
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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community. He’s also the author of Solving the World’s Problems, an incredible collection of poetry that stirs the soul. Okay, Robert wrote that, but Sandra Beasley called the book, “Compassionate, challenging, and filled with slinky swerves of phrase,” while Patricia Fargnolia said, “The poems are brim-full of surprises and delights, twists in language, double-meanings of words, leaps of thought and imagination, interesting line-breaks. … I will go back to them often.” So that’s means you’re going to buy it, right? Click here to make it happen.
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Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Editor of Writer's Digest, which includes managing the content on WritersDigest.com and programming virtual conferences. He's the author of 40 Plot Twist Prompts for Writers: Writing Ideas for Bending Stories in New Directions, The Complete Guide of Poetic Forms: 100+ Poetic Form Definitions and Examples for Poets, Poem-a-Day: 365 Poetry Writing Prompts for a Year of Poeming, and more. Also, he's the editor of Writer's Market, Poet's Market, and Guide to Literary Agents. Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.
