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poetry mini-challenge: it’s like the ‘double-dog dare’ — only better

by Carolee Sherwood and Jill Crammond Wickham

When you were a kid and another kid said, “I dare you,” your brain went into overdrive about the task, something you weren’t sure if you should do or could do, but certainly wouldn’t do under any other circumstances. Kiss a boy on the lips. Jump naked into a snowbank. Eat a mud pie. The (in)advisability of these acts was unimportant. What mattered was guts! What mattered was glory! You were tempted! You were exhilarated! But you were wavering.

Then came one of the hardest adolescent challenges to resist: the double-dog dare. If you had any pride at all and another kid said, “I double-dog dare you,” your fate was sealed. You would do The Thing. The Anything. You would do it with the world watching, and you would be victorious. You would have a reputation as a badass. No matter what. And, perhaps even of more value, you would see yourself differently. You would be the one who wasn’t afraid. And that meant something to you.

You could also wind up the one with cooties on her lips, the one with hypothermia and the one with a mouthful of dirt. Rising to a challenge is not without risk.

Poetry Mini-Challenges are like this. Take a wild act. (Write three poems or seven poems or 30.) Intensify it. (Write one each day.) Make it public. (Be accountable! Defend your honor!) But poetry challenges are better because you have company. Other people are suffering right along with you. You know, suffering in a good way, as in “suffering for his art.”

How we got here

A few years ago, we tried National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) together. Jill got to about day 10 and searched for some poetry to put into her novel-in-progress, and Carolee wrote paragraph after paragraph in search of a more lyrical way to tell a story. We both realized that novel-writing was interrupting our poetry-writing. We were poets, not novelists.

Then along came National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). We were amazed — not with how easy it became to write a poem every day, but with how a new idea was born every day. Wow! If you sit down to write it, it will come. It was true! Six months later, we spent all of October writing a poem each day. And six months after that, we were back at it with NaPoWriMo again.

In the “dare” analogy, NaNoWriMo and NaPoWriMo represent the triple-dog dare. In “real life,” it’s not always possible to be so obsessed or so compulsive. Still, we knew we thrived inside some sort of compression, and we began teaming up to meet smaller goals, double-dog dares — mini-challenges, if you will. They help us put dry periods behind us. Neither of us believes in writer’s block, but we do know that sometimes it’s hard to write.

Lucky for us, we have (in each other) an awesome writing buddy who sets goals and sends us off and running. (Take that, selfish muse!) Lucky for all of us, we have an awesome writing community here at Read Write Poem that can do the same thing.

What we’re going to do

The good news is that none of the Poetry Mini-Challenges will kill you (unlike, perhaps, contracting cooties, getting hypothermia and ingesting soil of questionable origin). On the other hand, not writing feels a little like death. Your choice is clear!

We’ll create mini-challenges related to writing poetry, reading poetry or firming up your writing process, and we’ll post them as often as Read Write Poem dares to let us out of the barn. You’ll work through the challenge on your blog and keep us updated with links and notes in the comments section of the current challenge. And, of course, you’ll zip around to your fellow Read Write Poem members and offer your encouragement (and egg them on as necessary).

Our first mini-challenge

Research synonyms for “unearth” or “dig” or “cull.” Pick one you like. It will be the title of your series.

Now, with the images conjured by your series title swirling in your mind, go through your notebook and find a subject for a poem. If you don’t keep a notebook, sift through any book or paper or magazine, preferably something in print. Digging is a physical act.

Do this every day for three days, starting today. You will end up with three poems that may (or may not) be related to one another or to the matter of uncovering something, but they will be three poems you didn’t have before. And you shall be known henceforth as the one who is not afraid!

Update: You can leave your comments, progress notes, poems, links to the mini-challenge work you are doing on your site and words of encouragement in the comments of this post. Or (if you are a member), you can leave them at the Poetry Mini-Challenge group, located here.

Carolee Sherwood is a painter, mixed-media artist and poet. This moody mother of three boys shares her writing at her site, Carolee Sherwood, and is a senior contributor and columnist for Read Write Poem.

jill crammond wickhamJill Crammond Wickham has discovered that the frantic pace of motherhood has driven her to write more, not less. Jill writes at Mom Trying to Write and is a senior contributor and columnist for Read Write Poem.

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Posted by Read Write Poem under Carolee Sherwood, Jill Crammond Wickham, Poetry Mini-Challenge

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