It has been several weeks since the manic poetry scribbling of World Poetry Writing Month – hopefully it helped to get you into a pattern were you are writing each day. If that is the case then keep going, put your poems away for about six weeks before attempting to edit them.

If you are not in that space and just stopped writing as soon as the challenge was over then it is time to start writing again. If you have something it can be edited but until you touch pen to paper or fingers to electronic device or hit the record button you have nothing. Many find that their had seems too full of fragments of poems – this is not a problem – no it is great! Write those fragments down, fill note pads with them, they are the beginnings, they are the sparks of future poems.

Once you have a selection of these fragments use them for response writing exercises, write the fragment at the top of a page, set a timer for 5 minutes and just begin writing, continue the fragment. Do not worry about what you are writing or weather it makes any sense just keep the pen on paper or you fingers moving until your timer bleeps. If you are struggling stop when the timer bleeps, if you are inspired just keep going. One of the WoPo team often doesn’t notice the timers bleeping if they are really into the writing!

Now off you go and fill that note book!