So I’m really excited about the APPF, because the prospect of receiving 31 postcards in the mail (32, if you count the starter postcard)  with a new poem on each one will bring happiness into The Month I Always Dread.

But I’m nervous too, because I know how I am an overly self-critical perfectionist prone to losing heart when I can’t get words to go right.  (This probably describes every poet, doesn’t it?)  And holy, moly, I have to write 32 poems?

Even though the participants have been told not to agonize, I know I will.  I’m already agonizing a little bit.  But I’ve been trying to get a few poems written down this week to spell me on those days that I’m feeling especially uninspired and incapable of writing (or am so busy I can’t breathe, like during fall registration).

Of course, I also realize that the poems I receive will give me strength as well as inspiration, and that will be awesome.   Nothing like being compelled to write every day because someone is counting on you for mail!  But what a sad comment that I have to be compelled to write.  Sometimes, I’m such a dilletante.

If you want some information about the APPF, read the APPF blog, maintained by Lana Hechtman Ayers and Paul Nelson.