Stacey Joy is our host for VerseLove today at http://www.ethicalela.com, and inspires us to write Goghohka poems. She writes, “The Gogyohka is a form of verse developed…. in 1957. The idea behind the Gogyohka was to take the traditional form of Tanka poetry (which is written in five lines with 5-7-5-7-7 syllable counts) and liberate its structure, creating a freer form of verse. In the 1990s, Kusakabe began his efforts to spread Gogyohka as a new movement in poetry, and there are now around half a million people writing this form of verse in Japan.”
Today I write from a place of growing, which a year ago was a place of wondering. Could I be a writer who writes every single day? I celebrated a year of daily writing at the end of February 2022 and began another year. I stumbled across a book by Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Gabriella Barouch, entitled maybe while in Asheville, North Carolina last week. I was mesmerized, and this book has become my Year 2 inspiration to get me over the hurdles that will inevitably come. It’s worth the read, it’s worth the purchase, it’s worth reading every morning as I get dressed and start the day.
The Journey of a Year of Writing Begins with a Single Word
preparing to write
outlining themes for the year
selecting topics
calendarizing stories
scheduling daily blog posts
I used to wonder
how writers write every day
for an entire year
now the mystery is solved:
we plan ahead, write ahead
I celebrated
a year of daily writing
in February,
began Year Two with Journeys
and moved to April Poems
May will be Moments
June hasn’t been decided
it will flash through my
soul like lightning, revealing
itself as my monthly theme
I’ll collect ideas
I may write four posts one day
only one the next
I never stop editing
even after it’s posted
this is for you: yeah,
you: writer, friend, inspirer
there holding the gift
wondering what to do next –
add one more month to your goal!
At the end of two
months, you’ll be one-sixth of the
way through the whole year!
you’ll tell yourself: I CAN WRITE
every day. It’s who I am.
You’ll think, I should push
myself, pace myself, take the
ultra-marathon
writing challenge and write each
day – if only one sentence.
You’re almost one
half of the way through April!
you’ve firmly begun
chart your course, revise your goal!
imagine what you’ll achieve!
take up this gauntlet
that has landed at your feet
place it on your hand
see it as your writing glove
continue on this journey!
open that journal
break out those favorite pens
start that daily blog
take the short postcard approach:
begin with one sentence. Go!
Psalm 138:8
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Common Threads 
Wow! Just as I was recognizing in your account some of the strategies I used simply to get through the March challenge, you switched abruptly to second person. I felt as if you had grabbed me by the shirt front and started shaking me! OK! OK! I’m on it!
Thanks for sharing your inspiration and strategies. Truly, I am impressed.
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting this morning – that’s a funny image of a person passionate about shaking the words out of her writing buddies, shaking them by the shirt fronts. I’ll laugh at that all day long. My brother and dad would be in the corner chuckling and pointing at me, saying “yep, that’s Kim…..the shirt grabber….all hellfire and brimstone.” I know if I was using your strategies, I’ve been doing something right!
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