How I did it: I did this as the first assignment for the 30 Poems in 30 Days challenge at PoeWar.com, so a poem about my childhood was the task. I didn't exactly finish it in a day, though!

On Sept 1, as I was driving to work and pondering this goal and the assignment, I remembered a very specific incident from my childhood that took place on Sept 1. The day was right, the weather was right, the landscape was right. That was the inspiration and jumping-off point. I had several lines and phrases rolling around in my head by the time I got to work, and I wrote them down before I forgot them. I think not being able to write them down at once actually improved what I did write once I got to some paper and a pen.

Some advice I'd read on the internet suggested starting with the two repeating rhyming lines, and those are the best in the final poem, in my opinion, since they came out of that initial inspiration and incubation during that drive.

At various times over the next weeks, I'd come up with additional lines, rework what I'd already written, until I finished it today. I'm ultimately not so pleased with the entire poem. I think if I'd finished it in a few days instead of a few weeks, my initial inspiration would have made the whole more focused and deserving of those two repeated lines.

Lessons & tips: Study some villanelles, and think about what works in the ones you like best. Once you get started, finish before the energy changes.

Resources: http://www.poewar.com/
http://www.writing-world.com/poetry/villanelle.shtml
CrunchyBread's "delve into poetry" entries

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Sep 26, 2009, 07:48PM PDT | 4 comments | 9 cheers