Poetry Advice

This is not a poem, but since National Writing Day was a couple of days ago, I thought I would share a couple of words of advice for writing that come from my personal experience, writing workshops, and other authors. To anybody who stumbles upon this- I hope it helps with your experience as a writer! Write prolifically. Write at threes in the mornings. Write everything- limericks, sonnets, minimalist poetry, essays disguised as poetry. Expect the worst to receive the best; good poetry almost always comes as a surprise. Write to rewrite a thousand times. Find some inspirational poets and try to emulate their work until you realize you can't- not because you're bad but because you're not them. Avoid cliches. Write not to make others realize but to make yourself realize. And lastly, write not to win awards or money or recognition. Write because you truly, truly desire to write.