In which Rik doesn't do NaPoWriMo 2012

That's right. After seven years of attempting (and usually failing to complete) the annual NaPoWriMo challenge, I'm giving the madness a miss this year.

Instead, I've set myself another task: to finish, and publish, Snowdrop before Christmas 2012. Because the poem needs to be finished - it deserves to be finished. And the only way I am going to finish it is by working (and reworking) it until it begs to be put out of its misery through publication.

The task shouldn't be too difficult. Most of the poem is already edited to my satisfaction, with only a few poems to rework, and 7 or 8 more new poems to draft and edit. After which I can have some fun with footnotes and endnotes before releasing the whole piece into the wilds, where it will stand or fall on its merits.

I have no plans to tackle another long poem like this ever again. So it's up to me to make this one good. So no time-wasting for Rik; no dodgy doggerel or limp limericks this April: proper work needs to be done!