For the month of September 2018, we have a first-time prompter. So that means we have a new interview to share with you. Please read about Jessica Malone Latham, plus her books and blogs, on the “Meet the Prompters” page. Her detailed responses explain how this Californian followed her heart to haiku, and how she believes “NaHaiWriMo . . . is a way of connecting consciousness with creativity.”

NaHaiWriMo is pleased to announce the Johnny Baranski Memorial Haiku Contest. This contest is named in honor of Johnny Baranski, one of NaHaiWriMo’s earliest and longest-running supporters who passed away in January of 2018. The deadline is September 30, 2018, and it is FREE to submit up to two unpublished haiku. Prizes are $100 for 1st place, $50 for 2nd place, and $25 for third place, plus honorable mentions. Paul Miller, editor of Modern Haiku magazine, will serve as the judge. The only eligibility requirement is to have liked the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook. See the submission guidelines. We welcome your haiku submissions in celebration of Johnny’s life and his passion for haiku poetry.

Thanks to an outpouring of generosity on its Facebook page, NaHaiWriMo has recently received more than $1,000 in donations. We are pleased to recognize this generosity on our new NaHaiWriMo Donors page. This support will cover domain name and website costs past, present, and future, for which we are very grateful. What a great community we have in NaHaiWriMo!

NaHaiWriMo has another first-time prompter this month, for July 2018. Its Roy Kindelberger, who lives near Seattle in Washington State. Roy has been a kindergarten teacher for many years, and currently teaches grades four through six in an alternative school. Learn more about Roy Kindelberger, his middle-grade novel, and read three sample poems, all in his newly posted interview available through the “Meet the Prompters” page. Thank you, Roy!

Just added to the “Meet the Prompters” page is our interview with the NaHaiWriMo daily writing prompter for May 2018, Deborah B. Shepherd. This is Deborah’s first time as a prompter for us, and we’ve been grateful for her inspiring prompts. In her interview, learn about her stint in the army, her background as a newspaper columnist, and how she came back to haiku after a long absence. “I’m so glad to have found this group,” Deborah says, because “I need the discipline of writing every day.” Thank you, Deborah.

NaHaiWriMo is grateful to Lynne Jambor for serving as a first-time daily writing prompter on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page for the month of April 2018, National Poetry Writing Month. You can now read about Lynne Jambor at her “Meet the Prompters” interview, including information about her extensive background in curling and sports management, and her advice not just to read haiku but to talk with other haiku poets as much as possible to help yourself learn the haiku art. Thank you, Lynne!

The number of likes for the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook, at the end of 1 February 2018, stood at 2,791. This was an increase of 291, or 11.64 percent, from exactly 2,500 likes on 1 February 2017. Below is a rundown of previous statistics (I don’t have a record of milestones before the following). Of course, likes don’t always translate into ongoing participation, but our participation seems to be growing steadily too, and surges every February. More importantly, regardless of growth, NaHaiWriMo is a supportive community for sharing and learning haiku. Nevertheless, it’s nice to see that our growth is slightly greater in the last year compared with the previous year, and definitely steady over the last few years. In case you need to know.

1 February 2018      2,791 likes     291 increase      11.64% increase over previous year
1 February 2017      2,500 likes     244 increase      10.82% increase over previous year
1 February 2016      2,256 likes     256 increase      12.8 % increase over previous year
2 February 2015      2,000 likes     340 increase       20.36% increase over previous year
1 February 2014      1,670 likes     170 increase       11.33% increase since previous date
6 November 2013    1,500 likes

For anyone new to NaHaiWriMo, perhaps checking it out for the first time, welcome. The idea is to write at least one haiku a day for the entire month of February—the shortest month for the shortest genre of poetry. Most of the action takes place on Facebook and on Twitter (#nahaiwrimo). The NaHaiWriMo Facebook page provides daily writing prompts (find them in the Notes tab), which you are free to follow or not. You are encouraged to post your haiku to the main NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook—and share them on your own timeline, on Twitter, and on your blog or website. And please feel free to encourage others to try National Haiku Writing Month too (hey, NaHaiWriMo is more fun with friends). And no, haiku don't have to be 5-7-5. Write on!

NaHaiWriMo wouldn’t have the dynamic and inviting Facebook page it has without its guest daily writing prompters. Thank you to Hazel Hall for serving as our prompter for October 2017. You can now learn more about Hazel at her “Meet the Prompter” interview, where you can also see a photo and read three sample haiku. She says “I don’t think I’d be a publishing haiku poet if it were not for NaHaiWriMo”—and I think the same is true for many others. Thank you, Hazel.

Time to meet our NaHaiWriMo daily writing prompter for September 2017. It’s Grace Galton, who is prompting for us for the first time. Check out her interview, available through the Meet the Prompters page, learn why she moved so often, and read three representative haiku. Thank you, Grace!