Dear readers,
It’s that time again: Round number time. I’m coming up on my 400th post. (January 12th, if my calculations are correct.)
I like to celebrate these little occasions by giving you a break from me for a day and inviting you all to be my guest bloggers. (Note: This is an idea for which I am indebted to Matt Morden of Morden Haiku, who did this for his thousandth post a while back.)
The details, for those who haven’t played before or need a refresher course:
- By “you” I mean “anyone who has ever commented on my blog.” (If you haven’t commented before and want to participate, go ahead and comment sometime before the 12th and you’re in.)
- By “participate” I mean “send me one or two of your haiku, tanka, senryu, gogyoghka, haiga or other forms of Japanese short-form poetry or micropoetry.” Published or unpublished, I don’t care. Don’t agonize over whether they are good enough. They are. See below.
- Let me know what name, or haiku name, or alias, or other identifying information you wish to sign your poems with. If you have a blog or webpage or a Twitter or Tumblr account or some other online presence you want me to alert people to, include that information too.
- These poems will ALL (OK, I guess I reserve the right to leave out anything I find in mind-bogglingly bad taste, but I can’t really believe any of you are less squeamish than I am) be posted here on January 12th.
- They will not be judged, juried, or edited. They will be cut and pasted into my blog. They will be signed with whatever ID and URL you sent me.
- This entire thing will be wildly entertaining and inspiring for everyone involved. Really. That’s what everyone always tells me. It is really fun to see all the different styles of poetry by all the different participants. And, perhaps most important, not have to read anything I’ve written for an entire day. (Except my obligatory interminable introductory essay. I’ll try to keep it snappy this time, though.)
- I really want YOU (that’s right, buster) to send me your stuff. It’s only fair, you’ve been reading mine all this time. Sharing is nice.
- The deadline is 7 a.m. U.S. Central Standard Time on January 12. If you’re not sure how that translates to your local time, Google it. I will post sometime in the couple of hours after that.
- Don’t leave your submissions in the comments, it spoils the surprise for the other readers. Email them to MelissaLAllen AT yahoo.com.
- Any other questions? Go ahead and ask.
- Have fun!
Your blog friend,
Melissa
Red Dragonfly 
Cool!
‘zat middle initial ‘L’?
Yes — sorry that’s so hard to read. I think I’ll edit it now to make it easier. Also, you should just be able to click on where it says “Email them” and get a link to my email.
I’m sharing a computer and am not the administrator, so it will not allow me to use your ‘wizard’ feature. I sent a note with middle initial ‘L’, but it was rejected. Done the same with no initial, and no negative responses. I’ll check back for a reply or verification of receipt, if you don’t mind. Sorry for all the trouble!
willie
Willie — it won’t work without the “L,” that’s someone else’s email address. Not sure why the email with the “L” was rejected. Try again? If that doesn’t work, just post it here and after I copy it I’ll delete it.
Melissa, this sounds like a terrific chance to be a guest blogger. Thank you!
Pushpa
Great, Pushpa, I’ll look forward to hearing from you!