November has been a strange month. I have experienced a writing dip and a lack of energy. This meant that I didn’t make all the events I had planned to this month and instead took the option of sleep.
HIBERNATION
I tend to spend the winter months pre-Christmas winding down, so after October I am more of a hermit poet than a public one. This month however, I have missed many events that I was looking forward to experiencing. Deep down I know I made the right choice though as driving in winter when tired is not a promising decision.
Sadly I missed;
Jonathan Edwards at Buzzwords in Cheltenham,
Claire Walker headlining at Permission to Speak as we had a bonfire party on the 5th November.
Spoken Word at the Ort
Poets for Passion at The Ort for Remembrance Sunday
Heather Wastie’s ‘Weaving Yarns’ book launch. Heather was a guest poet for us during INKSPILL 2014.
The last 42 of the year and many other events.
WRITING TIME
This month I have spent the writing time I have, writing rather than travelling around performing. It costs a lot of money to attend all these events and on the run up to Christmas I need to save my pennies. I haven’t submitted any work for a while and I thought I needed to address this and also my writing days have disappeared since half term as I have been working split day patterns and using all my free time on the day job and chores.
THE FLIPSIDE
The flipside is that once I pulled myself out of the doldrums I was actually more productive than I have been in a while. I have been writing lots and editing for the past few months but not really submitting anything. I also stopped challenging myself (for an easy life) and I felt parts of my creative mind shut down. NaNoWriMo has helped on the quest for knowledge. I didn’t have time to create 50,000 words this month (or the ideas), so I took part in a FLASH NANO project instead, over on Nancy’s blog.
http://nancystohlman.com/flashnano/
Since writing NANO flash fiction, I have stumbled upon a great idea that ha
s potential and I plan (depending on the rest of my schedule) to sign up for the camps in April and the Summer and see if I can knock this idea into shape.
Being happier about my writing life resulted in rejuvenated energy and I was able to carry on achieving goals for the rest of the month.
BLIPS happen – they are frustrating but part of the process, so ride them like a wild wave and make sure you’re attached to the board!
WEEK 1
I decided to participate in FLASH NANO – writing flash fiction from a daily prompt. It has given me an opportunity to write new material and trying out new ideas.
I learnt how to make poetry film videos which I plan to use next year on my You Tube channel.
I enjoyed Stirchley Speaks this month. I was able to just sit back and enjoy it, it was lovely to hear Kathy Gee’s headline set and I am excited that her collection will be out next year too.
WEEK 2
The week started with an exciting editorial meeting, finally the manuscript is coming together. Editorial meetings are hard work but when you love what you’re doing they are a pleasure. The hours flew by.
I managed to get to Mouth & Music for the ‘Over the Edge’ theme and discovered a new poet who headlined.
Sadly, I missed Swingerella as I was in need of an early night with a full week of work to get through. My Wednesday was the toughest day of work this half term and I am glad that I had the energy to face it.
Public Address at the MAC was incredible and worth missing Stanza for.
WEEK 3
I finally made some submissions, one flash fiction and a couple of poems and I wrote an action plan, neglected to do one for a few months and as my writing days have dwindled to just 2 a month at the moment it is essential I have a through line that I can just pick up when I am next in writer mode.
There were events this week which I decided to miss, due to the fact that I had a full work week.
WEEK 4
Again there were events that I have decided not to attend (due to the beginning of December) being so busy.
I did manage to make the final celebration of Restless Bones.
PERFORMANCES
I was unable to take part in the Charity Fundraiser I was approached to do in October in Birmingham as it clashed with a friend’s birthday.
Restless Bones
OPEN MICS
Mouth & Music
EVENTS
Stirchley Speaks
PUBLIC ADDRESS MAC
More details to follow.
awritersfountain 