At the end of January I caught Covid, which kyboshed my plans to clear the inbox and share gems with you all here. I have finally (after 10 days) had my first NEGATIVE test result and am all good to return to work tomorrow. Apart from the financial damage, I am okay. Grateful and fortunate for that!
So I thought I would share another piece of treasure with you whilst I still had a little time at the desk.
Now, there are several schools of thought on Writer’s Block from it doesn’t exist to chronic suffering. I tend to feel I am somewhere near the not existing end of the spectrum, simply because I believe you block the flow if you tell yourself you are blocked. I do believe (and have experienced) slumps in writing after large projects or book publications, ill health and periods where there has been no writing at all*, I take these to be normal passages of being a writer.
*It is said (widely) that even if you don’t commit words to paper/screen your mind is still creating, gathering and writing for you.
I also know if you are ever suffering medically (as I was in 2019) your brain will not be working in the way you’re used to. Your whole system starts survival mode. Personally, there were 6 months where I didn’t write at all. I actually reached the point of acceptance;
‘Well those years were fun whilst they lasted, what’s next?’
Here for your reading is a Writer’s Digest article from the archives of 2019, it’s a Guest column written by Hope Bolinger.
9 Weird Ways to Beat Writer’s Block
Bolinger starts by looking at typical responses (some of which I’ve stated):
“You just have to write every day.”
“You gotta push past those esoteric obstacles and believe in yourself and your writing.”
And, of course, everyone’s favorite: “Writer’s block doesn’t exist.”
before moving on to tackling nine atypical solutions.
My favourite solutions include:
3) Treat / Rewards
…we will psychologically program ourselves to equate rewards with writing. Done in moderation, our brains will work harder to achieve these benchmark prizes. So set the bar. Once you reach an attainable goal (500 words, a completed article, etc.), don’t be afraid to gift yourself when you hit it.
7) Get anti-social
I love writing, but I also love Pinterest. Take a wild guess at which one sucks me in for hours.
Although social media has allowed writers to connect with readers from across the world and share fantastic tips in various writing communities across all social media platforms, it takes us away from the thing we post about all the time: writing.
Various apps such as FocusON and Anti-Social allow for authors to turn off social media and focus on the writing. Don’t worry. Once you finish those last fifty words, you can turn social back on and beam at all the Instagram notifications to your heart’s content.
When I first started writing and hadn’t built up discipline, I used to use the other laptop, the one which refused to acknowledge the fact we had the internet. I was more productive! We all know that time slip when you just pop on for one post or the rabbit holes of research (wondrous though they are). If you only have 30 minutes, use it ALL for writing!
For more atypical solutions read the full article here.
Welcome to the 2nd part of week 1 – these are just snippet reviews from some of my festival experience. Enjoy your bite of SAHLF 2021.
Thursday 29th
All the featured books can be purchased in the S@HLF Bookshop here.
Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils
This was my introduction to David Farrier, he is an award-winning author and Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh.
In 2017 He received the Royal Society of Literature’s Gules T Aubyn award for non-fiction. Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils has been (or is in the process of being) translated in seven languages.
I admire Robert Macfarlane‘s writing and was excited to watch David Farrier discuss his book with Esa Aldegheri. We saw a short promotional video about the work the book covers and then an in depth interview covering everything from how will we be seen as ancestors by our descendants to future fossils, single use plastic and the attempt to imagine that which is actually beyond our imagining.
Footprints is a book which deals with how we get a sense of what our impact is going to be in the very long term on the planet and the people who will come after us, which is an issue that has entered global consciousness during the pandemic. Ironic when you think of what all the scientists, environmentalists, conservationists, ecologists and Eco activists have being telling us for decades. Finally people can see the result of human impact on our world. The planet has shown us.
Many of us see these issues from our present moment but in the opening paragraphs of his book Farrier writes: the fact that we also inhabit the flow of very deep time and he also references Percy Shelley (and Aristotle). Any author who cites a poet wins me over instantly.
Later in the conversation Aldegheri mentions the enjoyable use of poets being quoted in Footprints -Alice Oswald, Derek Walcott and Shelley. Farrier teaches English Literature and knows poetry can help us make sense of things that seem too big for our comprehension, poetry can change our perspective, give us multiple meanings.
I got a real taste of this book from this presentation. The Q&A included some brilliant questions from the audience and we got to hear about Farrier’s sabbatical research.
Creating The Perfect Page Turner
Thriller writers Penny Batchelor and Louise Mumford as they reveal the tips and tricks they use to keep readers obsessively turning those pages.
This was another great session, thoroughly enjoyed listening to the conversation between these two authors. They covered the usual ‘What If’ Pitch and 3 Act Structure, then went on to discuss how to use misdirection, characters and the art of keeping your reader engrossed. It was a joy to listen to and Batchelor and Mumford also generously threw in some book recommendations.
Penny Batchelor
Penny Batchelor is an alumna of the Faber Academy online ‘Writing a Novel’ course. She is a freelance journalist, a former BBC content producer and website editor for various educational institutions.
Her journalism has appeared in numerous publications including The Knitter, Vintage Life, Mollie Makes, Travel Africa, The Simple Things and Pretty Nostalgic magazines; and BBC Ouch!, money magpie.com, welovethisbook.com and The University of Warwick’s Knowledge Centre websites. She is the editor of her award-winning knitting blog A Woolly Yarn, which is now solely social-media based on Facebook and Instagram.
Louise Mumford studied English Literature at university and graduated with first class honours. As a teacher she tried to pass on her love of reading to her students (and discovered that the secret to successful teaching is… stickers! She is aware that that is, essentially, bribery.)
In the summer of 2019 Louise experienced a once-in-a-lifetime moment: she was discovered as a new writer by her publisher at the Primadonna Festival.
Her debut thriller, Sleepless, was published by HQ on 10th Dec 2020.
‘The Circle meets Black Mirror in a thrilling, plausible and gripping debut. Frighteningly inventive.’ John Marrs, bestselling author of The One
Friday 30th
Remember me telling you in Part 1 I wasn’t going to bed down at the festival this year? Well, by the weekend I was dragging my sleeping bag in! So much so, I am even reviewing an event I didn’t manage to catch…
I was gutted to missDogged: Working Class Women with Emma Purshouse after being treated to a short extract a week ago at Paul Francis’ Book Launch where Emma was a guest reader. I know Emma and her work well and am delighted that she has successfully transitioned that broad water between poetry and novel.
Aside from face to face work during the first 3 months of Lockdown 3, I stay in. I take an occasional nature walk, a weekly supermarket drop in and the odd trip to the Drs/hospital or petrol station. And on Friday I braved the world and met a friend in her garden for a coffee and a catch up. This is the first time since December I have been out.
I had hoped to be back for Emma’s Midday event, but had a second cup (this was the first time since December I’d been out – and once out…) and on the way home had a run in with a huge silver van on single track country lane, delaying me further. Those of you who read AWF regularly will know that my poor laptop is struggling on and so even though I hoped to catch the second part of this event, the tech took another 20 mins to log in and clear itself onto Zoom, I missed it!
I know Emma will be doing more readings and promotion for this book and I will look out for those.
Set in the city, Dogged is the story of two working-class women in their 70s. Funny, warm, dark, and beautifully written, the novel has received rave reviews and has been described as “unputdownable”.
Emma is a working-class performance poet and writer, and the current poet laureate of the City of Wolverhampton. She was part of the ‘Common People’ anthology, edited by Kit de Waal, and is also part of Portopia which is a brand-new writer development project set up to increase working-class representation in screenwriting.
Thanks to Ignite Books I did find this recording of an extract. Enjoy!
BIO:Emma Purshouse is Poet Laureate for the City of Wolverhampton. She is a poetry slam champion and has performed at spoken word nights and festivals across the UK – Cheltenham Literature Festival, Ledbury Poetry Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Latitude, and WOMAD, among others – often using her native Black Country dialect in her work. Her most recent poetry publication, Close, (Offa’s Press, 2018) was shortlisted for the Rubery Book Award in 2019, and her children’s poetry collection, I Once Knew a Poem Who Wore a Hat, won the poetry section of the same award in 2016. In 2019 Emma was one of writers included in ‘Common People’, the anthology of working-class writing edited by Kit De Waal. Her debut novel, Dogged, (Ignite Books) was launched early in 2021, to critical acclaim.
The Millstone and the Star: Mental Health, Mental Health Problems and Writing
Mental Health and wellbeing (and writing through it) has always been important to me. Not least of all because I came back to writing (after a 15 year gap) after suffering from clinical depression. It is something I live with and know well the power of writing out.
This was an interesting presentation, an honest, brutal (at times, we were warned) and necessary. Sadly a fallout of pandemic life is people have experienced isolation on a level as never before and the loneliness and lack of human contact has increased mental health concerns globally. So this field is even more essential than it ever was – and it always was.
Somehow I had it in mind that this was a workshop, so I was surprised by Anna Vaught’s presentation, but it was /felt interactive and soothing to hear another person’s experience and learn about the work she does and of course the Millstone and the Star.
The programme demonstrates the positivity Anna Vaught searches for and despite the subject, this was an uplifting session to be part of.
BIO: Anna Vaught is a novelist, poet, essayist, short fiction writer, editor and a secondary English teacher, tutor andmentor, mental health advocate and mum of 3. 2020 saw the publication of Anna’s third novel, Saving Lucia (Bluemoose) and a first short story collection, Famished (Influx). Anglo-Welsh, she splits her time between Wiltshire, Wales, and the Southern US. She is currently editing a new novel, writing a novella and working on her first non-fiction book & a second short story collection. Anna’s essays, reviews, articles, and features have been featured widely online and in print. She is represented by Kate Johnson of Mackenzie Wolf Literary Agents, in New York City.Part 3 COMING SOON!
Today, our featured participant is color me in cyanide and cherry . . ., where the liminal prompt for Day 4 led to a wonderfuly dreamy-spooky poem, and taught me a new word, too!
Our featured reading is a live event that will take place tomorrow, April 6, at 8 p.m. eastern daylight time. The poets Mairead Case, Kenyatta Rogers, Erika Hodges, and Israel Solis, Jr will all be reading as part of the Open Door Series, sponsored by the Poetry Foundation.
And now for our prompt. I call this one “The Shapes a Bright Container Can Contain,” after this poem by Theodore Roethke.
This prompt challenges you to find a poem, and then write a new poem that has the shape of the original, and in which every line starts with the first letter of the corresponding line in the original poem… Any poem will do as a jumping-off point, but if you’re having trouble finding one, perhaps you might consider Mary Szybist’s “We Think We Do Not Have Medieval Eyes” or for something shorter, Natalie Shapero’s “Pennsylvania.”
Happy writing!
PROCESS NOTES:
Yesterday I spent some extra time with NaPo – inspired by the featured participant poem, I wrote a poem from the 6 words drawn from the Universal Deck prompt (Day 3), which involved some planetary research – again this is a theme I explored in poetry a few years ago so felt like familiar territory. The poem explores the disconnect between creative and scientific and stories we believe. It was surprising – as any poem resulting from the deck prompt is bound to be.
Waldeinsamkeit – I knew this was a German word, but haven’t studied the language since I was a teenager, when I looked up the meaning I discovered it loosely translates as: solitude of the forest/ the feeling of being alone in the woods. Wald (“forest”) + Einsamkeit (“loneliness”), which I think you get from the poem anyway but it does put the forest ensemble in context.
When I read this poem I was struck by many lines:
handing out tea-cups of air to a stuffed forest ensemble seated around the table – You watch but do not drink, not even of the sunlight
will not breach through my eyes that reach with the hunger of the treetops,
the nightbound places of my roots;
I was absorbed into this poem of body and wood, of devil and soil, of observation and being watched (or not). I had a wander around the blog and read other poems by Mirjana M, Inalman.
I often use the Poetry Foundation website, I hope to attend this reading series but it is 1-2AM BST and I am in a late night event which finishes at 1 AM already and in a month when I was attempting to cool the number of readings I attend. The laptop is on its last legs and I have work to finish. It is in the diary but may be missed. I discovered the NaPo reading from yesterday was also LIVE/available to watch on You Tube, so maybe the PF one will be too, although looking at their You Tube channel there is no evidence of this.
When I read today’s prompt I felt my mind twist with the implication for the resulting work. I was happy to try something I haven’t done before. I never did the ‘mimic’ poem/poet stage as a developing writer and although prompts like this can throw up some incredibly original work I worry about the link to the original and the closeness of forgery. I guess if the poem I create is ever submitted I would just cite ‘After…’ and the original source. I know the copyright laws/infringement vary greatly between the US and UK. I did a lot of research when I was editing the Transatlantic Anthology for the A Tale of Two Cities project, from which many poets have gone on to publish their work, which is a joy. (Another anthology of Worcestershire poetry ‘The Poetry of Worcestershire’, published by Offa’s Press featured a great many poems local poets had written during my Worcestershire Poet Laureate projects too.) Spreading the poetry love!
As I was unsure about creating from an already created source, I decided to use one of the referenced poems (which probably means there will be millions of almost couplet poems starting with O-W-I-I-W lines), but never-mind, that is the fun of Napo, just to play and create. We are not writing for publication right now.
For all the years I have done this writing month I have a handful of decent/reworked/edited/workshopped Napo poems in print, there are a few in both my own collections Fragile Houses (2016) and Patience (2019) as well as various magazines and anthologies. But right now, if you are feeling like me… just breathe and DIVE IN!
When I extracted Natalie Shapero’s “Pennsylvania” the first thing I noticed was the amount of repeated letters, I know there are differences between UK and US poetry too and was unsure whether this would result in a good poem at first. But remember rules can always be broken and already I feel this ‘mimic form prompt’ will possibly be rendered down to create a different end-poem, I got down to the writing anyway. After all, NaPo isn’t about worrying whether the writing is any good and even our rubbish writes take us somewhere.
Do not be afraid and if a prompt scares you that can be a GOOD thing, NaPo for me is all about writing poems which would not otherwise have been written.
Another tip would be: Choose a poem you aren’t familiar with, don’t read it. Strip it for the parts needed to complete this prompt – write and only when finished read the original poem. Then you know for sure you have copied nothing but the initial letters and form. (Number of stanzas, lines etc.).
Mimicry is actually a recognised part of writing development it appears in many workshops and academic classes. Remind yourself you are not doing anything wrong here.
The start of my creation looked like this.
It took a surprisingly long time to create a poem, mainly because the idea forms of what it is you want to say and then you have to find a word starting with a specific letter to fit that, but this is the gold dust of this prompt – by following the constraints of the rule you finish with a poem worded in a way you wouldn’t naturally have written it.
I didn’t worry too much about the ten syllable counts, or matching line lengths to the original, I just wrote what felt right.
After I finished I read the original and copied and pasted the poems side by side. Several of my lines were longer in places so I changed the size of the font to make them carry the couplet form, (obviously not necessary when just looking at my poem alone). I was intrigued to find that I started with the idea of the world still turning, carrying on without you and the original Natalie is talking of death and new life, the circle of life;
the whole of the globe turning
off for a moment, then shuddering
back, the same as it was,
Covering the same concept because when you are ill in hospital or cut off by grief you feel this sense of no longer being part of the world, and yet everything around you carries on despite your world being forever changed. Other than that the poems are (I am happy to say) completely different. And the common ground is a universal experience which has been written about for hundreds/thousands of years. My troublesome title came right at the end, I had a selection of P words, but Prognosis only entered my head as I was typing the penultimate couplet.
An extract from Prognosis:
encode the hours between meds and cups of tea.
Accept this bed, this broken body–
prophesize your release.
RELATED LINKS:
I knew of Natalie Shapero, but had not read this particular poem. It sounds like a spectacular collection, read about it here:
I feel incredibly guilty planning to relaunch the blog at this time as I will be writing in a way that made seem egocentric. I hope you will understand that this is, in part, a distraction technique for myself to cope and manage at this time of self-isolation. As the UK prepares for the peak of COVID-19 and we all attempt to adjust our lives to staying in and social distancing our anxieties increase.
I was working until a week ago and have been self-isolating since then, my exercise has been indoors and I have used our garden for air and sunshine. I am fortunate enough not to know anyone at this stage who has suffered complications, although people I know have probably got the virus (we don’t know because we are not testing). I know that we will go from losing jobs (my income is currently £0, despite the government putting many packages in place), I am hopeful this will change and if it doesn’t I am grateful that the universe supplied me with some full time work in the months of this outbreak in the East. So there is a small safety net. I know that we will go from this manic stress of losing our lives as we knew them, the economic worries and the fallout of another recession to come to losing loved ones.
I know that we are all in fear, things are uncertain (or certain in some cases) and we are no longer in control. We are in control of how we manage this crisis for ourselves though. Right now you should give yourself permission to feel as you do and know that it will change many times a day. It is okay to feel this way.
I am trying to offer people help in any small way I can. Having suffered clinical depression (2012) I have techniques and experience of many Mental Health aids for wellbeing, I trained as a Life Coach and have just had 12 months of ill health which meant that I was pretty much self isolated. I was certainly cut off. I started a daily positivity page on Facebook which offers a daily dip/tip for keeping your Mental Health in balance during this period of isolation.
Please feel free to use, like and share this page.
I am witnessing many creative people helping each other and a country of artists who have now moved online, we are all learning how to use Zoom! I am seeing community (that Big Community our government used to speak about) re-emerging, I am seeing selflessness and love.
I hope you are all finding a way through this time.
It doesn’t seem right having this weekend retreat so close to Halloween and not include an opportunity for some Horror writing.
Writing Exercise #4 – Mysterious/Scary
A murder has taken place in a cabin in the middle of a snowy field. Your character finds three sets of footsteps entering the cabin, but none leaving. Apart from the victim, no one else seems to be there. What is going on?
Please note extended deadline – Poetry/Prose to be sent by 30/10/17
Following an amazing night at 42 (Gothic Halloween/ Plus special theme), I have opened this submission to prose too (max. of 1000 words).
Your support is greatly appreciated, please share this opportunity.
Perfect for poets who enjoy 42 (every last Wednesday of the month) at Drummonds, Worcester. Or for those who like to write darker material. Equally good for those amongst us who write more light-hearted poems about Trick or Treat (Heather Wastie’s famous Halloween poem springs to mind).
Nothing too graphic – I scare easily and I want to be able to share your work!
Send it to the usual place, in the usual way. Poems/prose must not be previously published, no expletive language, please use single spacing and send in the body of an email to worcspl[at]gmail.com
I cannot believe we have nearly reached the halfway point. This is usually where we experience the dip. I am now struggling with the fact that my NaPo poems are meaningless and not well written, with the challenge of some of the forms in the limited time I have set aside for the creation of the poems, also that nagging feeling of catch up.
So I start this morning with taking my own advice.
Forgive
Move On
Write
This challenge never presents 30 excellent poems by the end of April. I do not think that is the point, it is meant to fuel your writing. Maybe in August I will write a poem that would never be penned with NaPo 2017.
The frustration is in wanting to write well, (I don’t think any of us ever want to write badly, unless we’re entering an Anti-slam or something)!
I am packing my frustration away today and catching up on the writing from Day 13. In an attempt to write in meaning, my companion today is my carry around notebook, which I opened randomly and chose a line from as an initial thought.
I managed several attempts at a Ghazal, all of which need more work.
… like routes on a torn Tube map,
My poem on Carrie’s prompt ended in some research, which may result in an additional poem at some point. I think it may be the shortest prose poem in existence!
Our featured participant today is Clairvetica, where the ghazal for Day 13 is a mixed-emotions ode to London.
Today’s interview is with Troy Jollimore. A poet whose work often has a philosophical bent, he won the National Book Critics Circle award for his first book, Tom Thomson in Purgatory. You can find three of Jollimore’s poems here and four more here.
Last but not least, our prompt! Because it’s Friday, let’s keep it light and silly today, with a clerihew. This is a four line poem biographical poem that satirizes a famous person. Here’s one I just made up:
Emily Dickinson
wasn’t a fickle one.
Having settled in Amherst,
she wouldn’t be dispersed.
Is it going to win a Pulitzer prize? Nope – but it was fun to write!
I wrote a clerihew about our Prime Minister – I think it will stay in my notebook!
Carrie Etter’s prompt was to write a list poem, as an actual list. I have written it but my example doesn’t really feel like a poem. Maybe that is the nature of the form. I may go for this again, once I have some solid anchors to hook a list on.
Jo Bell http://www.jobell.org.uk/English Breakfast by Paul Summers, the title mainly reminded me that it is lunchtime and I haven’t eaten mine yet.
An interesting discussion about judgement and prejudice.
The Poetry School
Day 14: What if…?
How many stories, films and poems can be summarised with that question? Look at Jose Saramago’s novel Blindness, which asks the question: What if blindness was contagious?
Today’s task is to ask yourself a ‘what if’ question — and to answer it. It might help to start off your poem with ‘What if…’ though you may decide to delete that part later on. It can be a personal ‘what if’ addressing what might have happened, or a hypothetical, scientific ‘what if’, but whatever you choose, the key to this task is to commit. You must follow the logic through wherever it goes, even – no, especially – if it goes somewhere unexpected.
For inspiration, have a look at Mark Waldron’s ‘Lion’, the second poem featured here: https://daysofroses.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/three-poems-from-mark-waldrons-the-itchy-sea/
Day 11 – I was super busy and had time to look at the prompts and not write any poetry. So this is the first day of NaPo that I failed to write my poem a day – this happens. It happens to most people embracing the challenge, maybe the poetry that comes today will be stronger having lingered in my head for 24 hours.
Yesterday I spent the morning making an Easter Promotion video for Fragile Houses (better than an egg), reading proof copy, organising festival events and writing blurb for programmes. In the afternoon I went to Swindon with Rick Saunders (Willis the Poet) to watch him Headline at Oooh Beehive, Clive Oseman & Nick Lovell’s Spoken Word Night. Other Headliners were Aaron Samuel (who has been in the game for just 4 short months and is AMAZING) and Bryony Vine – both of whom were spotted by Clive and Nick at Milk Poets. It was a great night!
Our featured participant for the day is Unassorted stories, where the poem for Day 9 is a portrait of a mental makeover.
Today, we’re also featuring a 1962 interview with Sylvia Plath. In popular culture, Plath is known for three things: (1) she wrote angry poems, (2) she killed herself, and (3) teenage girls who feel angry and a little gothy read her to feel angrier and a little gothier. But look a little further, and you’ll find a deeply philosophical poet, a master of unusual similes that set the reader rocking back on their heels, and a refuser of obvious or comfortable ideas, particularly about motherhood, femininity, and the reality of existing in a physical body. There’s a lot to learn from her densely layered, uncompromising verse. Looking for a few examples of her work beyond those poems you might have already seen? Here’s one, and another, and another.
And last but not least, here’s our (optional) prompt for the day: the Bop. The invention of poet Afaa Michael Weaver, the Bop is a kind of combination sonnet + song. Like a Shakespearan sonnet, it introduces, discusses, and then solves (or fails to solve) a problem. Like a song, it relies on refrains and repetition. In the basic Bop poem, a six-line stanza introduces the problem, and is followed by a one-line refrain. The next, eight-line stanza discusses and develops the problem, and is again followed by the one-line refrain. Then, another six-line stanza resolves or concludes the problem, and is again followed by the refrain. Here’s an example of a Bop poem written by Weaver, and here’s another by the poet Ravi Shankar.
Yesterday I got as far as reading the examples and writing out my frame. Today I sat down to write my first ever Bop. My first attempt worked technically and was something I needed to write out of myself. It stands as a poem, but didn’t say enough. Then I thought back to recent events in Birmingham. The EDL marched on the city and one of my friends was racially abused. I wanted to write about that. Go Back Home
Saffiyah Khan’s photo (smiling at protestors as she stepped in to defend a woman who was surrounded) has gone viral, I watched a video interview with her yesterday and the whole thing needs to be united against. It seems to me the Bop is a perfect form for such a political statement. So I set back to my page again.
I think it is important for people to know that there were Unity Rallies, Counter Protestors and demonstrations, like the tea party held at the Mosque. 300 attended that, there were 50 EDL members. The protest was originally planned for the East Midlands, but moved to Birmingham after the Westminster attacks.
Saffiyah was not a counter-protestor, she was just in the city and came to this woman’s aid. Stepped in where others looked on.
I was not there – I was in the city in 2014 when the EDL came, I was performing at an event at the Library for Birmingham Literature Festival, an event that one poet pulled out of because her skin was the wrong colour that day. I was afraid and I was inside the library. Saffiyah states she wasn’t being brave, but it takes a lot to stand up like this. Look how straight her back is!
Old English or Anglo-Saxon verse is fascinating and powerful. To write in a typical Anglo-Saxon way, you need:
· lines with 4 stresses (though it doesn’t matter how many feet, i.e. your line can be as short as ‘Hold. Stay! Hold, hold!’ or as long as you want providing it only has 4 stresses)
· an optional central caesura or pause between stress 2 and 3
· alliteration of 3 of the 4 stress words (this doesn’t have to be on the first syllable if the stress is on a later syllable, e.g. although would alliterate on ‘th’).
It’s all very flexible though. If you want to alliterate 2 of the words, or all 4, or you want to skip your caesura, that’s absolutely fine. Sound complicated? It’s not! You’ll soon get the hang of it and it’s a very natural, flowing way to write.
It’ll all be much easier with an example few lines from Simon Armitage’s translation of ‘Gawain’ (which is actually a Middle English revival of the alliterative style). The stresses are indicated in bold.
as he heaped his hair to the crown of his head,
the nape of his neck now naked and ready. Gawain grips the axe and heaves it heavenwards,
This morning I decided to watch a TEDx talk whilst eating breakfast. I have spent a couple of weeks in a dip and am lacking motivation and belief. In under three years I am already uttering those vile, monstrous, self-destructive words, ‘what’s the point?’ Not only has the question entered my mind, it has been playing on a slow loop and worse still I have started to take it as fact that the answer is – ‘there isn’t any.’
All of this is completely ridiculous, however, in the short time I have been back in my writing life I have discovered not only do all writers feel this way from time to time but even really famous authors and successful writers fall prey to these self-sabotaging words.
The point is;
your unique voice, out there for people to read.
this is your chosen career.
you have to stay highly motivated as you have no boss to answer to and some days probably don’t even get dressed before lunchtime (if at all).
you write, but no-one writes 24/7.
this was a choice, still is, but don’t let one bad week/month/year dissuade you.
So here I am in the doldrums (despite several ongoing exciting projects), this lingering feeling has been unsettling me for over two weeks. Today, I thought this is ridiculous, I need to spur myself on.
Hence the breakfast with a side order of TEDx.
It was the 2012 Olympics which reignited my ambition to become a writer. I am basically taking 4 years at a time as an over-arching period as a writer and allowing myself four Olympics to get to GOLD. I am hoping in the light of my writing life after 3 years that it won’t take the whole 16 years to achieve my ambition.
The Universe Steps In
You know how the universe conspires in putting exactly what you need at that given moment in front of you – well the talk suggested something about the Olympians which I vaguely remembered hearing before, indeed a quick search gave me the data and a BBC report on the medal response.
The concept is that Bronze medal winners feel better than Silver medal holders.
Gold is great – you won – on top of the world.
Bronze is – yippee I was placed, I have a medal, so close.
Silver is – shucks I haven’t won.
Research has shown that silver medallists feel worse, on average, than bronze medallists. (Gold medallists, obviously, feel best of all.) The effect is written all over their faces, as psychologists led by Thomas Gilovich of Cornell University found out when they collected footage of the medallists at the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. Gilovich’s team looked at images of medal winners either at the end of events – that is, when they had just discovered their medal position – or as they collected their medals on the podium. They then asked volunteers who were ignorant of the athlete’s medal position to rate their facial expressions. Sure enough, the volunteers rated bronze medallists as consistently and significantly happier than silver medallists, both immediately after competing, and on the podium.
Just with this in mind (because I was obviously aiming for Gold and actually feeling bad that I hadn’t even made Silver and the people on the podium weren’t even in the race when I started), my mind shifted. I realised I need to appreciate what I do have – and I have pages of it in The Write Year to look back on.
I am learning and I think that’s what it’s all about. The writing process takes an incredibly long and frustrating time is a new lesson. It is an important one. I have learnt how the polishing is important, how not to jump the gun (sending work out too early with ragged edges). I will train harder and seek support. Being a part of a team is much more comfortable than the solitude of your garret where you are out on a limb.
Of course, ‘I am Bronze’ – is in itself a winning mindset – my Olympic year falls next year and I will see how much ground I have covered and how 2016 pans out, I am hoping it ends with a medal around my neck. (Just maybe not silver!)
So my best advice for an attack of the writing doldrums – is claw yourself back out, make a list of all your highest achievements, stick it somewhere you will see it everyday and keep up the good fight. Today may not have been yours – but who’s to say what tomorrow holds? You get a new chance daily, send your darlings out and keep smiling!
One day victory will be yours!Cue manical laughter.
This is the part of the year where I start to wind down the amount of performances and events I attend. I was hoping to go to Spoken Word at The Ort this evening (Fri 6th), but last night (5th Nov) we had a Bonfire and a few fireworks, although we saved some money on fireworks this year, they weren’t as spectacular as last year and the god-children couldn’t make it, so we are having a Guy Fawkes/Bonfire again Saturday night. I have just started back to work after a fortnight off too. Next week is a heavy schedule so I have started to listen to how I feel and if I am too tired to make a journey, there is a high probability that I won’t enjoy it as much as I should. Mr G and I ordered a take away instead, after I woke up from my two hour catnap!
On Saturday the 31st I was at the P Café, Stirchley to perform alongside 5 other chosen poets at a special Halloween event.
Charley Barnes
Charley is a Worcestershire based poet who enjoys crime fiction, gender studies, and tea (but struggles to get all of these things into her poetry). She is a regular fixture at spoken word nights in the West Midlands and her work is renowned for its personal and soul touching nature.
Tom Crossland
Tom is a Birmingham based poet, and a regular fixture in many of Brum’s spoken word nights. He enjoys apiology, horology*, and physics. He even writes the occasional poem. Some of which he has even performed at the Roundhouse Slam final, and used to win the Pangaea Poetry Slam.
*These are subjects at Hogwarts**
** They’re not, they’re the study of time and bees. Think Dr. Who played by Alan Titchmarsh.
Tarik Ross Cameron
Tarik is a spoken word poet born and living in Birmingham. He has been performing since December 2014. He aims to take listeners on a journey through themes he cares about, whether with music-influenced rhyming, or reflective pieces in which he tells stories in more detail.
Luci Hammans
Luci does poetry. Sometimes. The other times she’s over analysing things and try hard not to crumple into anxiety but always she is wearin boots. Because boots are as close as she’s ever gonna get to stilts and stability.
Casey Bailey
Casey has performed at events like Birmingham REP’s Level UP and staple of the Birmingham calendar, Hit The Ode. His work fuses poetry and rap and blends personal pieces with social discussion. He was the first featured artist at the first ever Stirchley Speaks.
Nina Lewis
Nina is a published poet and freelance writer. On her writing she says that she is ‘in a more settled place, with patience and an understanding of ‘temporary setbacks’, this time I will not change path! I am just going to keep going.’
It was my first Poetry Brothel experience. The full immersive concept of these places – (popular in Europe) is that the poets take on a role/character too, we didn’t – we literally had masks in the form of Halloween fancy dress and masks. We also didn’t have 1 to 1 clients in private sections, instead we invited 3 – 5 participants at a time to come and find us in the decorated back room of the café, where they chose 3 poets to go and listen to for 15 minutes.
There have been poetry brothels around the world, from the USA to New Zealand via Columbia, and now the award winning movement is coming to Birmingham for the first time.
For one night only CAGED Arts presents The Poetry Brothel, a night of intimate poetry readings. On Halloween, as the veil between this world and the next begins to wane enter our gateway at The P Café. Enjoy your time in limbo with a variety of workshops and stalls, including lost soul making, caricatures and temporary tattoos fitting for such a spookynight. Peruse the menu for poets and book your own personal experience with them in the world beyond the veil.
Heidi Murphy (Caged Arts) had spent the day working hard on decorating the venue. It looked amazing. The café has two main rooms and there were lots of activities happening in these areas including; Rory McGhie Haiku Hut, variety of workshops, stalls and poetry.
The backroom (which has been allocated as a space for Guest Artists) was our brothel space which had been decorated with fairy lights, candles, pumpkins and the walls had been painted with quotations sent in by the commissioned poets. I was delighted when I discovered ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ – as my poem was written about the hotel from The Shining.
Each poet chose a performance area and then we had groups of 3 to 5 people visit us. There were drinks on a table for them to help themselves too and each poet had tips glasses which the public could use if they wished.
The room was distractingly noisy to start and I was aware that my voice may have been soft for my audience to hear, once I was used to this I started to enjoy it. It was energy zapping, but also entertaining and highly fun and I was glad my application for this event had been successful.
WANTED: Your Halloween Poems
This is the part of the year where I start to wind down the amount of performances and events I attend. I was hoping to go to Spoken Word at The Ort this evening (Fri 6th), but last night (5th Nov) we had a Bonfire and a few fireworks, although we saved some money on fireworks this year, they weren’t as spectacular as last year and the god-children couldn’t make it, so we are having a Guy Fawkes/Bonfire again Saturday night. I have just started back to work after a fortnight off too. Next week is a heavy schedule so I have started to listen to how I feel and if I am too tired to make a journey, there is a high probability that I won’t enjoy it as much as I should. Mr G and I ordered a take away instead, after I woke up from my two hour catnap! 
Murdock Ramone © 2015
had spent the day working hard on decorating the venue. It looked amazing. The café has two main rooms and there were lots of activities happening in these areas including; 
Rory McGhie Haiku Hut, variety of workshops, stalls and poetry.
had been painted with quotations sent in by the commissioned poets. 
I was delighted when I discovered ‘all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’ – as my poem was written about the hotel from The Shining. 
Casey Bailey – All photos by Murdock Ramone © 2015
Luci Hammans
Tom Crossland
awritersfountain 