From the Desk & Endgame for the Allotment

I am fortunate that work hasn’t really started, I am on call but the 1st few weeks can be slack as no cover is needed. This has given me a couple of clear days for writing. This week I found out about an exciting new opportunity to present work or possibly even a workshop for a mental health festival. I am writing my bid today. Yesterday I researched some Lit Magazines and read some informative articles which I will link you up to during INKSPILL. Then the wireless connection started unfriending me and I spent time writing with ink and preparing my set for the Poetry Lounge.

Today I am working on a couple of submissions and having come home with a scribbled list of ideas after last night’s event would like to get some writing done too.

__________________________

This evening is our last time up the allotment, we are emptying the shed, digging up the rhubarb and carrying long beanpoles (bamboo canes) home and then we are handing the land back to the council. It is quite sad, we have had the allotment for 5 glorious years and it has been a big part of our story (me & Mr G) …I plan to pay tribute to the past half a decade of hard graft and bountiful harvests, through poetry. This year will be the FIRST year we don’t carve our own HOMEGROWN pumpkins for Halloween.

 

We are growing in our garden and still expect to fill the Christmas Dinner plates with homegrown wonders though.

 

© A.Cooke 2013

 

 

The Emotional Spectrum of Writing

The Emotional Spectrum of Writing: Highs and Lows

People often comment about my energy, how I am able to attend and perform at so many events a month, how I write often, they see the shine, the sparkle, the bits you take out to share.

This blog is a writing blog, it is truth, it is highs and lows, rejection and success. Recently I have hit the kind of low with mental mirages, the times when the gremlins get in and you start to believe you are no good. Confidence sky dives and you begin to question whether anything you are doing has any value or worth.

I am not posting this to gain sympathy or to accept kindly a barrage of it will get better messages, feel free to respond, my intention is just this –

to SHARE THE TRUTH.

Part of the writing journey is to accept these lows and ride the waves through them, back into days when you are your own best friend and not your own worst enemy, when you believe in your full potential and recognise your talent and gifts. You will find higher ground again – so don’t give up.

Take a break but don’t give up.

 This is a photo of traffic from our bank holiday weekend in Somerset. We did get there, it took 5 hours, much longer than it should have, we got there – because we just kept going.

Just keep going.

 This is a photograph of the Grayson Perry book I bought earlier this year, his tapestries took a long time to complete – they are incredible works of art for the content but also the act of creating the content.

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

I had this quote on a tin as a child and I never really understood what it meant. I do now. It took many authors we know 15 or more attempts before successful publishing deals. The best tool is persistence, repeat, repeat, repeat.

Allow yourself time to feel down, then get back up and carry on. Keep doing what you do best and learn from it. Acknowledge the possibility that improvement can be made, if not send it elsewhere, you need to find a fitting home for your work. If it is rejected more than three times then it may be an idea to submit some different work.

Plan it – Map it – See it – Be it 

Make a new plan.

What will you do next?

Work out your writing schedule.

Do it!

Enjoy the results and if they weren’t the right results and you can’t enjoy it – repeat the above list, until you can!

© Sarah Wilkinson 2014

Writing 101, Day Eleven: Size Matters

Tell us about the home where you lived when you were twelve. Which town, city, or country? Was it a house or an apartment? A boarding school or foster home? An airstream or an RV? Who lived there with you?

But first, consider this passage:

The man rode hard through the woods. The black horse’s effort lay in lather. The sun beat down from high overhead. Dark birds circled, drifted, and then returned. The land baked, and dust hung suspended.

Is this not the most boring paragraph you’ve read in a long time — perhaps ever? We’ve got portent, a racing rider, and a forbidding landscape. Together, these should offer excitement and intrigue, but the words lay on the page, limp and dead. Why? Sentence length. Each sentence contains exactly seven words. The repetitive, seven-word cadence lulls you to sleep instead of piquing your interest.

So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader’s ear. Don’t just write words. Write music.

– Gary Provost, 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing

Mixing up the lengths of your sentences creates variety for the reader and makes for much more interesting reading.

Today’s twist: pay attention to your sentence lengths and use short, medium, and long sentences as you compose your response about the home you lived in when you were twelve.

I am lucky, I spent my childhood in one place, in one home, my mum made sure of that having had a childhood which involved relocating and changing schools often, she knew how important stability is and made sure we at least had that.

My family home was on a 1970’s estate, some lovely properties. My parents were the second people to buy the house, it was situated in a cul-de-sac, which was one of the main reasons for buying it for the children of the family they were yet to have to play out in.

It was a four-bedroom, semi-detached with a big garden at the back and a small lawn at the front. When my parents bought it there were three bedrooms and they had it extended. I lived with my parents, older brother and younger brother.

It is in a small town in the Midlands, surrounded by countryside and equidistant to two cities, a short car journey away.

Having lived all over, I have come back to my home county for family but also the location. The grass is always greener on the other side, when actually the greenest grass is that of home.

I find it funny after ten years of living away from home – all over the country that I ended up back in home county.

Writing 101: Day 4 – The Serial Killer

Write about a loss: something (or someone) that was part of your life, and isn’t any more.

This doesn’t need to be a depressing exercise; you can write about that time you lost the three-legged race at a picnic. What’s important is reflecting on this experience and what it meant for you — how it felt, why it happened, and what changed because of it.

Today’s twist: Make today’s post the first in a three-post series.

Our blogs are often made of standalone posts, but using them to take readers on longer journeys is an immersive experience for them — and you. It allows you to think bigger and go deeper into an idea, while using a hook that keeps readers coming back.

A series can take many forms:

• Recurring features of the same type of post, like The Stakes’ Game of Thrones recaps or Chronicles of an Anglo-Swiss’ responses to daily prompts.
• Posts on the same topic, where each builds on the last, like Literature and Libations’ multi-part posts on becoming a beer writer.
• Fiction, where each post gives readers the next chapter or a new story, like the work at Flashes in the Pan and 300 Stories.

We also have advice that might help. If you decide to go serial, we’ve got days scheduled for parts two and three, so don’t worry about writing everything now or having to shoehorn the other posts in.

A Loss:

I have lost so many things, I could write some dark material from this prompt. My mind immediately heads to people I have lost first, then things, of which I have lost many pinnacle material items, then parts of myself – I have lost along the way, battles I have lost, people I have lost who are still very much in the world, pets I have lost, beliefs I have lost, lessons I have discarded.

I am trying to gain material from joining Writing 101 – the main focus is writing practice – a daily dose and beyond that a hope of up-cycling something, even if it’s the odd sentence or idea. This is my reason for trying to stay positive, that and it is better material for you to read than all the things I have survived, I am sure.

When I was thirteen I started to write to people all over the world through a pen pal scheme. I loved receiving letters and getting to know people in other countries. A few of us are still in touch which means the world to me and some I have since used the internet to search for. Enjoying the irony of meeting back up online (now we have pretty much killed the postal service, if it wasn’t for ebay/ Amazon orders) – I have always been unsuccessful in finding them, many were girls and probably have different surnames by now.

I remember the first time I lost a penfriend though, because we were still very much in communication and suddenly the letters stopped coming. This worried me, Melinda lived in the Philippines and I had no way of knowing if she was okay. We had grown up together and we were turning 17, maybe she had got tired of writing, but knowing her as I did- I know she would have sent a card to tell me she didn’t want to keep writing letters anymore.

I have never been able to trace her and the letters just stopped. Nothing. I don’t know why it happened. Perhaps her college studies had taken all her time. I think about her often and the different culture she was brought up in.

I lost interest in writing letters for a while, Melinda was one of the first and she was no longer sending me mail. I then realised that as far as other pen pals were concerned, I had now disappeared too, so I started writing letters again.

I still enjoy writing letters and fortunately have a few friends in this Country and others who like to write back. The joy of having things in the post which aren’t bills or statements is a wonderful thing.

 

 

An Article in ‘The Stylist’ – Rejection Letters of the Famous

We will all face rejection from the world of publishing, I have FINALLY had lots of success recently, but it is a long, hard road even for the successful writer.

I saw a link to this article on social media and thought I would share it here, take a look, it will make you feel better. 

Amongst the rejected are;

Sylvia Plath,

U2,

Madonna,

George Orwell,

Gertrude Stein.

 

Take a look, these letters will make you feel better, better about yourself and your writing… and then you can just keep going like all these famous people did.

http://www.stylist.co.uk/stylist-network/rejection-letters-sent-to-famous-people#image-rotator-1

 

 

SOLC – March – Slice of Life Challenge – The Initial 3 Day Catch Up Post!

I had completely forgotten MARCH is the Slice of Life Challenge Month – where bloggers post a daily slice as opposed to a weekly one…
I think the 3 Day Catch Up post may heavily feature on mine – we will see.

Come join in the fun!

Day 1 – 1st March Saturday

No pinching or punching today – which is good, just sleeping mainly!

Spent the afternoon and evening with friends, our first house guests. Very impressed with my friend’s daughter who taught herself to play chess in the time it took me to collect a Take Away!

 

Day 2 – 2nd March Sunday

Nothing was planned for a super lazy Sunday, good job too because after I let friends out of the house I went back to bed and fell asleep… until the next one left (to go and have Sunday dinner!) I struggled to stay awake but attempted it and despite having a paperwork mountain to climb, decided that I needed a rest and spent the evening chilling out with Mr G.

 

Day 3 – 3rd March Monday

My Writing Day – turned into a Wacky Races version of paperwork gathering as I called, emailed and tantrum-ed over missing paperwork, made visits to town branches of banks and by teatime had NEARLY found all the missing documents. Spent what seemed like the whole day completing forms for the solicitors (selling my apartment)…. unfortunately as I was in town I couldn’t by pass the shops without a quick look, it started with the essential toiletries (to make me feel like I had been shopping, whilst at the same time being grown up, thrifty and sensible!) and then I looked for a dress in the SALES for a party this weekend. Then I saw a few bargains and snapped a few up… and so the story goes on and on up the High Street – I must have spent a third of my weekly wages!

I have the party-wear and accessories sorted (masked ball) – I have all the essential bathroom bits – I have some new weekend wear and a new poetry dress. (No one item cost more than £14 and many were a few pounds…) I used to shop weekly and now I cannot remember the last time I did… anyway it is done and I don’t wish for store credit and as all items were SALE price that’s all I would get!

It was fun and a good arm workout for the walk home.

In the evening we went to visit a very excited 7 year old – Mr G’s Godson, who was full of Birthday beans – we spent an hour or so with the family and then came home to collapse in heaps! I was asleep by 10pm and had an early night ready for work today.

Day 4 – 4th March Tuesday

Before work at 7 am – I was up, showered and already sending emails to estate agents, housing associations, solicitors and authors.

I went to work (first frozen morning in a while) – I love Tuesdays as I get to work 1 to 1 and whole class and work with 4 up to 9 year olds. A great mix day. Most of it is Music too- creative and fun. I spent every minute of my break chasing calls from emails and half of my dinner time in my inbox and most of the rest of it on the phone.
By this evening I had all the necessary gaps filled in the solicitors forms which are now ready to take in along with my evidence tomorrow.

We had pancakes for Shrove Tuesday – the first one in this house! I cooked dinner did a ton of chores and ran out of time to exercise (or write) – there is always tomorrow…. it is going to feel SO GOOD dropping this paperwork off!

association

 

The Tiniest Display

After work today I went to check the library out where I have been asked to display my poetry. The Arts Network display a variety of local talent there throughout the year.

From emails I have received, I had expected a display board, perhaps an area of a couple of metres in length…. I walked past it twice before accosting a librarian!

It is smaller than my coffee table and has the added disadvantage of me needing to display poems so they can be read – maybe I should attach them to coffee table books – actually that is not such a bad idea!

I am currently researching ideas online – I am supposed to spend this hour working on submissions – 20minutes on Google is not helping. I have until Friday to get this exhibition created – I am looking forward to it, despite it landing in such a busy week!

Let me know if you have ideas how flat display (lying down on the table) can be made to look creative and wonderful…. for now I am going to run with the coffee table book idea I think!

The Non-Writing, Writing Plan!

This evening, like all good artists working day jobs (earnings) around art, I need to have some office time. I have a list of admin tasks and tonight is the perfect time to do them.

I have managed to get home from work, just before 6pm, some chores are done, some R&R has been had and now I can make a half hour space before cooking tea! 🙂 See it can be done. YOU JUST NEED TO BE ORGANISED!

I am working my way back through the writing diary (what was that I said about being organised?!) Checking on each opportunity I have scribbled in there, checking where I need to submit to next and what material I am sending them.

I also want to spend some time learning a new poem by heart – one that if I manage, I will perform tomorrow night and will form part of my big set at the end of February!

I would like to find some time to read more 52 poems, now I finally wrote and posted my Week 5 prompt! Once a month Jo Bell is having a guest poet blogging the challenge. This wonderfully-adventurous-fairly-hard-to-write-delving-into-animals-souls, was brought to us by David Morley (who is a huge fan of birds!) we had to be an animal, write as that animal. An interesting challenge which led me to watch several hours of nature documentaries and has sparked off a list of inspired writing, yet to be created!

And if there is any time left between cooking, dinner, R&R and bedtime, I would also like to venture out around Blogland as I haven’t made it to other blogs for quite some time.

I have also come home to a print out of the FREE PDF  available from The Charles Causley Trust, treat yourself the 3 award winning poems are worth it – and although the are displayed online – see here – Charles Causley Winners Announced  it is nice to be able to take them to bed in paper form and be inspired! Lovely and colourful but we used a black and white printer!

Grab yours from HERE

 

Have a good night! What are you up to?

 

Start the New You Now! Ultimate Webinar – Positive Affirmations

 

 

Today’s half hour webinar today was packed with positive affirmations. I thought I would share some of today’s keynotes on here for you and also to remind myself about these sprinkles of hope.

Louise Hay  and Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D.

Video – All is Well: Heal Your Life with Medical Intuition and Affirmations – Part 3

  Photographs © 2014 Hay House

 

 

Take some time for yourself, stop the over-bearing and over-protection (over mothering) of others.

You identify with that person’s lack and go right in. You nurture yourself AND EVERYONE ELSE .

This is the change agent affirmation. This is the key.

 

I am important

I count

I now care for and nourish myself

with love and joy.

I allow others the freedom

to be who they are,

we are all safe and free

 

Don’t just nourish everyone in your world and forget yourself!

Give yourself time. It is time for you.

 

Let go of feeling guilty – allow people the freedom of being who they are – let them sort themselves out – trust they will be okay.

 

Affirmation 2:

I joyously love

and I am at Peace.

Affirmation 3:

I move beyond

old limitations

and now allow myself

to express freely and creatively.

 

Affirmation 4:

I see with love and joy

I now create a life

I love to look at

 

 

 

SO GO AHEAD, allow yourself time, affirm these ideas and give yourself a brighter future and an intensely pleasurable start to the New Year.

 

 

 

 

January A Writing Project

Over at Writing Our Way Home they have kicked off the year with a small stones writing project for the month. Small stones are basically a moment of focus, encapsulated in a few words. You can see examples of the past 3 days of stones on their website (link above).

I joined them in November when they had just 1 mindful day of small stone writing on the 1st. This was when I discovered what ‘small stones’ were. I was gutted when I realised it was only a one day thing and delighted to discover they are running for a month in January. Sometimes wonderful ideas can come from small stones, I will be building up my own collection of small stones here.

It is a good focus exercise and gets you observing the day better, trying to find a small stone.

I hope some of you join in too.

***********************************************

MY SMALL STONES

1st

The day full of promise
is cloudy and overcast,
a parallel match to
the state of your mind
after welcoming the new year in
through the slim neck of a bottle
or two.
Your own neck and legs ache
you don’t remember dancing,
no amount of water re-hydrates you.
Slipping quietly back beneath the covers
You hear the bleak weather
rain lashing angrily at your window
begging to be let in.
An unwelcome visitor.
Your plans swallowed by flood waters.
You give yourself permission to sleep,
glad to be inside
on the first wet day of the year.

2nd

Grey clouds like puffs of smoke linger in a pink, blue sky.

The rain has disappeared and the sun has shone.

The air is cold and full of promise.

3rd

Lying in bed,

my favourite place to be

reading,

searching the words to find opportunities.

Circling possible ventures

carefully

in freehand straight lines

with a thick purple pen.

4th

I sit with these women I love

Looking at them, reading the stories

held in wrinkled skin,

I buy lunch – it is the least I can do.

5th

Sitting at a sticky-edged table in a room full of writers

writing silent scribbles across blank pages

Atmosphere alive with open hearts spilling.

I write a poem about walking up the volcano without you

on our first Valentine’s Day.

6th

Standing outside I can usually hear the buzz of the playground

I hear the birds

as term doesn’t start until tomorrow.

7th

Land littered with puddles,

children relishing getting shoes wet and laughing

as they splash each other.

8th

In the role play corner, now a house,

a little blonde girl wears a colander on her head

and waits for the boy to give her

her baby back.

9th

The sun shines through the pale, unlined curtains,

greets me with promise after days of rain.

10th

I pull my clothes on in an attempt to make myself
feel awake.
Technically I have got up.
I am wearing a combination of clothing
I would never brave the outside world in,
I am comfy.
I have not restricted myself into too tight for
me undergarments or bothered to cover
my naked feet in socks.
There is no need as I spend the day
beneath a blanket
and sleep.

11th

The excitement of being found
by your lover.
His face lights up as he discovers
me in the room
next door.
I love these moments.
These moments confirm he loves me
More than words ever could.

12th

The rain falls
all day,
the rubbish waits
in bags
by the back door,
waiting to be taken out.

13th

I watch her growing older

and forget that I am also

aging.

Inner vision paused

on twenties.

No portrait in my attic.

14th

Mixing glitter in play-dough

such a simple idea

people forget how magical childhood is already

you only need to sprinkle in a slight

difference

to create a whole new universe.

15th

I watch them play

I am working

Post-it notes in hand I scribble what I see

until the game on chairs.

That I watch

and am instantly transported back to a

childhood of smiles.

The boy and girl

sit opposite each other in the home corner

(now a home)

she sits with her feet up and baby doll on lap

he tickles the doll’s feet

and each time she mimics the baby’s giggle.

Making make believe.

16th

Sirens and

the spoken word

don’t mix well

out in the open.

17th

Looking through rails
in the vintage clothes shop
I am transported back in time
to my own teen-hood
when all of this was still retro
but could be found in my own wardrobe.
Shopping at the Rag Market
and in charity shops
for a fraction of the cost.

18th

Hazy, heavy head

off-balance

early waking

from the night before

little more than a few hours sleep

feel the tilt of the Earth

and in each step

the gravitional pull.

19th

Sitting in a room of writers

a prayer like quality

a peaceful belonging

one that reminds me of home.

20th

Frozen windscreen

sitting behind the wheel

of my own private ice world.

No-one can see me

Smile.

21st

Dark lanes, unknown roads unwind before me

thoughts turn to turning back

something prevents me from being this sensible,

onwards I travel, tyres through rain.

22nd

A conversation makes me feel awkward,

exposed.

Revealed too much

spoke too soon,

Wishing I could run back into the shadows and

not be judged.

23rd

Too tired to keep up the smile.

Emotions snap

and crackle

like a wild fire.

24th

The journey seems further

roads are busier.

I know what to expect.

A day as grey as the tarmac

unfurling relentlessly.

25th

Overdosing on sleep

I can only write from dreams

and just like fading light

they dimly form a memory

in my head.

26th

The garden Centre is filled with a treasure trove of colourful temptation.

We should have just gone in

grabbed the half price seeds and gone back home.

We lingered, we looked, we touched.

We hoped and wanted,

lusted and longed

coming home with empty pockets and a full boot.

27th

A new week

fresh and wrapped beneath a shiny layer of possibilities.

28th

Home in tears, too highly strung.

Emotional girl.

He didn’t understand,

I deemed him cruel, but it was probably for best.

29th

Tightly wound like a coil.

I wish to be something simpler

than this.

30th

The snow fell.

Tiny sprinkles.

E minus effort,

it started as rain,

fell as tiny tokens of snow

and then, later – rain again.

31st

I see a small bird,

a wren, a sparrow, a thrush.

It eats berries off the bush and makes it way

up the garden path.