Poet Cloning

Seriously – poet cloning – it is a necessary experiment! I have struggled since re-launching my writing career with clashing events. It used to be two things I wanted to go to – nowadays it is double bookings and I really get a lot of negative feelings rising when I come across one.

I have missed the last two months of Stanza (and some before the last meeting I made it to back in May) due to performing at events in Birmingham. This month’s meeting was last Friday and I missed it as I was promoting Restless Bones in Birmingham. As it happens, although it is not customary for poet’s to do so, I could have gone to most of stanza, missed the last few poems and made it across the 20+ mile trip to promote the book as our set was late. I had no idea of the running order of the night or our set of 6 promoting poets before the event so couldn’t have made the decision to do both and to be honest I was mid a 4 day run of poetry events which may have turned into a run of 6 had I not fallen short on energy, so the idea of squeezing 2 events in and being barely present at either didn’t really make sense.

Next month’s Stanza was booked back in June, it is 2 days before my birthday and I have arranged to take cake! Then yesterday I discovered Word Up – which is an open mic event I regularly attend is celebrating a 2nd Birthday on the 15th AND they have Rueben Woolley, Jacqui Rowe AND Sammy Joe as headline acts AND I CAN’T GO!

Then later in the month 21st August I was already booked for a KAF Festival show and then discovered this was the evening of the Restless Bones Book Launch. Argh! There are 7 days in a week – why does everything have to fall short?

 

Today is my first writing day in a while, I have been scribbling in my notebook over the past week when I was out on the road and have managed to get some material edited and completed. Mr G has taken this 1st week of the summer holidays off though, so I had to get up at 6AM to squeeze in writing time.

I was working on Monday still and yesterday had a private tutoring so today IS my 1st holiday! I am 2 hours in on a Things to Do List…. less than 1/3 through it.

After my busy poeting weekend I was sad to miss poetry events on Monday night and Tuesday but my energy levels are back to normal and I am going to the Theatre tonight, I know if I had gone to Shindig on Monday and Poetry Bites last night I would not make it through the show tonight nor would I have the energy to complete my submissions, next on the To Do list.

Mr G and I have managed to pack lots into the time we have had together so far and we do have the rest of this week to do more. Today my priority is not the garden, or the man, it is writing… there are deadlines…. I need to knuckle down.

My plan now is to go and write, submit and then come back later to update the blog on the wonders of the past couple of poetry days. It has been an EPIC weekend, truly and I cannot wait to share it with you.

 

Happy Writing

 

 

 

Diary Out, Inking a To Do List

We got to the weekend! Hurray! I have been so busy recently that I am looking forward to some time out next week. I still have to work as I haven’t won the lottery, but am taking a back seat on poetry events, there are some on but I won’t be involved.

Today I am writing my To Do list, there are several deadlines over the next few days that I need to write against. I wrote a poem for Stanza yesterday after work, it took 1.5 hours and I need to go back to the drawing board with it, unfortunately it is not for any of my deadline submissions. Writing close to the bone again, when will I learn?
I am not one of those naturally organised people and so I am doing my best with my writing diary and post-its, (I find it better than last year’s excel spreadsheet format).

I missed a great opportunity because I thought the deadline was today and it was yesterday at 5pm! (I was asleep!)
The brief was London based and most of my London poetry wouldn’t have been suitable, so it would have meant new writing being born, tough call in 2 hours. It was an opportunity to have it displayed outside for a month (April) on huge boards, 8 poets were to be selected.
Looking for more opportunities like this in the future.

Today Mr G and I are finally (after a month of promising) going to sort the allotment jungle – it will be hard work, we are thinking of letting it go now we have a garden, complete with veg patches he dug last weekend.
Then later we are off out to the Theatre, a Christmas Gift from him to me/us.

In between I hope to get some writing done, maybe tonight when we get home.
My priority is 3 poems on a deadline for tomorrow, a video script and some poems about hotels in case I make it to the 3rd day of the Cheltenham Poetry Festival.

I am also currently working on a collaboration for Mouth & Music (8th April), which is exciting, just hope 1 more rehearsal gives us enough time, I cancelled next week’s rehearsal to work!

Caught the Sunday Xpress to the End of my Poetry Week!

I have really enjoyed wearing my poetry skin this past week and I finished off with a set at the Sunday Xpress, in Digbeth.

It was good to see everyone, especially some people who have been away from the circuit for a while.

Poets with Passion! {Event 1}

Today has been a wonderful day!

I shared Sunday Dinner with family, which was lovely, especially as Mr G and I rarely bother with a roast dinner!

Then I spent the afternoon in Birmingham at Tessa Lowe’s event Poets with Passion. This event follows her success with Poets for Peace (back in November) when a group of us gathered in an act of Remembrance and shared poetry for peace. In between these events Tessa has spent most of her time travelling India.

 It was a very popular event and I was glad of the PA system – mainly as I hardly any voice left due to spending 2 weeks with a hacking cough!

It was lovely to see everyone and chat to some newcomers – or new to me at least. The atmosphere was as relaxed and laid back as Tessa is and I hope she was delighted with the afternoon herself. It was so popular we are meeting again next month.

I am filled with poetry.

 

I am also delighted to say this news is shared as my 800th post on this blog!

We All Need a Reboot from Time to Time

 Last night, about 12 hours ago – the computer lost connectivity. Mr G was already asleep and I was attempting to make the daily word count on my Nano write (managed 1703). I was gutted that I had lost ability to post as there were other things I had planned to blog about. On the other hand it was past 1 a.m and I was tired from the working week. I imagined that this was the universe’s way to get me to bed, so I gave up trying to reconnect and slept.

This morning Mr G rebooted the laptop and woke me after a blissful 11 hour slumber!  I have had a lazy entry into the day, reading a few chapters from my current novel. I would recommend all wrimos keep reading if they can, as it helps you consider the structure and content of your own work. I am pleased to say I think mine meets up to a bestselling author! Of course I learnt early on not to compare myself to that competition as a novice writer – what right do I have? – I look in the mirror and compare myself to that competitor instead and I have say she has already developed strength and knowledge and writes better than she did 11 months ago.

I have plans for today that include a lot of writing (among other things);

 Poetry

I want to catch up on the PAD poetry challenge – already a day behind again.

I need to get my set ready for tomorrow. I am performing at the ORT café again in a Remembrance Sunday event called Poet’s for Peace. I have written a few new poems (from the PAD challenge) but there are also some websites I want to visit and read and then write some more poetry specifically for my set. I will need to spend some time later reading over these poems, preparing and rehearsing.

I also need to get my poetry ready for my set on Thursday night – which was booked back in October and now is going to be my 7th appearance (not my 2nd as I first thought it would be.)

 Admin

I need to email Emma my poem for next weekend’s workshop in Oxford. (I missed last night’s deadline due to the connectivity issue!)

I need to check my emails as I haven’t all week! (Work)

 Blogging

I need to catch up in Blogland.

 Writing

I want to get ahead on Wrimo writing to compensate for next week – next week I am working 3 days, I have 2 performance events, a stanza meeting and a workshop and performance in Oxford. I know there will be little time to reach 1667 targets and I will be happy to produce 800-1000 a day. Which means today and tomorrow I really need to overwrite. by the end of next week I expect to be on target for the 30th November and not beyond (as I have been since the start of the challenge!)

I have also just discovered it is the Marathon Writing Day for Nanowrimo today!

I also managed to sign up for the Picture book challenge –  PiBoldMo last week, the site gave me error messages but I received an email offering registration (which closed on the 7th November) so I have to catch up with what is going on in this challenge – basically a month thinking up 30 different picture book ideas. I found out about it when I did my Children’s Picture Book Writing Course back in May.

 

 Reading

I also need to spend some time reading my way through a poetry magazine which I borrowed from stanza two meetings ago and was meant to give back last month and forgot.

I also (finally) subscribed to my writing magazine, I have been buying it all year, but since moving house there are no stockists over here. It also saves me money. £15.00 a year, that’s a poetry book, performance or a bit of petrol money for events in 2014 already banked…. which is great because I totally over spent this year’s budget by twice as much again! Of course I hope to win it all back in some poetry prize in 2014. My new magazine arrived in the post a few days ago and is still in it’s sealed packet!

I also need to start reading Hooked – the writing book James leant me at the 42 Event last month!

 Life

It is also a friend’s birthday this weekend so I am out tomorrow and need to go gift shopping today, and there are other friends I am meeting up with today in between running errands in town, sorting out household monies and doing a bit of cleaning up at home.

So a busy weekend – looks like I needed that mammoth sleep!

Inkspill – 19 days to go – Spread the Word!

Here are some buttons you can choose one to copy and paste onto your blogs to support Inkspill. They are linked to the Inkspill page on this Blog.

Hope to see you all involved, I appreciate you spreading the word.

                                  

At Last Time to Ponder and be Still…

Saturday has at last arrived, my hope of a lie in (first one this week) has been ticked off the ‘To Do’ list (which is in my head today, the recording method works for me so well. Today I am not alone and I know Mr G will motivate the steady flow of jobs to do… he has already started!) and that’s as far as I have got! 🙂

I am planning a lazy, homebound day, peppered with household/garden chores, some home cooking, time with Mr G and marinated in hours of writing!

I have sought inspiration this week from so many places, my notebook is full of scribbles and my creative spirit is bursting for the spotlight. I have to give in!

I have a heavy schedule next week and today is my only ‘breathing’ day. I haven’t had time to venture out into Blogland at all this week so I am starting there.

What are you up to today?

SOLC – Slice of Life Challenge – Rocketing Through

I realised last week that I had missed the SOLC on Tuesday so this, once again is a double catch up. Life seems to have taken off over the last few weeks.

Lots of exciting writing news first. Last month I decided to focus on poetry and getting back onto the local circuit after a 15 year break! The past fortnight has seen a lot of forward movement;

• I had my first writing job confirmed and start working in January on this project with the objective of having a bigger role in 2014.
• I attended my first Stanza meeting (Poetry Society), spent a fantastic, relaxed evening with poets and received some great feedback on my material.
• I went to a seminar at the weekend led by Margaret Silf. A wonderfully inspiring day which gave me time to focus on some deep questions, take lots of notes and be inspired to write a collection of poetry. (My next project!)
• This evening I received my first invitation to perform at a Poetry Event being held tomorrow night. EXCITED!

Work News

After a month of chasing paperwork and references the agencies I signed up to in September are now live, all I have to do is wait for the call.

• I have had three interviews.
• Obtained a position locally (one day a week).
• Managed to gain work through contacts.
• Been booked for two extra days this month.

‘Money will flow’… it was a huge risk but so far (on happiness stakes at least) has paid off.

On Life

• I met Mr G for a lunch date (love meeting him from the office!)
• We went to a Swedish furniture store to eat hotdogs and buy furniture for the house.
• Mr G and I went to the theatre (a belated birthday present/ date) we saw ‘Elynside Fields’ written by the writer in residence Nick Wilkes. It was a great production and an enjoyable (and nowadays with the mortgages) a rare night out!
• We planted lots of seeds in our garden, bought a few weeks ago.
• Had lots to sort out with my car (recall issue and tax etc.) and
• the apartment/ estate agents.
• Met up with an old friend I haven’t seen properly in years and discovered the secret and wonderful world of coffee mornings.
• Mr G and I met up with my cousin in a local village for the annual Scarecrow Festival.  This is a great local event and always a fun day out. This year’s theme was ‘The Best of British.’

I will try to read your slices tomorrow. I should have time in between sorting the apartment, banking, shopping and preparing for my first poetry event.

Manic Monday

Manically busy that is… unless I received a call today I would have the day to organise, do and write. I was awake early enough for work and very tired.

I received a few morning calls but all to tie up the paper trail so I can work tomorrow. I was on the phone and email from 3 hours (the whole morning) sorting out missing information and solutions to problems.

This did frustrate me – especially as I had other things to do, but my income relies on this, I had no choice.

I am now yawning my head off and in desperate need of an early night – as I am working again tomorrow. On my recorded this morning pre- 8am to do list I have achieved… about 11 things (mostly from the ‘work’ section.) I have lots to still do, including planned posts I have owed this blog since before the weekend!

I have managed to start my October Action Plan  – October I can’t believe we are so close to Winter now.

I have spent most of September setting up the opportunities, now I keep my fingers crossed that they will work.

Blogtember – The Best Bits of the Missed Bits

I thought I would manage a post a day for Jenni’s Blogtember challenge, it hasn’t quite worked out that way. I have decided as I missed so much of last week and the first few days of this week I will dip in and chose those that appeal to me and make a montage of Blogtember The Missed Bits.

Wednesday, September 18: Only photos – I tried this one and couldn’t find the right snaps…

Thursday, September 19: Creative writing day: write a (very short) fictional story that starts with this sentence: “To say I was dreading the dinner party would be the understatement of the century.”

The story does not necessarily need to have a conclusion – you can leave your readers wishing for more!

Friday, September 20: React to this term: comfort.

Monday, September 23: A “life lately” post. What you’re up to, how you’re feeling, how you’re doing on your goals, etc. Bonus points for great photos!

Tuesday, September 24: Review a book, place, or product.

Wednesday, September 25: Write about a time you screwed up – a mistake you made.

Looking at this list of wonderful prompts I am not sure I can combine any… so look out for more Blogtember posts throughout the day.

Wednesday, September 18: Only photos

A Snapshot of My Life