Breaking this week (poetry and tech)
The eagle-eyed reader of this blog may have noticed a few wee changes in the look of it. Yes, I’ve changed the Theme, but it all happened rather more quickly than I was expecting, and the day before I was giving a blogging workshop. So I spent four hours trying to make my broken blog look half-respectable. DUH. It’s still not quite how I want it, but that’s my fault for being so trigger-happy and always wanting to change things.
Then, the workshop was going well, until I introduced the class to Pixlr, which I’ve used many times, but for some reason it wasn’t doing what I expected. OH WOE! Never rely on technology in front of an audience, dear readers. It has certainly led to many a pratfall in my time.
On the poetry front, good news: I feel I may have written a half-decent poem, my first in a while. Hurrah! But I can’t decide where to send it – to Black Hole Magazine*, or the No Hope Poetry Competition*? It’s a tough call!
More good news: the lovely Helen Ivory has accepted a poem for Ink, Sweat & Tears – thank you, thank you Ms I! – to appear some time in the Spring. Another poem made it onto the Plough Prize shortlist (results out in March I believe, but the winners have already been notified, so I know that’s as far as my poem got – the shortlist and longlist idea is great, as it gives you some consolation that your poem wasn’t entirely yawn-worthy.)
Very busy at the moment – with work, with homelife, with other poetry projects such as Telltale Press – we’ve nearly got all our readers for our next Telltale Poets & Friends reading in Lewes on 15th April – and the Needlewriters – launching our anthology next month, and a lot of online proofing to do.
I’m also researching my next ‘regional focus’ for this blog – Cumbria, I’m cumbring your way (sorry!) and one or two poet interviews for the Spring. So lots in the pipeline, and I’ll try not to break anything else.
* absolutely no slight intended towards the lovely mags and comp judges who have been so kind as to place my work in the past!
Image credit: Themewich.com
Thanks for your newsy update, Robin. On first site, I love the new, fresh look. I really hope you iron out any niggles. I don’t know about Pixlr – is it anything like PicMonkey? I’ve used that to customise a Header and I really like it. Good news about the IS&T and Plough – yay! Good luck with finding a home for the half-decent poem – I know what you mean, I always struggle with matching up the right poems with the right abode.
Thanks Josephine! yes Pixlr is a neat image-editing tool, very simple and actually free. Heaven knows what I did to put the kaibosh on it.
oh, v cool new look! And well done on Plough…that means I didn’t win! Doh!
All the best, Rebecca/ Becky
Thanks Becky, glad you like it… and the Plough – yes it’s an interesting shortlist, I wonder who are the winners?
Looking forward to reading your poem on I, S & T, Robin. I empathise re IT woes- always happens before or during a parent workshop!
Thanks a lot Jayne – ah yes, it’s rather like the ‘never act with children or animals’ rule – never teach/present/speak without a backup ready for when the tech fails!!
Well done with Plough. Shortlist is a big achievement. Don’t knock it!
That’s kind of you to say so, Jean, thank you 🙂
You’re welcome!
Like the new blog look – very clean looking. Great news about the poems. As for technical stuff, I’ve been so many things where the equipment hasn’t worked or the people aren’t sure what they are doing. I’m lucky that I have tech-wise son so the few times I’ve done anything I’ve run it all past him first, but if you are using other peoples stuff, well that’s a nightmare! Keep up the good work.
Thanks Heather. Yes, practice makes perfect. Sometimes the tech lets you down. I once had to teach an exercise-to-music class without any music. Over-enthusiastic IT peeps can also be a problem – I once gave an ‘illustrated’ talk on blogging when I was assured there would be internet access, but the IT people had put a block on all external websites. Ho hum!