Do you send poems off to competitions? If not, why not? OK we all know it’s ‘a lottery’. Nevertheless most of us would admit it’s exciting to actually win something. Or is it? I often debate this with poet friends and in particular the reasons not to enter comps. Let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments! Reasons toRead more ⟶
Author: Robin Houghton
On staying motivated
It’s one of those tricky periods right now. The poetry honeymoon is well and truly over. I’m existing on a handful of acceptances (for which I am humbly grateful). I’m surrounded by talented, prolific poets who all seem to be successful and getting noticed while I seem to be not writing anything that people wantRead more ⟶
Both sides now
A smooth drive to London yesterday for Anne-Marie Fyfe’s newest workshop, on the theme of clouds. As in ‘I wandered lonely as…’, or ‘from both sides now..’ And yes, Joni Mitchell did make an appearance, as did Debussy, Django Reinhardt, Billy Collins, Emily Dickinson, John Lennon, The Wizard of Oz and a range of SurrealistRead more ⟶
TGI February
January is really my least favourite month – I think it’s the short days and dark evenings that are so depressing. It doesn’t help that the it’s the month of both my father’s death and my late mother’s birthday, so they are always both on my mind. However! Let’s not get gloomy. I did go to aRead more ⟶
Slam Dunk at the Printworks in Hastings
Last night I took the train (yes! there and back! and only slight delays!) to Hastings to Slam Dunk, a regular poetry night at the Printworks, where Hastings Stanza rep Antony Mair was doing a set. Although it’s not far away, Hastings is still a bit of an unknown quantity for me, but it hasRead more ⟶
TS Eliot Prize – workshop & readings
Katy Evans-Bush‘s TS Eliot shortlist workshop is fast becoming an institution. Now in its sixth year, it’s a fine precursor to the Prize readings which take place the following day, and the prize giving itself the day after that. The format is straightforward – Katy reads the ten shortlisted books, chooses from them a numberRead more ⟶
Poem a day writing exercise
This month I’m setting myself the ‘start a poem a day’ challenge. (Not ‘write’ a poem a day, as that presumes each one will be a finished first draft at least. I’ve found that starting a poem a day is a better exercise for me, as I feel freer and less pressured to get toRead more ⟶
Giving up Facebook for at least a month
Today is my last day on Facebook for a while. I was inspired by Dan Blank’s recent blog post about the importance of ‘investing in white space’ in our lives: time for reflection, time to breathe. If you’ve ever craved more time for writing, reading and creating, it’s really worth a read. I came relatively lateRead more ⟶
End of year gratitude & resolutions
Is this the blogging equivalent of the Christmas round robin? If so, I confess I rather like receiving them. I honestly quite like reading about relatives of relatives I’ve never met, who’s had a baby and what they called him/her, where people have been on holiday. I even enjoy the cliches and the interminable ‘filler’Read more ⟶
Quick 2016 submissions stats overview
I have a much longer ‘end of year’ post lined up but for now I thought I’d post a quick subs update for this year. 40 poems submitted to 11 magazines: 33 declined, 7 accepted (17.5%) by 5 magazines. 7 poems entered for competitions: 1 x 2nd place, 6 x ducks. 2 x poems includedRead more ⟶