Category: Books

Blog/

A novel rises from the ashes… maybe

Just when I was starting to get back into writing poetry, the world of prose starts up again in my brain. First of all I was asked to review a new anthology of short stories by Sussex-based Chalk Circle Writers. Although my first reaction was ‘I don’t write short stories’, lo and behold, I was so taken with this collection and the idea of the short story form, I wonder if this is something I might enjoy.

Then there was a conversation with friend Steph about how her book (a cosy mystery called ‘Death, Deceit and Cake’) was selling really well. She self-published it after a gruelling experience of dealing with potential agents. And the move has certainly paid off. She now has a growing readership eager for the next book in the series. It got me thinking about my historical novel and whether I ought to have another go with that, possibly going down the self-publishing route. I wasn’t quite ready to re-read it, but I did get out the query package I’d written in 2023 – synopsis, first page of the manuscript, query letter – and decided to run it by Chat GBT.

I got as far as pasting in the synopsis. Within seconds, the AI not only summarised the main themes and narrative arc of the book, but the synopsis rewrite it came up with had me choking on my Diet Coke. Holy *@&(#! Is this my book? It sounded like a bloody good read! My next thought being: why did I spend weeks redrafting this synopsis – and sending it off to agents – when it was so far from perfect? And of course, when you talk to Chat it never stops – Would you like me to create a query letter? Would you like me to customise this for a specific genre, women’s fiction, historical etc? Commercial or literary?

I had to walk away at that point and let it all sink in. So the upshot of all this is that I may well revisit the book, probably change the title (oh yes, the AI had thoughts on that too), research more agents, and try again. I’ll let you know what happens.

Blog/

Readings, writing, reviews & general catchup

'Bikini' athlete mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale, Siciiy

Finally, here I am putting my head above the parapet. It’s been a lovely full summer. Not so much for the garden, which suffered from a too-early onset of dry weather, then the nail in the coffin of the hosepipe ban. We did get a modest harvest of cucumbers, courgettes and tomatoes, although quite a few plants failed.  But plenty of fun stuff: a big family holiday, long in the planning, an extended visit from stepdaughter over from Australia that really energised me, then most recently a two week holiday a deux in Sicily. I’m a lucky woman in so many ways, I won’t bore you with the detail. Let’s just say I’m back and I have that good feeling that comes with the move into Autumn.

Readings

Eighteen hours after crawling into bed on Tuesday morning, after a day’s driving followed by a flight delay, I was at the Hurstpierpoint Festival taking part in a group poetry reading organised by poet friend Miriam Patrick. Miriam is a very talented poet who gives so much of her time to others. A number of the attendees on Tuesday were members of Miriam’s poetry reading group that she set up in the village. It was a good event – I think the room was full, and we all got a warm reception. Miriam read some engaging poems about work, with themes ranging from artist’s muse Lizzie Siddal to Aquinas’s angels dancing on a pinhead. Wendy Klein was also reading, from her pamphlet ‘Having Her Cake’. The collection tackles the subject of assisted dying, with reference to a close friend who made that choice in California, where the process is not illegal. I found it an intense and moving reading.

Meanwhile, forthcoming readings are just around the corner. Please come along if any of them are near you. (I’m also looking for more reading opps next year, so if there’s a poetry event near you that you think I could ask to read at, please let me know.)

Tuesday 7 October 7.45 – 9.30pm: Ouse Muse, Bedford

Friday 12 December 8pm: Reading Poets Cafe

Writing

I’ve been pondering why I’m so lacking in any impetus to write at the moment. After all, if the sun-drenched historic gorgeousness and energy of Sicily doesn’t inspire me, what the heck will? Actually, those fabulous mosaics at Villa Romana Casale of female bikini-clad athletes are pretty inspirational. But sometimes (usually, for me) it’s a small thing that pops out unexpectedly. Among the pile of publications and catalogues waiting for me to read when I got back was a copy of the new-look Times Literary Supplement, bigger and thicker than before and every two weeks rather than weekly. I had barely got into it when today the latest issue dropped though the letter box. A quick skim for poetry content revealed a poem by Jemma Borg called ‘Before & after the night’. (Apologies if this link takes you to a paywall.) As I read it, I felt little lights going off in my brain accompanied by the kind of ‘wish I’d written that’ feeling that can be inspirational but also saddening. Like Salieri in Amadeus, melting in the face of Mozart’s brilliance and at recognising that he himself will never be more than a reasonably good musician. Thankfully, Jemma’s poem had more of a positive than negative effect on me! So I’ve just ordered a copy of her collection Wilder and a already noodling through a few ideas.

Reviews

I’m not the greatest trumpet-blower as you know, but it would do a disservice to D A Prince and Mat Riches not to link to their wonderful reviews of The Mayday Diaries. Davina’s is on the London Grip website and Mat’s is here on Ink & Sweat & Tears. How lovely to have a book read so closely and with such insight. I’m very thankful for the time and effort both poets made. There’s another fillip for the book coming up later in the year, but more about that, er, later.

Subs windows

One job I have managed to get done this week has been the quarterly spreadsheet update of magazine submissions windows. It seems to be getting more complicated, with more journals stipulating more and more micro-guidelines, the rise of submissions fees (but also, the rise of payment for publication), also more publications making their subs windows even shorter and harder to predict. I’m wondering if the spreadsheet in its current format could be slimmed down and made more relevant. I know, I’ve talked about reviewing it before now. But I think a plan is starting to formulate.

Art/

Book promo: readings, reviews, articles… plus other stuff

Writers & Artists blog post

A couple of weeks ago I did a reading with Peter Kenny at at Arundel Arts Junction, a lovely eclectic event which also included a comic improv act, jazz for keyboard and sax, a photography presentation and more – it’s all happening in Arundel, people!

Peter and I are doing another joint reading at In-Words this coming Tuesday 24th June from 7.30 at West Greenwich Library, together with fellow Telltale Poet Sarah Barnsley. As well as reading our poems we’ll also be chatting & taking questions about Telltale Press. It’s free, and there are refreshments – come if you can!

Yesterday I was reading in the home of a very good friend. She basically asked me to come and talk about the book, and read a few poems, for a group of her friends. Susan’s enthusiasm and unwavering support for my work are both astonishing. So there I was with a small group of women, telling them a bit about the book, reading some of the poems and answering questions. It was a lovely intimate event. And I sold ten books! Much gratitude to Susan.

Meanwhile off the back of the book launch I’ve had a couple of writing commissions,  the first being this blog article on the Writers & Artists website, about getting poetry published. Another piece, ‘Top Five Poetry Books with Unusual Themes’, is due to appear in The Big Issue.  There are also a number of reviews of the book forthcoming, and I was delighted to get an endorsement for the book from Rishi Dastidar on the socials.

Coming up I’m reading at an event unrelated to The Mayday Diaries. Here in Eastbourne we have the wonderful Towner, a gallery of contemporary art, cinema and general arts hub. The current show is ‘Sussex Modernism’, and next month I’m one of five poets who have been invited to read work inspired by the exhibition. It will be an interesting evening; members of the public are invited to come along and listen, and (I think) add their own contributions if they wish (not sure how that will work, with the time restrictions, but hey. I’m scheduled to read last (a very common occurrence!) so I’m just hoping I don’t get squeezed out or that people will have drifted off by then (out of the gallery I mean, not fallen asleep, teehee!) Even if you can’t come to the readings (Friday 4 July, 6.30 – 8pm), do try to get to the show if you’re able, it’s really interesting and wide-ranging. It goes on until September 28th.

I’ve not been able to sideline the singing. The big and lovely East Sussex Community Choir is doing a mini-tour to East Anglia next weekend and singing an informal concert in Blythburgh Church, then a small group of The Lewes Singers are off to Ely at the end of July to sing the weekend services in Ely Cathedral. Some tricky music – we had the second of our three rehearsals today. It’ll be lovely!!

Art/

The Mayday Diaries cover art: what’s it all about?

Please click on the image for a bit of fun!

Yes I know, the picture is a bit strange. Then again, perhaps you haven’t really looked at it? Understandable. Poetry books sometimes have interesting cover art, but the poet rarely has much say in it. Thanks to being published by a small press with an open attitude, I persuaded them to use a photo I’d created myself.

I took this photo in my living room (the colour on the wall is French Grey from Farrow and Ball, in case you’re interested!) My idea was to assemble a ‘still life’ in the Dutch tradition of ‘vanitas’ paintings. ‘Vanitas’ being the genre of still life that is supposed to suggest the brevity of one’s time on this planet, and the futility of everything we strive for, since it has to end in death.

This isn’t as gloomy as it sounds, trust me! What I gathered together were pieces of memorabilia, items referenced in the poems, signifiiers… all arranged in such a way that I hope engenders a feeling of a life lived, in all its messiness, chaos, mistakes, serendipity, quirkiness and yes, beauty.

If you look closely you’ll see a Korean Coca-Cola bottle (I used to collect Coca-Cola cans and bottles from all the countries I visited through work!), burnt-out candles and a half-drunk glass of wine (I’ll leave you to decide on the significance of these), rotting fruit (=decay) and a fox’s skull (mostly in pieces). Skulls, and timepieces, are very common ‘vanitas’ tropes. There’s no clock or watch here, but I have included pages from work diaries, a (laminated) production timeline (we had a new product range every quarter), my old Filofax from the 1990s, even some pages from one of my teenage diaries. There are also photos of me as a Brownie and later as a jaded employee posing for yet another visa application. And let’s not gloss over the blister pack of paracetamol. Pills, childhood terrors, stupid work schedules and endless long-haul trips are well represented in the poems. As well as the internet, computers, magnolia flowers (artificial in this case) and ‘burning the candle at both ends’.

I hope this gives you a richer insight into the cover image, and perhaps more ways into the poems.

In case you’ve missed it, I’ve posted some notes on the poems here, and here you can listen to me reading a few of them.

More about The Mayday Diaries, and how to buy it, here.

 

Blog/

Free Verse, book launch & readings

Launch of The Mayday Diaries, Lewes 9th May 2025

The book is well and truly launched. A month or so ago at Free Verse, the poetry book fair in London, I was helping out Jeremy Page on the Frogmore Press table while at the same time handing out promotional postcards – a bit cheeky, but Jeremy was OK with it. It was a shame not to have the actual book to sell but hey ho.

Free Verse was fun. The publisher tables were so closely packed we were virtually on each other’s laps. We were sandwiched between Caroline Davies of  Green Bottle Press and Liz Kendall of The Edge of the Woods. The nature of the event means you do a lot of waving and not-quite-conversations with people, nevertheless it’s very nice to see old acquaintances and meet new ones. I crossed paths briefly with Claire Booker, Paul Stephenson, Julia Bird, Caroline Clark, Tammy Yoseloff, Isabelle Baafi (after interviewing her recently for the podcast) and Kate Noakes…and met for the first time a number of small publishers including Kym Deyn of The Braag and Carmen et Error and Julie Hogg of Blueprint Press. I liked the fact that magazines were represented alongside book publishers.

A few people came up to me and said how much they enjoyed Planet Poetry, including one of our regular supporters Richard Chadburn, who promptly got his local bookshop to order my book! It’s always gratifying to know we have listeners, and fans even – tee hee.

So The Mayday Diaries – yep, we had a lovely launch event in Lewes with both poet and non-poet friends and family. I say ‘we’, because I had alongside me my ol’ poet pal Peter Kenny and also my mentor and Telltale Press Associate Editor Catherine Smith, who emceed. Peter read some poems, including those in his recent pamphlet Snow (Hedgehog Press). Snow is a collaboration with artist Palo Almond, who came to the launch with two of her paintings and spoke about how the pamphlet illustrations came about, which really added something special to the evening.

A few days later I was reading at Eastbourne Poetry Cafe and encountered Andy Breckenridge, who I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t place at first but he gently reminded me that we’d met right there at that event a year or two ago, when I bought his excellent book The Fish Inside (Flight of the Dragonfly). I put it down to momentary brain fog as I pondered how my first set went down and how to wow them with the second.

The second load of books has arrived and now I’m gearing up for more readings. The next is at Arundel where I’m reading at the Victoria Institute Arts Junction on Monday 9th June. A couple of weeks later I’ll be joining Peter Kenny and Sarah Barnsley for a Telltale Poets reading at the wonderful In-Words at Greenwich Library We’ll be chatting about the genesis of Telltale Press and reading from our books, and it’s free – this is my only London gig at the moment and I’m excited that it’s on my old stomping ground. Please come to either Arundel or Greenwich if you’re in that neck of the woods!

By the way, I’ll be writing a second blog post with a bit more about The Mayday Diaries and That Cover Image….

 

Blog/

New book stuff, and other Spring shenanigans

On Pevensey beach

Just back from a walk along the beach at Pevensey, part of the newly-established ‘England Coastal Path’. Sunny days at this time of year are so precious, aren’t they?

Now I’m about to get down to some work, mostly to do with the forthcoming book (ahem! did I mention that before?) which is now put to bed and being printed as I write. One of the last jobs was to decide on the cover image, which I’m very pleased with, and will talk about that in a future post. The Lewes launch is arranged – I’m sharing the gig with Peter Kenny who’ll be reading from his not-one-but-two pamphlets that came out in 2024. The original plan was to have the launch event on the official launch date, which is of course May 1st. But for various reasons it’s a week later. Close enough! Being a modest type (well, let’s just say I find it cringeworthy to do too much self-promo) I’ve engaged some help with promotion… more on that in a future post too, no doubt. Meanwhile I’ve made a Mayday Diaries landing page. And one of my wonderful blurbers, Rory Waterman, recently gave the book a glowing endorsement on Bluesky. Gulp!

Ok that’s enough gushing for now. Other poetry shenanigans of late: I really enjoyed the Eastbourne Poetry Cafe night last week when Mara Bergman was the featured poet. I really enjoyed her reading. Not only that but there were some good and varied open-micers too. I think EBC is attracting a more diverse audience these days, and well deserved.

Here’s Mara reading:

Mara Bergman reading

Next week I’m off to the National Poetry Competition awards night in London, which is always a happy occasion, and interesting to find out which poems have been judged the winners and hear then read.

Alongside poetry of course there’s music: concert with the East Sussex Community Choir singing Handel and Vivaldi this Saturday in Lewes Town Hall,  lots of forward planning for choral workshops in October and next Spring, for the Lewes Singers visit to Ely in the summer and even for Christmas concerts.

The other week I was fortunate to take part in a guided walk of Spitalfields, a historic quarter just East of the City of London, by the Gentle Author. I’ve been a reader of the GA’s blog for many years and it’s a fascinating trove of stories from this part of London -the places, the people, the history. Despite being well-known in the area, the Gentle Author is a very private person and never gives away their name. Which for some reason gives the blog (and the tours) a certain cachet. If you’re interested in London’s social history I highly recommend the tour. It ends with tea and cake in the drawing room of one of the historic Georgian houses on Fournier Street, home to many famous residents over the years including Gilbert & George. here’s the view from the window, onto Nicholas Hawksmoor’s iconic Christ Church:

Christ Church Spitalfields from the Gentle Author tour

And last but not least the garden. Various seedlings are on the go, and I can’t wait for the soil to warm up a bit and for all the Spring action to start. Hurrah!

seed trays

Blog/

Coming soon!

the mayday diaries cover teaser

It’s suddenly all happening.

The Mayday Diaries from Pindrop Press launches on 1st May (oh yeah!) and the countdown has begun!

Negative thoughts: I’m reminded that I should have started thinking about promoting the book ages ago. Probably need help.

Positive thoughts: The marketing cap is back on, I’m reviewing my websites and socials and preparing to dust things off and move up a gear. I’ve bought a domain name. I’m creating an action plan.

I’m proud of the collection, proud of the testimonials for the book and ridiculously proud of the cover. All will be revealed in due course – yes! It’s one those annoying cover-reveal-teasers. Who knows, maybe there’ll be a live unboxing too, he he.

Blog/

New Year, new book and other news

margate dereliction

Oof! December was a blur of concerts and all that entailed, then family stuff and various resolutions.  Between Christmas and New Year we managed not one but two mini-breaks: the first was a day in London which included an excellent guided walk of Nine Elms & Battersea with Hilaire. The next day we took off to the north Kent coast, staying in Tankerton and doing a whistle-stop tour of Thanet’s seaside towns. I love a bit of dereliction for its photo opportunities, but it is a shame to see how run-down Margate seems to be. Nevertheless it was my favourite of the places we visited, albeit very briefly. There’s a youthful, arty vibe to it.

Back on the computer, by posting a comment on a Substack a while back I seem to have got a bunch of new followers there, even though I’ve never posted an article there as far I know. I can’t spread my online time any thinner. Blog or Substack..?

Then the Blue Sky experiment. I haven’t been posting regularly there, although I still prefer it to Twitter, and have certainly come across many more interesting folks. However I’ve spent a fair bit of time monitoring new followers and blocking those that appear to be either bots or agents. They invariably present as men in their sixties, straight out of a catalogue, smiling, posing with a boat or car or something outdoorsy, usually without a biog or else it’s an AI one-liner such as ‘Enjoying all that life has to offer!’ or ‘Be kind to me I’m new here!’  They are usually following zillions of people and if they’ve posted at all it’s just vapid photos or re-posts that suggest a political agenda. I suppose a lot of people just follow back when someone follows them, which is why these fake accounts exist – to disseminate crap on an industrial scale. It was one of the things that did for Twitter and I’m sorry (but not surprised) to see it happening on Blue Sky. All we need is for all the trolls, eejits and troublemakers to start posting and feeding the bots. So let’s hope they stay away.

The collection is coming along. First round of edits & comments received from publisher. I’ll be going through them very soon. We’re still hoping to hit a March launch. Let’s see! I’ve got a few readings set up now, but need to arrange some more. First of all I’m reading at Red Door Poets on January 21st in Covent Garden, as the guest of Gillie Robic. I don’t know yet who the other readers are but I’m sure it’ll be a good night, with an open mic too, so please come if you’re in London/willing & able.

One thing I plan to do more of in 2025 is writing poems. Sounds simple, eh? I’ve got an idea for a proto-pamphlet in the pipeline, which I’d like to self-publish in hand-made form and have it to sell alongside the ‘big book’ at readings.

I’m still fully committed to Planet Poetry, despite Peter and I missing out on any ACE funding. On the other hand, we’ve got a small number of people supporting us on buymeacoffee.com for which we are inordinately grateful as it helps to relieve the financial burden. And of course my quarterly poetry submissions spreadsheet, which I wonder how long I can continue with to be honest!

Meanwhile the music continues… two one-day workshops coming up, for which I am the admin. And another unrelated project which starts next month. More on that at a later date.

Happy New Year to you, thanks for reading this blog and I hope your 2025 proves to be a goodie.

Blog/

How the collection is going, and other news

Foyle Young Poets 24

People are asking me about the poetry collection forthcoming from Pindrop Press. Well, it’s a long way off yet. Sharon Black at Pindrop does a marvellous job of publishing and promoting poets, but being an editor as well as a publisher, it’s been a busy time for her. So although The Mayday Diaries is still forthcoming, it won’t be in my hands for a few more months yet. I’ve been fiddling with the manuscript, of course: there are some poems I’d like to drop, others I’d like to insert. Others have changed. I’m playing with different subheadings to the sections. None of this I’ve discussed yet with Sharon, but I’m looking forward to her creative input and editing skills.

Meanwhile, since I sold the last of my limited-edition Foot Wear, I’m now itching to make another mini pamphlet along similar lines, although this time completely handmade. Foot Wear had a printed cover so this time I’ve got something more quirky in mind.

We didn’t get the DYCP grant for Planet Poetry. ‘Other applications preferred.’ Not unexpected, but still a blow. Still, our first two episodes of Season 5 are up – Danez Smith and Isabel Galleymore – both definitely worth a listen if you haven’t already. In the latter, I read a poem by Indy Moon who was one of the Foyle Young Poets winners this year. I went to the awards celebration at the British Library last month and it was a lovely celebratory event.  Indy is one of many names to watch out for in the future. (Pictured here is Judith Palmer of the Poetry Society kicking things off.)

Oh, and I’ve got a poem forthcoming in Flights e-journal, which is part of the publishing arm of Flights of the Dragonfly, a spoken word night in Brighton.

Next up, Christmas? Our Lewes Singers concert on December 22nd has already clocked up 22 ticket sales! OK, let’s not start with the carols just yet.

Blog/

On National Poetry Day: getting autumnal, Medieval women, currently reading

medieval women exhibition at the British LIbrary

An blog update for National Poetry Day! To celebrate, not only have I just recorded an interview with the immensely talented Tishani Doshi for Planet Poetry, but this evening I’ll be at Hastings Stanza for some poem sharing and workshopping. All very fitting.

Everything’s cranking up now it’s the autumn: the publicity machine for various Christmas concerts, book projects, the podcast starting its fifth season, the garden to be tidied up (though the tomatoes keep coming)…

A week or two ago I was in Seaford reading poems mostly from the new collection (still forthcoming!), plus a couple from Foot Wear. I took with me the last five copies of Foot Wear and sold four, which means there’s only one left of the limited edition run. Not sure if it’s a left or a right foot, teehee. Perhaps I should auction it??

Meanwhile I was very excited to see there’s a forthcoming exhibition at the British Library called ‘Medieval Women: In their Own Words’ which has started me submitting my novel to another round of agents. Medieval women is a thing! Just look at Janina Ramirez on TV, and her brilliant book Femina. You may have guessed I’m a bit of a fangirl. Come on, lit agents: there’s a lot of interest in strong 14th century women!

In submissions news, I’ve had a bit of a dry summer as regards writing new poems, but I’m very pleased to have one in the new Frogmore Papers and another forthcoming in Black Nore Review on October 17th.

Currently reading: Ellen Cranitch’s new collection Crystal, and Tony Hoagland’s final collection Turn up the Ocean – the latter I picked up in the Poetry Book Shop in Hay on Wye in the summer. Both books are from Bloodaxe.