So Thursday is National Poetry Day, which I shall be celebrating with my Hastings Stanza group, doing what poets do… agonising over line-breaks, commas and what have you. Before that though, on Wednesday, I’ll be at the Fisherman’s Club for the prize readings of a local competition I was a judge for, on the themeRead more ⟶
Category: Submissions
On feeding The Lake
The spreadsheet of poetry magazines is forever growing, albeit slowly. Even though I’m adding perhaps eight to ten titles each quarter, there are those I have to delete. This is usually because they’ve stopped publishing; quite a few mags were set up hurriedly during the pandemic and never really got off the ground. Others haveRead more ⟶
Oh hello! Quick catch up
What was I doing all last month? Mostly singing (I passed my Grade 8 with merit – hurrah!), the odd party (friends with birthdays and/or launches), gardening (what was possible with the scaffolding up), executor stuff for my sister, making jam & chutney from all the rhubarb, and seeing an old friend from my adidas/NikeRead more ⟶
Currently inspired by…
Writing inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes I suppose. I was recently at a Charleston Festival event (Sheila Hancock in conversation with Joan Bakewell – combined age 182 and a huge inspiration/advertisement for a good old age). But I digress. In the bookshop marquee I was casually browsing and came across a single copyRead more ⟶
Chewing the cud & going off-piste
A small window has opened up between sinus headaches for me to write an overdue blog post… the cold-y sinus-y stuff prevented me from going to Hastings Stanza last week (BOO), but I still have plenty of positive things to report so please don’t leave yet… The Planet Poetry podcast has kept my busy lately,Read more ⟶
At last, some (a)live poetry events
Having missed three Hastings Stanza meetings due to a choir commitment, next month I’m so looking forward to workshopping with everyone again around a table and the odd cup of tea or glass of wine. We restarted face to face meetings last autumn, and after all the months of having to ‘meet’ online it wasRead more ⟶
A little tough love for poetry magazines
Today and yesterday have been spreadsheet days – visiting poetry magazines websites and trying to dig out the info that I (and anyone wishing to submit there) needs. I finally got it finished and sent out this morning. I think I’ve been doing this for four, maybe five years, and what started out as anRead more ⟶
Nature sleeps. Thank goodness for art
What is it about January? You have to trust that living things are asleep and not dead. The garden is brown and damp. In January I examine any magnolia tree I come across, looking for buds: signs of life. Even though days are getting longer it happens so slowly. Generating every extra minute of daylightRead more ⟶
So this is Christmas, and what have I done?
Oh no! I can see I haven’t posted for several weeks, has there really been nothing to talk about? Let me see… First of all, nothing to do with poetry but my Covid experience was pretty mild in the end. So as far I’m concerned the jabs were worth it. Plus we’ve made it toRead more ⟶
Readings, decisions, fresh starts
I’m feeling very uplifted by real-life in-person poetry events. Last week in Lewes was the launch of three Frogmore Press publications: The Naming by Jeremy Page, Marion Tracy’s Evidence of Love and Neil Gower’s Meet me in Palermo. Strong readings all round and a cautiously-convivial atmosphere. Fast on this comes tomorrow’s Needlewriters event, our firstRead more ⟶