Category: Writer platform

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Making the most of Twitter lists (from Social Media for Writers blog)

making the most of twitter lists

This is the second of my re-blogs while I’m on my hols and trying to take a break from the internet! My ‘Social Media for Writers’ blog has many useful articles on it but I’ve never gotten around to promoting it much, which is a bit of a waste, and I’m not proud of the admission!

Please do still leave comments, which I love reading, although I won’t be able to reply immediately.

Something that came up briefly at the ‘Making Poetry Work’ event at the Poetry Cafe recently was Twitter lists. There are many great uses for lists on Twitter, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s really making the most of them – I think they’re one of Twitter’s best-kept secrets!

So here are some tips – Are you making the most of Twitter lists? 

 

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Launches, readings, online course, a new book … busy autumn

Someone posted recently on Twitter that poetry seemed to be “mostly about reading, writing and waiting”.  I know I’ve certainly had that kind of year up until a few weeks ago. I’d have to wait to do one of my ‘stock takes’ to see if I’ve been sending out less work this year than last, it’s felt a bit like the doldrums but in reality it may just be that I’ve had more rejections this year than before. I love autumn, and right now I’m feeling busy and fulfilled with various projects on the go, so maybe there’s a little momentum building.

New Writing South course brochure

The first half of the year was mostly about writing (non fiction) books, the first of which is scheduled for release in November. This Monday (29th) I’m giving a talk / leading a discussion for Hastings & St Leonards Writers’ Hub  about social media and blogging, as a prelim to my one-day courses for New Writing South – the first of which is coming up in October. I also have a piece to write for Poetry News, on the subject of poets blogging.

I’m also mentoring a couple of writers at the moment on their blogging, social web presence and the rest. It’s great fun to help others get to grips with it all in a way that works for them.

Next Wednesday sees the public launch of Telltale Press, the new poets’ collective I’ve started with Peter Kenny and under the expert editorial guidance of Catherine Smith. We’ve already had the two private launches in Lewes and Hove, both of which were lovely, warm events. We all sold loads of copies of our pamphlets/books and received positive comments about Telltale. The list of jobs to do once the launch is over is long – looking forward to it though. It feels like such an empowering, carpe diem sort of thing to be doing. Our guest readers next Wednesday are Anja Konig (new pamphlet out with Flipped Eye) and Rishi Dastidar (recently appointed assistant editor at The Rialto.) Do come along if you can, details are here.

On the poetry writing front, I’ve just started an online course at the Poetry School which is proving to be excellent for developing my critiquing skills, having written detailed notes on something like 12 students’ poems so far, and we’re only on the first of 5 sessions. My own first poem has only had comments from three people, so I’m hoping that improves and I start to get some useful feedback in return. There are some interesting poets on the course so I’ll enjoy seeing how all of our writing develops.

Meanwhile I’ve got some lovely things to look forward to:  forthcoming poems in The Rialto and South, a weekend with poet friends, listening to, reading and workshopping poetry at Swindon Festival of Poetry, readings of my own at the Needlewriters here in Lewes next January, plus a high-profile reading in the autumn (to be confirmed). And with a bit of luck, the launch of Blogging for Writers, for which I’m hoping to organise a blog tour. Hurrah!

I’ve been enjoying my bagload of books from the Poetry Book Fair, by the way, and will be sharing some of that here in coming weeks.

Benjamin Britten memorial window in Aldeburgh churchOh and I almost forgot – thank you so much for all the encouragement after my post about having to sing a solo and getting a bit stressed. The concert went wonderfully, I did my little ‘mouse’ spot and sang out – what the hell! – I thought of the words I was singing, from Christopher Smart’s fantastical Jubilate Agno, and felt privileged to have the opportunity. I think I was also inspired by a recent visit to Benjamin Britten’s Aldeburgh and learning more about him. He was a great champion of amateur music makers and I hope I did him proud. And as Jean Tubridy said, “This is what living is about!”

Books/

Quick Friday update – events, submissions etc

It’s been a thin year so far as regards writing, getting stuff out and accepted by magazines. I do have one excuse, which is that work has taken up a lot more of my time than usual these last 6 months. Not that I’m complaining, as my work and poetry interests continue to converge, slowly but surely. I now have ambitious plans for bringing all my activities under one virtual roof, combining blogs/websites/social outposts etc to create a united front. About time! Give me until the end of the year, though.

A quick what’s-been and will-be happening:

Last night I was at the Needlemakers in Lewes for the launch of Judith Kazantzis‘s new collection Sister Invention. It was a nice intimate affair with free-flowing prosecco. It’s a mighty book – hundreds of poems with (at first glance) a vast geographical and thematic span. I’m looking forward to delving into it.

Tomorrow – the New Writing South Publishing Industry Day at Brighton Library. I’m giving a short talk about ‘building a successful online writer presence’, after which we’re headed off to step-daughter’s 30th birthday party.

Next week, Janet Sutherland and Jeremy Page are holding a joint launch event for their respective new collections, Bone Monkey and Closing Time, and again just a few moments from my front door. How lucky am I?

I’ve had a few days off from writing about blogging, but it all kicks off again next week: book number two to begin, plus hundreds of image permissions to obtain… wish me luck.

June is looking interesting in terms of poetry events – I’ve been invited to read at the Lamb Festival in north London on June 2nd, then also that week we have a lovely event planned in memory of Jo Grigg, friend, poet and Brighton Stanza rep who died so suddenly year. Later in the month, Brighton Stanza are joining Palmers Green for a Stanza Bonanza at the Poetry Cafe. Always great fun, the only nail-biting bit being whether those of us living in the sticks manage to make the last train home.

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Latest on the book, the pamphlet and more projects

Malling Deanery gardens and the Ouse
Taken on Sunday in the garden of friends

I don’t suppose you’ve noticed, but I’ve been a bit quiet on here the last week or so – not for any reason other than work though. I’ve fully recovered from the mini workshop trauma of a couple of weeks ago (I typed that as one word, workshoptrauma, which made me wonder momentarily if that’s a German word). Thank you for all the interesting comments on that one – it seemed to strike a nerve! But since then I’ve got back on the horse and the same workshop on Saturday was quite a different experience, it felt like we’d all taken a chill pill. Or maybe it’s just all the lovely blossom on the trees and the Spring-like weather. Last night we had a Brighton Stanza meeting in the open air – goodness! Summer must be acumen in. And I sold 3 copies of my pamphlet! Yeehaa.

Speaking of which, thank you to the kind purchasers of The Great Vowel Shift, it’s going well and has had two lovely reviews, one by Peter Kenny and another in London Grip.  Very exciting!

Today I’ve been hard at it, on the home straight with the blogging book (all the copy is due next Tuesday). In fact I was just writing about time management and beating ‘bloggers’ block’, and by way of a break in the writing I’m (erm) writing this blog post. (Which comes under the heading of ‘do something different’ – although it’s not all that different, but anyway…)

Blogging for Writers - work in progress
Blogging for Writers – work in progress

The good news is I’ve hit my 45k word count, bad news is I still have 4 double page spreads to write, so I’m going to be a bit over. Then there’s what feels like a zillion photos to source and caption, expert bloggers to chase up for their contributions, and then going through it all and filling in the many holes, amending cross-chapter references, spell-checking, repetition-checking and all that stuff, then getting in a nice orderly zip for submitting. At least I have another month to get all the images sorted. Then it’s headfirst into the next book.

In the meantime tomorrow I have the last of my 3 session ‘Build your social web presence’ at New Writing South, and I’m speaking at their Publishing Industry Day on April 26th which should be fun. But I’m looking forward to getting back to my one-to-one mentoring work and having a bit more time for poetry sometime soon.

Last week I was contacted by Julia McCutchen of an organisation called IACCW to ask if I would be a ‘featured speaker’ for one of their monthly webcasts later in the year, plus there are one or two poetry readings in the pipeline for the second half of the year, so lots happening.

I hope the weather lasts and you have a lovely Easter break. Enjoy the blossom.

 

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Out and about the next few weeks . . .

There seems to be plenty happening at the moment, so here’s a quick round-up of some things I’m going to / involved with …

Improve your social web presence - for writers

Firstly, please bear with me if I give a quick plug to my short course at New Writing South which starts tomorrow week, 26th September, 6.30 – 9pm for three weeks, on ‘Improving your social web presence’. It’s basically for any writer who has made small inroads into social media but may be struggling a bit – with finding the time, wondering what to blog or tweet about, not sure how to find writer communities online, struggling with the etiquette or thinking about a Facebook Page, that sort of thing. Lots of practical examples and exercises designed to help writers be inspired, develop useful contacts and find the joy in social media. It’s £80 for the 3 sessions and 10% discount for NWS members. I think there are only 2 places left but I’ll no doubt be running it again in the Spring.

Faber social

Next Tuesday 24th I’m excited to be going to a Faber Social to hear Sam Riviere, Ruth Padel and others plus music. Yay!

Coming up very soon is my trip to Ty Newydd Writers’ Centre for a residential week with Carol Ann Duffy and Gillian Clarke. I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty epic and I’m so looking forward to it. Not sure what the broadband is like there, so I may be off the grid for a week and blogging about it when I get back.

Next month I’m planning to get to the Troubadour evening on October 21st to hear an array of lovely poets – it’ll be my first trip to the Troubadour, so am looking forward to that. Details of all the autumn Troubadour readings are here. The next day at Keat’s House in Hampstead, the idea of hearing poetry heavyweights Don Share and Maurice Riordan debate Ezra Pound’s ‘Don’ts’ is just too tempting. Tickets for that event are available from the Poetry Society.

Later that week a bit closer to home is Needlewriters, a quarterly event in Lewes. The October 24th event features our very own John Agard and Grace Nichols, so it’s bound to be a sell-out. I’m delighted to have been invited to join the organising committee of Needlewriters. It’s not really a committee as such – with minutes, officers and regulations – thankfully.  (What is it about the word committee? We need a new word which encompasses the idea of a group of organisers working for a common cause, but without the connotations of officiousness, jobsworthyness and petty politics. Or maybe that’s just my take on it?)

Let me know if you going to any of the above, and let’s say hello.

TFL poets

PS completely off-topic but I noticed on the Popshot blog that Transport for London are seeking a number of poets-in-residence to work out of tube stations during the week of National Poetry Day – if you’re in London it sounds like a lot of fun – details here (PDF).

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Social media for writers, ‘Orgasm Management’ etc

Iona Jette

This is not the blog post I started writing this morning – but that turned into a cod philosophical/ psychological discourse that I eventually decided wasn’t going anywhere. So I’ve saved it for another day when I might be able to better whip my thoughts into a proper shape.

Instead, more of straightforward diary entry. This week I’ve been a bit restricted by a sore leg – I’ll spare you the details but just to say I managed to strain a calf muscle a couple of weeks ago and as a consequence I’ve been limping about and avoiding walking any sort of distances. It’s definitely getting better though.

On Thursday I made it into Brighton for the last of my ‘Build your social web presence’ sessions for New Writing South (next course starting September). It’s been really interesting to work with a group of writers on this. Clearly, publishers are putting pressure on authors to share the publicity load and demonstrate their social media reach and influence. I’ve wanting for a while to pull together my interests in social media/ communications and writing/publishing and this is one of the strands that seems to be coming to fruition. I’m also talking to a large children’s publisher at the moment about social media training, and am working with a literary agent to help support their authors in building their online presence.

There’s also a strong possibility of a book on this subject, before the end of the year – I’ll keep you posted.

Something else I’m working on is an up to date list of UK poetry magazines, print and online, together with details of their Twitter & Facebook etc. Although there are a number of lists around, including the excellent Poetry LIbrary list, I’ve found that their Twitter or Facebook accounts aren’t listed, or they’re not always kept up to date – magazines tend to come and go, and I’ve often wasted time by seeking out (and sometimes submitting to) magazines that have clearly gone under but not told anyone. Anyway, it’s a bit of a mammoth task – I’ll post the first draft when it’s ready and hope you can help me by telling me of any you know to be ‘dead’ or others that I’ve haven’t heard of that ought to be included. Then if I can keep it up to date it could be a useful reference.

And last but not least, on Friday I went to see my very funny performance post friend Iona Jette perform her new one-woman show The Orgasm Management Monologue in the Brighton Fringe. I filmed it on a DSLR camera, my first attempt at such a thing and great fun to play with all the gadgetry involved. I’ll post a link to it when it’s up!

Angst/

An acceptance, a talk and workshop news

Pleasant Stores

Pleasant Stores

I haven’t had a poem accepted for a while so it was very nice to hear from Jeremy Page at The Frogmore Papers to say he’d like to take one for issue 82 in the autumn. Hurrah!

(I also had some other good news last week but more about that shortly.)

And now I’d like your thoughts please on a slightly sticky situation. I’m still rather on tenterhooks with Agenda, after a four month wait I thought I would email again to ask very gently if my poems were still being considered (it does say on the website to expect a 12-week wait, and subscribers -of which I am one- are allegedly given some priority in being dealt with, so I didn’t think it unreasonable to ask.) But would you believe it, apparently my (email) submission was never received, but editor Patricia McCarthy was apologetic and invited me to resubmit, which I did, asking for acknowledgement that they had been received. But I’ve heard nothing.

So here’s the issue:  do I assume my emails aren’t getting through, and just submit the poems elsewhere? (Email is now the only way to submit to Agenda.) Or do I wait, and for how long? I don’t really want to put these poems away for another 4 months. But I don’t want to put myself in the editor’s bad books by having to tell her the poems have gone elsewhere, if she does want them. I also don’t want to pester her with emails saying ‘can you please tell me you’ve got them’ or whatever. It’s a good magazine and I’ve had work in there before, so I don’t want to give up lightly.

Lordy! The etiquette of submissions. And is it very common for poems to go astray? It seems to have happened to me an inordinate number of times.

Meanwhile on the workshop front I enjoyed hosting Colin Bell’s poetry evening in Pleasant Stores round the corner from me in Lewes, although only 2 people turned up. So with Sara the cafe owner that made four of us. It’s not a workshopping group, but people are invited to bring either their own poetry or someone else’s. I took along a selection of mags and books and read poems by Lewes poet Janet Sutherland which everyone liked, and a couple from Sam Rivere’s 81 Austeries, which I love but I think they were a bit too challenging for those present. (Read the review by Ruth Padel in the Guardian.)

Then yesterday I was at Brighton Library giving a short talk for writers about ‘Building your social web presence’. It was part of  New Writing South‘s Publishing Industry Day which was well attended and I sat in on a couple of the other sessions, including one on Arts Council funding which was very interesting. I think I managed to sell a few tickets for the workshops I’m doing there next month and into May, so that’s good.

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Forthcoming events

publishing industry day

Last week I wasn’t able to get along to the first Pighog poetry night in Brighton as it was Nick’s birthday so we ate out at the Jolly Sportsman in East Chiltington (lush). BUT I’m looking forward to the next one on March 28th as Judith Cair, a lovely poet who I know from various workshopping groups, is launching her pamphlet The Ship’s Eye.

Tomorrow is the meeting of the Brighton Stanza, and we’re combining the reading and workshopping groups into one. Although we had booked our workshopping dates, the pub omitted to ‘put them in the book’ and as a result we were bumped. So we thought we’d combine the 2 groups for this month and next. Anyway, we’ll play it by ear and do whatever people want to do on the night.

Then on Wednesday I’m facilitating the ‘First Wednesday’ poetry group here in Lewes at Pleasant Stores, run by Colin Bell who’s away this week. It’s a new group and I’ve only been to one event myself. It’s mostly a reading group, there’s no workshopping. So I shall take plenty of current magazines and collections to share and read a few things from, and hopefully others will too.

Next Saturday 9th March is the New Writing South Publishing Industry Day at Brighton Library which should be brilliant: many good speakers/writers and industry experts, plenty of opportunities to network with writers, publishers, agents etc. I’m presenting a short session on ‘building your online writer presence’ as a taster for my new course running in April/May. Do come along if you can, and say hello.

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Writers and the fear of social media

Facebook - typewriter

When talking to writers I meet at workshops and readings, the question of what I do for a living sometimes gets asked. And no sooner do words like ‘internet’, ‘social media’, ‘communications’ etc start popping out than I get stories about how the kids spend all their time on Facebook or their mobile phones, or comments such as how boring it is to talk about what you had for breakfast and who wants to know all that stuff? 

Now I’m used to this. I don’t take offence. (And it’s not just writers, by the way.) I have a lot of sympathy for social media refuseniks, and I know they don’t really mean to rubbish everything I’ve been professionally involved with for the last 15 years. In fact I’ve come to realise, with some gentle questioning, that quite often these are people who would love to know more and hate that feeling of being left behind or mystified by stuff that bears no relation to anything they’ve grown up with. So I have a mission to help them!

I already do one-to-one mentoring with people in business or in jobs where they need to know about social media, but can’t or won’t admit it publicly. And I’ve wanted for a long time to do this for writers, because I do believe having a strong presence on the social web is of huge benefit to both the established and (especially) the aspiring writer.

So – I’m running a few pilot workshops with New Writing South in Brighton in April/May. The first is provisionally entitled ‘Social media – feel the fear and do it anyway’ and is aimed at writers who find the whole social media thang a pain and they wish it would go away. My mission is to convince them that a) it’s not going away, b) knowledge is power, so they need to get with the programme and c) they can do it, and in a way that they feel comfortable with, that works for them. There’s no mystery. And it’s got nothing to do with age.

The three follow-up sessions will be helping people establish and nurture their web presence, with lots of good examples, resources and hand holding. If you know anyone who fits the bill, please let them know! (I know it’s not for you, as you’re already here!)

By the way, if this subject interests you, I’ve always been a big fan of Dan Blank of We Grow Media, who is huge advocate of author platforms and provides not only courses but also a wonderful blog. It’s full of insight and valuable resources for writers looking to establish their online presence. Do take a look.

Image credit: Ad Broad