Tag: needlewriters

Angst/

Readings, giving myself a talking-to and some early Spring cleaning

Actually January was pretty good overall. Not for the pelargoniums in the garden that have been reduced to a frostbitten mess. But our goldfish Brahms and Liszt have both been spotted alive and well so the cold snaps haven’t done for them yet. Also I’ve been illness-free (write it!) and the collection is coming along.

This time last week I was in London at the very characterful Club for Acts and Actors for Red Door Poets’ winter party, reading with Simon Madrell, Red Door Poets including Mary Mulholland and a host of excellent open-mic-ers. I was invited by Gillie Robic, and it was a delight to meet up with poet friends I haven’t seen in a while, including Jill Abram, Hilaire, Mary Allen, Chaucer Cameron, Helen Dewbery, Tom Cunliffe, and fellow Live Canon ‘pamphleteer’ Katie Griffiths. It’s really put me in the mood for more readings, which is lucky because I have a few lined up for later in the year when the book is out.

A few weeks ago was the Needlewriters in Lewes and it was so good to hear Clare Best and Jeremy Page read, plus meeting up with my Lewes-area poet mates. These poetry events are very cockle-warming I find, especially at this time of year when I really need to get out and beat the cold weather and dark evenings.

Luckily February always brings lovely things in this household – a birthday, a wedding anniversary and the promise of Spring in the offing. I’ve already been spring-cleaning my poetry folders, and feeling rather humbled as regards my poor submissions habit. I seem to have a reputation as a submissions queen, because of my spreadsheet. But there’s that expression ‘physician heal thyself’ (where the heck does that come from?). A number of people have accosted me recently to ask about magazine submissions, and I’ve had to admit I haven’t submitted anything much for ages. Why? I suppose it’s partly because I feel there are so many up and coming poets whose work is appearing everywhere, I’m feeling my work might be a bit ‘has been’. But I know that’s stupid really, because for all the ‘fast fashion’ that exists in the poetry world, decent writing is still appreciated. Plus, my first collection is about to launch, so this is no time to wallow in self-flagellation. I guess I’m making excuses for being a bit lazy. Having Sharon Black of  Pindrop Press critique my poems for the collection, in great detail, has given me a bit of a kick up the bum I suppose. As a result, I’ve pulled together all the poems I’ve written over the last few years that I’ve abandoned, sometimes after multiple failed submissions, others that I just lost interest in too soon, and have them now all in a  2025 folder ‘to be worked up’. There are over seventy poems or proto-poems in that folder. I picked one out randomly and (without planning to) spent a whole day playing with it. I have plenty of material to revisit!

Art/

All shall be well

detail of Nativity facade bronze door, Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

I know, I know – not that Julian of Norwich quote again, I hear you say. But it’s the start of the year, I’m looking out at blue sky, and this is the first day since November 8th that I’ve felt properly well, and that the three colds I’ve had back-to-back since then are finally wearing off. Life is good and all shall be well.

Julian of Norwich was really just a name to me until poet friend Antony lent me his copy of I, Julian by Clare Gilbert, (Hachette) which is a fictionalised autobiography of the medieval anchoress who wrote ‘Revelations of Divine Love’. I was interested in finding out more about Julian’s life, and actually I found it un-put-downable.

At the other end of the spectrum I’ve been converted to the Ruth Galloway novels by Elly Griffiths which I’ve been hoovering up on my kindle. They’re great fun, perfect for long waiting times in airports and hospitals, and a good example of (ahem) how to write not a single novel but a series.

On the poetry front, Janet Sutherland’s The Messenger House (Shearsman) has risen to the top of the TBR pile and I’ve made tentative progress through it. The book is a hybrid of prose, poetry, memoir, travelogue. So far I’ve found it intriguing and exciting. Janet likes to push the boundaries and her work is never predictable.

Last week we had a few days away in Barcelona: art, architecture, tapas, wine. We also managed a boat trip, trips on two funny trains and a cable car. We like to go on a boat wherever we go on holiday, and a funny train is a bonus! The image that accompanies this post is a detail of one of the huge doors to Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. Cast in bronze, the doors are on the Nativity front and depict nature in all its detail. Really lovely work by Japanese sculptor and follower of Gaudi, Etsuro Sotoo.

And now I must decide what I’m reading at Needlewriters on Thursday. Already a few non-poet friends have told me they’re coming (gulp). There’ll also be poet friends there who’ve heard me read before. I want to read some new stuff, but maybe I should include material that isn’t new but that has gone down well in readings before. Also, nothing too grim or opaque. Help! It’s a been a while since I’ve done a 15 minute set, so I need to get practising.

But hey – at least I’m not reading at the T S Eliots on Sunday. Then I might be a tad nervous. Katy Evans-Bush is running two online sessions (Saturday and Sunday) discussing the ten shortlisted collections – more info here. I’ve been to Katy’s sessions when they were in-person at the old Poetry School premises in Lambeth and they were both enjoyable and very helpful. Katy really knows her stuff and does her research, but these workshops are very much collaborative discussions, not lectures. But they are online. I think sadly since the Poetry School moved north of the river, renting a space there for such a workshop is now prohibitive. A great shame.

 

 

Art/

Look to the future now, it’s only just begun

seventies xmas dec

Ah, Christmas. Busy busy. I still haven’t made a nice door wreath but when it stops raining I’ll be up the garden gathering foliage and berries. Next week I’m Christmas-crafting with the granddaughters (cutout snowflakes? stars for the tree? I think the only no-no is glitter… not sure anyone uses that anymore anyway!)

A meet-up with old school friends tomorrow, and a big concert in Lewes Town Hall on Saturday Jostling for place on the programme we have Vivaldi Gloria and later on ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, so something for everyone. As the years go by I do think Slade’s shopping-mall classic has weathered well. Can anyone argue with those lyrics? Nice one, Noddy and Jimmy.

Meanwhile Peter Kenny and I have been trying to get the latest Planet Poetry episode in the bag, but struggling with tech issues. I’m hoping it will be up by 4pm Thursday. It’s our Christmas episode so not to be missed!

Have I written anything lately? Not really, although I was inspired by the Marina Abramovic show at the Royal Academy. Challenging and thought-provoking. I feel something is coming of it, in terms of poetry…

On the same day as Abramovic I was at the Nutcracker reimagined, a dance performance as part of the South Bank Winter Festival. I’ve seen the Royal Ballet version and this wasn’t it – but it was equally brilliant. And I love performances where I’m so close I feel a part of the action. (Although I confess I did baulk at Abramovic’s ‘Imponderabilia’.) Lucy and I had front-row seats and narrowly missed being knocked out by a high kick and showered in confetti.

In the New Year both Peter and myself are reading at Needlewriters in Lewes, on January 11th. It’ll be my first reading in ages. I need to get back into the swing of things, and with a collection coming out next year I’ll need to start begging for opportunities, which I’ve never been great at. Please come to Needlewriters if you are anywhere near. Friendly faces very welcome!

The New Year also sees a renewed effort to get my novel out the door and into the slippery inboxes of lit agents. Let’s hope it hits them just as they’ve had a nice lunch and are feeling all is well with the world.

At the weekend we were in Rye, a little town that seems to have come on considerably since the pandemic. Many more interesting shops but still charming. At Lamb House, a National Trust place that has been the home to Henry James, E. F. Benson (who wrote the Mapp and Lucia books) and Rumer Godden, they have a ‘seventies’ themed Christmas going on. Perfect! Blue Peter annuals, paper chains, Angel Delight and – erm – Slade on the record player. Someone had a lovely time putting that together!

 

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All kinds of poetry news and shenanigans

"Bird in a Wilderness" Hastings Stanza Poetry Anthology

I like the word shenanigans, don’t you? Although as I just check its meaning I see it can mean underhand goings-on. I don’t have anything underhand to report, but a few things happening now that Autumn is kicking in (just). And my birthday is approaching – always a time of fluidity and change.

Poem submissions

The blockage has finally cleared! Poems that had been gathering dust in numerous in-trays have finally come back to me, all with a polite ‘no thanks’ attached. Oh well. Although having said that, I’ve two poems forthcoming in South magazine and another two in the Hastings Stanza Anthology ‘Bird in a Wilderness’ which we’re launching on Friday October 20 at The White Rock Hotel, Hastings at 7 pm – if you’re anywhere near, do come! The book is partly in aid of The Refugee Buddy Project that does wonderful work in welcoming refugees in the Hastings area.

Readings/launches

Clare Best is launching her new book Beyond the Gate from Worple Press this evening in London, compered by none other than my old poddy mate Peter Kenny, so I am braving the train journey north and dodging the replacement buses to be there.

On Thursday I’m looking forward to Needlewriters in Lewes, which I haven’t managed to get to for a while, and it’s always a lovely social Lewes event.  Reading from their new collections will be Janet Sutherland and Richard Skinner. 

Also on Thursday is the ‘season opener’ of Planet Poetry Season Four – yup! We’re still going strong…and as befits the first episode we have a special guest… poetry royalty, you could say…

Novel stuff

My ‘hot new bestseller’ is at a crucial stage – basically I’m re-writing the ending. It will be much better for it, and transition coolly into Book Two. I’m a month behind schedule but will definitely be submitting to agents before the end of October.

Music stuff

My choir the Lewes Singers has its concert this coming Saturday which I know will be lovely, but that doesn’t stop me checking bookings every day and hoping we will cover our costs with ticket sales! Next month I’ll be taking part in a big Verdi Requiem in Brighton with two big choirs which will be fun. Plus, on my birthday can you believe, I’ve been press-ganged by a friend to take part in one of her musical soirees in which friends and neighbours agree to listen to various musical turns by amateurs. So I’ll be donning some dreadful costume and hamming it up on something called ‘The Stepsisters’ Lament’. Gawds, I can’t believe I’m admitting to it.

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Midsummer update: poetry projects, novel stuff, podcast…

It’s been a busy few weeks. Today started very well by my getting the Wordle in one – third time this year! If you don’t know what Wordle is then I apologise. But a ONE is pure luck. I danced around the room – Nick probably thought I’d got a book deal. Speaking of which:

How’s the novel going?

Thanks for asking! I finished the first draft in 9 weeks, and have been editing since, also writing a synopsis, researching agents and trying to come up with a title. I’m also itching to start book two. Which might end up being book one, if you see what I mean. Apparently many first books are rubbish.

I was being polite, I’m really only interested in poetry..

Oh well fair enough! A funny thing did happen the other day, I suddenly wrote four poems – a sort of sequence I suppose – out of nowhere. But I haven’t really given poetry writing a lot of headspace lately. The ‘sudden burst’ actually came after listening to an online book launch by Pindrop Press. I was enjoying poems by Lydia Harris, and was inspired enough to buy her collection, Objects of Private Devotion. I haven’t started it yet though, mainly because I’ve been ploughing though historical novels to try to gauge where mine sits. But also, I have two poetry books to review for the Frogmore Papers, plus Jill Abram‘s debut collection Forgetting My Father (Broken Sleep) waiting to be read. Patience!

Another project I’m involved with at the moment is an anthology that the Hastings Stanza is putting together, to be published in October under the Telltale Press imprint. There are four of us on the editorial “committee” and at the moment I’m busy on the typesetting. I think the standard of poems is pretty high, though I say so myself, so it’s a pleasure to work on.

Recent events I’ve attended include the 40th birthday celebration reading for the Frogmore Press, then Rachel Playforth reading at Needlewriters. Rachel has written this lovely sequence about her home town of Lewes, called ‘Twitten’…

As regards submissions I’ve still got a dozen or so poems that have been out for between nine months and a year. Talk about indigestion. I kicked a few others out the door recently. But who knows. My acceptance rate is a shadow of it former self. I think perhaps my poetry is out of fashion. Oh well! Like growing older. What can you do?

At the least the Planet Poetry podcast is on the up, according to download/listener stats. It’s hard work though. I’ve just had an exhausting month recording and editing two back-to-back episodes, both of which had technical challenges. The most recent episode is a ‘Bumper Children’s Poetry Special’ in which I talk to Rachel Piercey and Kate Wakeling. It was great fun to do! Nevertheless Peter and I are looking forward to our summer break…

Forthcoming poem alert: those lovely editors at Atrium, Holly Magill and Claire Walker, have taken a poem of mine, ‘For Sagra, at Port-Gentil on Midsummer’s Day’ to go live this Friday. “It was the closest date we could get to Midsummer’s Day!” they told me. Hurray for the longest day!

Right, now I’m off to buy a lottery ticket…

Angst/

Self-sabotage, womansplaining and other poetry joys

Lewes singers xmas concert poster

I should be preparing for a recording session this afternoon, for a Planet Poetry episode that’s going out on Thursday, but I’m feeling a bit guilty about neglecting this blog. So herewith a quick update. Subheadings are here to help you skip forward (or skip it all if you so wish!)

Reasons/excuses for not writing much poetry right now

Mid-November and everything’s kicking off as regards Christmas – I mean for those of us involved in concerts. I’m personally only singing in one, but my choir-director husband is full on with more ensembles and gigs than I can keep up with. In his wake, here I am helping out by creating posters & programmes, placing adverts, liaising with concert organisers and ticket selling outlets, managing ticket sales and worrying about things like whether the heating will be working at the venue and have I got someone’s up-to-date biog, have I got the right date and time on the posters, managing the music hire and allocation for The Lewes Singers and making sure we have enough tea, coffee and gluten-free biscuits for our rehearsals. Etcetera. I’m also knee-deep in executor stuff, trying to sell my sister’s two properties & dealing with buyers pulling out, estate agents/managing agents/solicitors and endless questions to answer and forms to fill in. Not a great time to be selling a flat, or two. But hey. I’m alive. I’m healthy. Neither my home nor my livelihood is on the line, so it ain’t really stressful, just time consuming. Then again, I’m such a self-saboteur that I’m probably secretly quite happy not to have too much writing time on my hands.

Recent and forthcoming poetry gigs

On Sunday I was at the Eastbourne Poetry Cafe to hear Karen Smith give a reading – Karen is a class act I have to say, she lit up the room. I think I first met Karen on a New Writing South course, then she had a collection Schist published by Smith Doorstop, and that set her on her way.  There’s a very nice interview with Karen here. It was also great to meet Christopher Horton and hear him read, someone I’ve not come across before.

I’m looking forward to hearing my Hastings Stanza pal Antony Mair at Needlewriters in Lewes this coming Thursday. Another classy poet who always gives engaging and entertaining readings.

At least I am writing a BIT…

Bill Greenwell’s online workshop has forced me to come up with some new poems, hurray! I will try to send something out this month. I have a few poems ‘out there’, some of which are due back soon I think, so that will be an added impetus. I may even try sending a pamphlet submission to Broken Sleep before that deadline passes.

and reading…

There’s always reading to be done to prepare for Planet Poetry interviews. I read somewhere recently that writing poetry reviews (the traditional kind, for poetry mags) is a good discipline as it makes you really read closely and engage with poetry collections. I have to say that interviewing a poet on a podcast takes all that and then some – thinking up relevant questions to ask, talking with the poet about your reading/understanding of their work, suggesting which poems they read and commenting in a way that listeners may find interesting… it’s not easy, and I often curse myself for sounding like an idiot, a sycophant or a ‘womansplainer’, sometimes all three in the same episode. It’s all  good fun though!

Angst/

At last, some (a)live poetry events

ancient juniper tree

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 was such a joy. Actual, live events are just that, aren’t they? (A)LIVE. The same goes for live poetry readings – there are two lovely launch events coming up: first John McCullough is launching his new book Panic Response (Penned in the Margins) in Brighton next week, guaranteed to be a love-in for his many friends and fans, then in June poet friend Sarah Barnsley has very kindly asked me to be one her support acts at an informal launch of her brilliant collection, The Thoughts (Smith Doorstop).

In between, there’s a Needlewriters evening coming up on April 14th. I’ll have the privilege of ’emcee-ing’ this one, and hearing the excellent Peter Raynard whose new book Manland is forthcoming from Nine Arches in July.

Online blues

Like most people I put up with Zoom readings and events when it was the only thing allowed, and I hadn’t realised how much I loathed it until I started to contemplate the horror of online poetry events becoming a permanent thing. The ‘Zoom factor’ is having a detrimental effect on my decision about whether to return to the University of York to finish my MA later this year: as long as there is any chance whatsoever that seminars will be moved online, I can’t honestly contemplate returning.

Ironic really: twenty-five years ago, as an internet newbie I was basking in the excitement of what the Web had to offer, online for hours every night (this was in the US, where it was free!) and making friends across the globe (yes, actual people – some of whom I got to know in real life). I then spent the best part of twenty years working in online marketing and speaking, teaching, advocating and writing books about the power (and brilliance) of the internet for business, for communities and for communication generally.

And now? After nearly three months ‘resting’ from Twitter, I’m wondering just how much I missed it, if at all. In two days’ time it will be my 15th anniversary of joining. But the reasons I used to love it have gone, and I watch it being slowly poisoned by human behaviour and commercial interests. However, having ditched Facebook several years ago (with no regrets), I’m not about to jump ship from Twitter. But I will be carrying out some changes so I can enjoy it more.

Latest news about the collection

Version three of the manuscript is out the door and with the second of the wise poets who are helping me with ordering, culling, titling and general confidence. I finally have a working title that I think I like and will work. Huzzah! (No, that’s not it!) Meanwhile one of my newer poems has been taken by The Alchemy Spoon, and I have a dozen or so others out to other mags. I think I’m back in the submissions saddle.

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Drum roll please, the essay is submitted (and other news)

End of my first year on the MA Poetry & Poetics

On Tuesday I submitted my Spring term essay (HURRAH!), and well before the deadline, so no stress, except for not being able to find anything on my desk under the various piles of articles, but they are now all filed away. (This is the module I’ve been studying, if you’re interested). I’ve sent back the four library books I still had. I’m catching up with blogging, emailing and various house and garden jobs.

It’s all been rather strange, distance-learning with very little contact with other students or tutors. I’ve never actually set foot in the University library. Bizarre! If I go back for the second year I’m going to enjoy mooching about the library, going for the odd tutorial, having the odd beer with course-mates and doing all the things I remember as being What Students Do. We shall see how things pan out. There’s no teaching in the Summer term, so that’s my academic year over, pretty much, and universities have been told they can’t offer any face to face teaching in Arts subjects anyway. But I’ve been very lucky. I’m already set up to work from home, I don’t have to worry about accommodation or jobs or a career. But it must have been a pretty awful academic year for most students.

Butcher’s Dog magazine

Another nice thing was to have a poem accepted for the next edition of Butcher’s Dog magazine. Editor Jo Clement was recently being praised on Twitter for the quality and sensitivity of her rejections. It almost made me wish I’d had one. Now that’s perverse for you! I’m a new subscriber to the Dog (see more about it on this recent post) and although I’ve submitted there before this is my first acceptance, so I’m very pleased. Poetry magazines do rely on subscribers though, and I think the way it’s described on the Butcher’s Dog website puts the case for subscribing very well:

Why Subscribe?
Pre-ordering helps keep us in press. Subscribers directly contribute toward advance printing costs and press maintenance. Buy today and you’ll support the mix of emerging and established poets we strive to publish annually.
​
How does it work?
Prices reflect the complete checkout cost. This includes postage, packing and transportation costs for the first twelve months of your subscription, which includes two magazines: Spring and Autumn.

The virtual Needlewriters

The Needlewriters, the writers’ collective which I belong to, hasn’t been able to host its quarterly readings in Lewes, but we dipped our toe in the Zoom water last night and presented our four readers online: Julia Webb (poetry), Emily Bell (prose), Karen Smith (poetry) and Jackie Wills (prose). The readings were excellent, and we were thrilled with the turnout. Although it was free, many people very kindly made donations which has enabled us to stay in the black. Even though we haven’t had any live readings in the last year, unfortunately there are fixed costs that never go away, like web hosting. So it was a success all round. Next event in June, and then in the autumn we expect to be back in the pub and able to socialise, which personally I find impossible on Zoom.

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Readings this coming week, Planet Poetry & Uni stuff

Today feels like a desk-work day even though the sun is shining outside – we did go for a long walk on the Downs yesterday and I always need a day to recover after sustained exercise, although of course I have to keep up my Yoga with Adriene sessions! It was cold and frosty up on the hills yesterday, but beautiful:

On the South Downs winter walk

Poetry & Poetics course update

The good news is I wrote my essay and submitted it a week ago – woop! I could have delayed and kept fiddling with it, but I didn’t really see the point. So now I’m free to devote my reading time to Dante. It looks like the entire Spring term will be taught online, which is a shame, but I’m clinging onto the idea that as I’m doing this over two years, next year I might be able to go up to York more regularly. My small coterie of fellow students is lovely and we’ve enjoyed some sociable Zoom chats. All this is much harder for them than for cosy old me of course.

A couple of readings coming up

Nothing at all since last March and now I have two readings in a week – hmmm. Actually both are team readings, the first is on Monday 11th at 6pm (GMT), an event organised by the Mary Evans Picture Library and Arts Destination South Molton, in which 15 of us will each read a poem from the Poets and Pictures blog, accompanied by the photo or image that inspired it. We had a run through the other evening and there are some intriguing poem/picture combinations. It makes good use of Zoom to have the pictures up while we read. Lots of fine poets taking part, including Janet Sutherland, Jane Clarke, Rosie Jackson and Martyn Crucefix. Its free and open to all, but if you’re interested in attending do drop an email to Alison Verney at admin@artsdestination.co.uk who will send you a link.

Meanwhile on Thursday 14th, again at 6pm, there’s a Needlewriters/Frogmore Press Zoom event in which eight of us will read something from the Poetry South East 2020 Anthology. Drop a line to Jeremy at frogmorepress@gmail.com if you’d like a link to attend. It would be lovely to see you at either or both readings!

Planet Poetry

The podcast is back for 2021! In yesterday’s episode Peter interviewed Mario Petrucci, and then we had a bit of banter about prose poems, New Year’s resolutions and whatnot. We have some very interesting interviews coming up over the next few weeks, including Mary Jean Chan, Inua Ellams, and a number of other lovely poets and pundits to be confirmed ….why not have a listen and sign up?

Planet Poetry 7/1/21: Mario Petrucci

Spring

More good news – the days are getting longer! Daffodils are pushing up already! last week I did a big clean up in the ‘potting shed’ and that felt good. The seed catalogues are here and I’m thinking about what to plant. Bring it on!

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Home again, and deadlines approaching

Clare Shaw interviews Carrie Etter at Poetry Swindon Festival
Clare Shaw interviews Carrie Etter at Poetry Swindon Festival

The Swindon Poetry Festival over, I’m now catching up with stuff, looking at my book purchases (actually there are a couple of books I still need to buy, not being able to do so because I ran out of cash. Note to self: always take a thick wodge of CASH to poetry events as that will invariably be the only method of payment AND you can be sure there won’t be a cash machine within a mile. Judi Sutherland kindly drove me around the roundabouts of Swindon on Sunday morning as we tried to a) follow the directions given by people in the hotel and petrol station and b) find a cash machine that actually worked.

You can read all my Swindon Festival posts here if you’re interested –  including some audio recordings.

Anyhow, next week is the Needlewriters on Thursday 18th in Lewes which I’m looking forward to very much, then there are a few poetry competition deadlines coming up, such as the Troubadour and the National. Each year I feel less and less optimistic about entering competitions, there seem to be so many brilliant ‘up and coming’ poets on the scene, plus very experienced/successful/professional poets entering (and winning) comps, and who can blame them if the prize money is good? But still. I must remind myself that there is at least an element of luck. And it’s good to support the Poetry Society, Coffee-House Poetry and the many shoestring organisations who rely on income from competitions to stay afloat.

Most importantly I need to finish the ‘how to get published in magazines’ book, before people go off the boil about it. I’ve really enjoyed gathering comments and advice from magazine editors which I think will make very interesting reading. Just when you think it’s all been said, I guess it hasn’t!