And lo … the teeny window of acceptances doth open

Waiting to hear the results of submissions can be like waiting for the interest rate to change – something could happen today, next month or not for a year or so. You know how I like to moan a bit about it (ahem!)…but come on,  I do seem to have had a fair amount of badRead more ⟶

Launch of The Rialto 80

It rained. Part of the building had fallen off. The bar was heaving with Carphone Warehouse partygoers. But The Rialto launch last night was a small haven of poetry peace amidst the chaos. Although I got there indecently early (I had the silly idea that it was starting at 6.30) Fiona Moore made me veryRead more ⟶

Submissions, forthcoming events, pamphlet sales etc

Latest submissions news is …. no news. Or rather, another of my stupid cockups:  according to my records I’d made a submission to Lighthouse in early April, but then this week when I checked their website I noticed it said that submissions are always acknowledged with an email auto-responder. I couldn’t find one in my inbox, so then IRead more ⟶

Hurrah! Poem finds des res

As a poet friend once said to me, it’s always lovely when a poem finds a home. It’s true – it gives you permission to stop worrying about them, messing with them and trying to make them something they’re not. And if they really luck out then they land up somewhere de-LUXE. Like The Rialto.Read more ⟶

Unexpected bonus

In the post today came a copy of Poetry magazine, volume 202 number 1 – yes, it’s been going for over a hundred years – gawds! The reason it was an unexpected bonus is because I cannot remember where or when I ordered it. But here it is, and with such a heritage the firstRead more ⟶

A feast of first lines

First lines. Ack! It’s worse than a job interview. You have 2 seconds to make an impression. Or something like that. Do you find yourself going back to the first line and re-writing because it’s just not strong enough? And as a reader, do you ever read the first line and immediately your mind saysRead more ⟶

Out now – The Rialto 75

The Rialto: bedside reading for this week at least. Very proud that I have a poem in it on page 50. The Last They’ve been coming since posters were invented: sometimes in dreams, to the tipping of cowboy hats or dressed in Liverpool shirts. Each one appeared in my diary, in code. My mother wouldn’tRead more ⟶

Hurrah! The Rialto takes another

So excited to have had a poem accepted for The Rialto. The first poem I had published was in this magazine (Rialto 70, Autumn 2010) and to say that I was ‘gobsmacked’ would be an understatement… only I’m not allowed to use that word in my husband’s presence as he believes it is an affront theRead more ⟶