New Year, catching up and reading poetry on trains

First post of the New Year. I heard about my novella at the end of December - didn't get on the shortlist. Oh well. Yes, I was disappointed but when I went back to it I realised that the opening isn't strong enough. I had already changed it once before I entered it for the competition, but it can be improved and will be! I had the idea of submitting it somewhere else. However, looking at the criteria for this particular place I'm not sure if it falls into their categories (sci-fi and fantasy). My story is more supernatural. My other problem is it's length. Very few competitions exist that take word counts of around 15,000 words. I still like the story. I'll take another look at it sometime and see what revisions I think it needs.

My 10p copy of War and Peace with  cover
sellotaped together!

I'm still trying to catch up on magazines and am now well into War and Peace, Dare I say I'm quite enjoying it now! I think I will watch the TV adaptation. It might help me clarify things, but the book has definitely become more interesting. Part of the problem is getting into that mindset of reading books written so long ago. They style of writing is so different. A lot of the books I read I fast paced, and this is a slow one. Once I accepted it I began to enjoy it.

On a different note I often see posts or articles stating that people are never seen reading poetry on trains. I must be an exception then because I do. If the book I am reading is too big to carry around I take whatever else I have to read - writing magazines, poetry books and small press magazines, even On Religion, a magazine I consider one of the best multi-faith magazines (subscription only). I love looking to see what other people are reading (I'm just so nosy) and I don't mind it they look at what I'm reading. Poetry books are handy sized reads and often fit into my handbag. Maybe we should make this the year of reading poetry on a train - let everyone know it's cool to read poetry. Who is with me? Why not take a photo to prove it too!