What motivates you?

 

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

What motivates you to write? What makes you get out your pen and pencil or open your laptop to write? Sometimes we go through spells of unproductiveness. I've tried to work out what causes this. Often when I finish something, I step away from writing for a bit and then can't seem to settle to any other project. I feel unsettled and I cannot work out why, and I've come to the conclusion that I am actually missing writing.

It's the starting that is the difficult bit. Like staring at the blank page, but as soon as I begin putting words on the page, I'm drawn in and I feel happier. Things like editing...I feel I can't get going. Maybe because it seems such an overwhelming task. Yet again, once I start, everything becomes easier.

New tasks or projects come in strange ways. I might read a book or a poem, a sentence, something I see or something that makes me stop, something that needs researching and then I am in writing. Those are my motivation drivers. I love it when that happens because the idea and writing are often instantaneous and the writing process isn't a slog, which it can be at other times when things aren't working. Then it's time for a walk. Leave the work for a while and do something else until the problem has been worked through.

But it doesn't end there. I am motivated by other writers when I meet them at open mic nights, a workshop or writing friends when we get together. Poetry readings, writing conferences, anywhere writers gather and work is read fires me up. I don't feel so alone and I want to go away and get stuck in.

It may be different for you and I'd love to hear about it, because we can all learn from one another. I have now (I hope) solved the problem of leaving comments. It was me 😏 and not Blogger, something that needed to be embedded. Give it a go. I won't know if it works until someone leaves a comment.

Blog re-vamp and finding submission windows

 

Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash

Yesterday I re-vamped my blog. I do hope you like it. I realised that this was long overdue, and some things weren't working properly. I've fixed that now. However, I know some people have said they find it hard to leave comments. Not sure how to fix that as I think it's more a Blogger problem than mine. I will see if there is a way round that, but I'm not holding my breath. You can still re-blog and send my posts elsewhere!

I have checked all the links and taken out ones that no longer work and changed the theme, added a sub-heading and am pretty pleased with it.

As I said, I want to be more active on my blog. So today, I'm starting by talking about where to find submission windows for your poetry and stories.

Submission windows

I subscribe to Mslexia who list submission windows, as do Writing Magazine. However, I have found that these aren't always up to date. Do check the websites first as sometimes submission windows are only open two or three times a year. Writing Magazine has a lot of US websites listed. Quite a few of those charge a reading fee. I don't mind paying for a competition now and then, but reading fees? Maybe that's why it's mainly US publication that can afford to pay their contributors. I guess it's down to what you can afford and whether you feel it's worth it.

Another good source for finding open submission windows is, I hate to say it, X (formerly twitter). I've had some success in having my work published through several zines I've found there. They are all worth checking out to see if what they publish suits you.

Finally, Robin Houghton's list (see side panel of blog for link) is brilliant. Again, I use it quite a lot.

Do your research with any publication. Often I find they don't want the type of work I write, or are exclusive to certain groups of people. Check word counts, the total amount of submissions you can send, and please, please read all the rules for entry and the format they want them in. Ignoring these things will get your work dismissed straight away. After all the work you put into writing, you can't afford to ignore the rules. Each publication has its own style. Admittedly, some can get a bit picky, but it's their baby, often run by volunteers, so please respect them.

One other thing, please support one or two magazines/zines where you can. Subscriptions keep them running. You can support one for a year and then switch if you want, unless you get hooked by one. My current favourite is Streetcake. It is experimental, which kind of goes against what I write (though I did get one poem in there). It's interesting, different and gives me inspiration to occasionally write outside the box.

Happy submitting!

Sometimes the only advice you need is your own

Image by Prateek Katyal (Unsplash)

Websites v Blogs

 I thought I was doing well setting up a website. After Googling various ways to upload photos and using spacers, I was so pleased to get what I wanted. As I was doing so well, I decided to add social media buttons. It all looked straightforward, but could I get the damn things to work? More Googling, checking, putting my URL's in again, but no, they would not work. I read some things I didn't understand and was losing hope. Instead I looked to see how my layout looked to those visiting the site and the photo, which I had spent ages on inserting, was not there! It's in my edit window, but not visible to anyone. The social media logos were missing too.

At this point I thought, do I actually want this website? Writers are advised to have one, though I know several writers who don't have one. I've said all along that I've become attached to my blog which I have written since 2009. It's changed a bit from the early days, but I was beginning to wonder what I'd put on a website. Could I abandon my blog? After what I went through this morning, I've decided it is not worth the hassle. Yes, I've spent money buying a domain, but I can cancel the subscription so I'm not paying for something I'm clearly not going to use.

I cannot afford to pay anyone to build me a website, and no doubt there would be a monthly fee on top, so what this boils down to is a re-vamping of my blog. At present I only post about once a month. I think I need to be a little more active, but also to change the 'pages' around a bit. Although Blogger can be annoying at times, I can usually sort things out. I'm not very technically minded (I quit WordPress for the same reason). Blogger is more user friendly for me....better the devil you know!

So I am going to do some work on the blog which I hope people will enjoy.

Some time ago I spoke about Substack. I signed up a while back to follow a couple of people, and I now have a profile and a photo. That's as far as I've got, but I am considering using it in the future. I just need to figure out where I am going with it. I want to do something different to this blog, but link them. I think Substack could be a good substitute for a website as it has some of the same features.

News and an announcement

This afternoon I have been with my writing group. Just four of us today., I really wanted to be there as I can't make the next prose meeting, and maybe not the next writing session. We had a good chat about self-publishing as well as writing. I took along a sheet with three sections of five random words as prompts in case there weren't any prompts this time (sometimes there aren't). No one used them, but I brought them home and I may use them myself sometime.

I used the time to write my task for the course I am taking at the moment. Live Canon is running a four-week correspondence course in poetry 'Line breaks'. I'm in catch-up mode as I joined a few days late, but I'm really enjoying the first week. Feedback is given not only by the tutor but one can share their work with others on the course. So, today I was writing the piece for feedback. The task only took ten minutes (as per the task instruction), so I tried writing some poetry, but nothing was working. In the end I went back to something I started writing at the writing group before. I have done no plotting and this is the third part! I only write it when I'm there. I really must do some world building and work out what I'm aiming for. It's a sort of cli-fi story. I read out what I had written today and apologised if it didn't make sense, but the overall feedback was good. 

Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on
 Unsplash

The back end of April had a piece of flash fiction published by Ink Sweat & Tears called The Second Coming. It's funny and I loved writing it. If you read my bio at the end you see that I have stated that my first full length novella is due to be published later this year. So, now seems to be a good time to announce the exciting news that Tinsel Street, my Christmas feel-good short novel is to published by Troubador, hopefully at the end of August. The copy edits have been done and I have a front cover! The printing of the inside is being done now. I have an author page already and there is a link to this blog. I am still working on the content of the author page and will share this too in the future. There's not much on there yet. Oh, and I am going to compile a Tinsel Street playlist on Spotify to go with the book! This was a late thought and I might not get a link in the book, but I will share it here. More news to follow.

Meanwhile, I am still submitting and managed six submissions last month. And that's me for now. Thanks for reading and have a good week folks.

Flash publication

 Just wanted to let you know that my short fiction The In and Out Job has been published today by Underbelly Press. My story is on page 25 of Issue 3. Do have a read and enjoy the other stories and poems contained inside.

I have enjoyed working with Underbelly Press. They are a friendly team and I wish them continued success with their coming issues.

Tomorrow I am meeting with the London Writers Support Group and the following Saturday I am with my regular writing group doing a spot of writing to a prompt.

I recently had a blitz on writing. Over a few days I wrote a number of flash stories and a longer story. The ideas came thick and fast and I was pleased with what I'd written. They need a bit of polishing, but several are humorous and others are more serious. Eventually, I'd like to publish them all together, but maybe send some of them out on submission first. In the meantime, I will be adding to them. My words  seem to have dried up for the moment! Instead, I am avidly reading books from my TBR pile.

All for now.

Feeling energised

Found a friend in Norwich!

 Just a quick post this time. The weather is finally sunny and warm (during the day at least), and I have been able to get into the garden and dig the two big beds over. The robin hovered while I was digging, eying up the tasty worms, and while I have placed old compost bags over one bed (to stop weeds and keep the soil warm before I plant), I gave the robin free access overnight to this one and a total freedom over the other.

The good weather has changed something in me. I feel energised, happy and fully alive for the first time this year. I've been busy, but taking time to sit with Rue (the dog) on the bench in the garden to read. He loves the sun and can't wait to get out there to hog the bench. Last year gardening was quite stressful as Rue would steal canes, gardening loves, flowerpots and raid the green waste for anything to chew. This year he has settled down (he will be three in August), and while I still keep watch, I often find him sunning himself on the bench, totally ignoring me. I just want this weather to last now.

Rue

In writing, after having had a piece of flash fiction shortlisted, but not picked, I immediately sent it out again. Success! My piece has been chosen and should be published by the end of the month. I am really excited and proud of this piece and cannot wait to share this one with you.

Meanwhile, I am gradually creating a website. I won't tell you about the stress getting things started has caused. Taking some advice, which just messed with my head, and having to backtrack. It's a slow work in progress. I thought it would be easier after having creating my blog. I'm not a techie person, but anyway I shall see how it goes.

Last week I made a quick trip to Norwich to visit a friend. We had a lovely time, but on the second day, we almost got drowned in a deluge. I was squeezing water out of my sleeve. But we found a nice cafe to sit and dry out in. We got out our notebooks and wrote. We did timed themed prompts between one minute to eight minutes. One piece I wrote felt like the beginning of something and I have worked on it since being home and now it is a fully formed short story. I've not written one of those in a while. Usually it's flash or poetry. It was good to work together again. We always have lots of laughs and make the most of our time together.

Writing away

There is going to be some exciting news coming soon, but I do not want to jinx things, so I am staying quiet for now. |

Enjoy the sunshine and I will see you again soon.

A Year of Celebration

My son's girlfriend gave me a new bookmark and these cuties which are no in my writing room.

 I'm a bit late posting, but January whizzed by and this month is going the same way. There was also the little matter of being distracted by another jigsaw puzzle which was great fun doing and I spent hours at a time on it. I have steeled myself not to buy another one for a while because they are all consuming and I really must be spending more time on my writing.

There is also another distraction. I have dedicated this year to a year of celebration because I am going to be 70 years old in the summer. Not being a party girl, I have been arranging little trips and doing a few things from my bucket list. Becoming 70 seems a huge deal to being 69! I try not to think of it as my last phase, that most of my life is behind me because I tend to be optimistic and really I have come into my own in my later years. 

I have a good friend who will be 70 fifteen days before me and for the last decade we have been doing something together as opposed to buying each other gifts. Things like the Hampton Court Flower Show, tea on a London tour bus and seeing ABBA Voyage together. This year we are going to Stratford-upon-Avon in July. We've booked an apartment for three nights and will do the whole Shakespeare experience. I can't wait.

My diary is now the busiest it's ever been for the next few months, and I still have to see other friends and do other things. Will I have time to write? Oh yes! In fact, since I joined a writing group, things have stepped up a gear. I'm part of the prose group and the new writing prompt group met properly for the first time last week in a branch of Waterstones (they have a cafe). There were two picture prompts and some headlines, or we could choose our own subject. There was no time limit, and we just read when we were ready.

You can always tell when things are going well when your audience reacts, and they did to my little comic flash. I heard the intakes of breath and chuckles, which fired me up. At the end, every one clapped and had lots of questions. This should be a monthly meeting. It was great with an interesting and friendly group of people. What I have gathered is that people like my comedy and someone asked me to write more. Things like this boost ones confidence and you feel that you are not wasting your time.

I heard about the open mic night through the writing group's Facebook page and decided to go along, mainly to listen. They did not organise it, but a couple of the group's ladies said they would come. It was held in the same place where the prose group meets, so I knew it. When I arrived last night I was asked if I wanted to read. I hesitated. Did I? I had brought along a selection of poems just in case I had the courage to stand and read. She said, 'they are a friendly lot', so I said yes, and the lady put my name down.

The first half would be for open mic reads, and the second half a guest poet, Rishi Destidar, who also writes a column in The Guardian, would read from his books. Sitting waiting for my turn wasn't good for my blood pressure, but I tried to concentrate on other readers. A good selection of poems were read, some serious and some humorous ones. Towards the end of the first half my turn came. I chose to read a poem written only last week entitled The Poetry Market, a sort of comic take on writing poetry. It went down really well and two ladies asked me if I was a teacher because I knew all the terms for poetry.

There was a real buzz around the place, and the group was diverse. The lady I sat next to had only been writing poetry for a short time and was in her 80's. There is hope for me yet! During the interval, I chatted to people including one of the ladies from the writing group who had also read. I bought a small Chapbook from the stall and suddenly it was time for the second half.

The Chapbook I bought last night

The guest poet read from various books of poetry. I was particularly drawn to his book of poetry on climate change, which he had written from the viewpoint of a god who despaired of us, but who he was still fond of. His poems were mostly comic with the odd more serious. It was a great end to a lovely evening. It is a pity that the open mic doesn't happen more often, but there next meeting will be in the summer. This was a great experience and lovely to meet and be with so many poets at every level.

Rishi Destidar reading

I have started submitting again, and while I have had some rejections, I am still waiting on a few things that I will hear about this month. The time felt right now to re-join The Poetry Society. They run  a members only poetry competition which is free to enter, so I have entered that.

I signed up for a set of six webinars with Writers Online (from Writing Magazine) on Self-Publishing. Next week is the last one. They have been so interesting and I have been filling my dedicated notebook to workshops. The webinars have covered whether self-publishing is for you, how to format your manuscript, marketing, website building, newsletters, how to get your work out there using Amazon, and wider distribution. Also covered was producing audio books, large print and special editions. Some of this I am really not ready for, and they do cost a lost, and until I actually make a profit is not worth considering, but who knows for the future. I have to say that had I not ventured down this route in the past, I would have been completely overwhelmed with all the information. As I know a little about the procedure, it hasn't been quite so daunting. I've learned a hell of a lot, but the thing we are told is that we do everything gradually, one step at a time. Don't try to do everything, and never what you are not comfortable with. The last webinar is about tax and the business side of things.

Taking part in the webinars will, I hope, help me when I come to produce my next book. I want to do it differently this time and with these tools hopefully I will be able to.

Well, that's it for now, which is probably enough. Keep the faith, keep writing and reading. See you next time. Please comment about anything or ask questions. I'm really friendly!

Review of 2024

 

The completed jigsaw puzzle

Good morning. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. I'm back to typing this on my lap downstairs, as at present I have a jigsaw puzzle on my writing desk. It has been completed, but I cannot bear to pull it apart just yet. It will have a new home as I am passing it on to my youngest son and his wife. They love jigsaw puzzles and are masters at them!

Well, I keep threatening to have a new website or to switch to Substack, yet here I am still blogging on Blogger. I understand how it works and there is comfort in something you know. For now, I'm still here.

I'm starting with my submissions for 2024:

Flash - 9 sent and one published

Short stories - 6 sent and one published

Poems - 31 sent (some in blocks of 3 or 4), three published and one shortlisted. One was a prize winner, yet wasn't published! I won't be submitting there again.

Novellas - Around 7 submissions, all the same novella, my Christmas one. No takers, but one still pending.

Pending - 14 pieces of writing still pending. Some seem stuck, never heard back (do I class these as rejections?) and some more recent submissions that I don't hear about until around February.

Misc - I wasn't sure where to stick this one. I submitted Page 100 of a novella to a competition which gave feedback. I didn't get picked, but I received some very good feedback, in that it pointed out what didn't work! This will come in handy when I go back to edit the whole novella. 

I didn't submit as much this year as I've been working on longer projects, but I was surprised by how many poems I submitted.

Writerly things I took part in during 2024:

• Writing course with Indie Novella
• Writing and Walking week in the Cotswolds
• Various online Zoom/Webinar workshops/talks in writing, self-publishing and using Substack
• Outspoken event at Purcell Room, Southbank, London (poetry and music)
• Poetry Unbound - evening with poet Padraig O'Tuama at Southwark Cathedral
• The Alternative Book Fair, Islington, London
• Author/book event
• Read a poem at Cafe Writers open mic night, Norwich
• Worked with an editor (Developmental Edit) on a novella-in-flash
• Joined Sutton Writers
• Still continuing to meet with London Writers' Support Group

The top 5 books I read in 2024:

Fiction

The Naming of Moths by Tracy Fells (flash and short story collection)

Three Gifts by Mark Radcliffe (main character is told by someone that he can trade some of his living years in exchange for his life and the health of his family. Clever story)

Haven by Emma Donoghue (Monks who founded Shellig Michael and how it affected each one. Riveting stuff)

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex (Three families of lighthouse keepers and the story is told from different points of view. A keeper goes missing, but how? Will the truth ever be known? Brilliant)

Night Side of the River by Jeanette Winterson (Collection of ghostly short stories. Hauntings and new ideas of being haunted by AI. Great stuff. Couldn't put it down)

Non-fiction:

Rose West - The Making of a Monster by Jane Carter Woodrow (Harrowing, but delved deep into backgrounds. Very investigative)

In My Mother's Footsteps - A Palestinian Refugee Returns Home - Mona Hajjar Halaby (Eye opening, heartbreaking and written before the current conflict, Goes back to the times of the first expulsions)

Abroad in Japan by Chris Broad (Author goes to work in Japan as a teacher of English. This is about his time working there, his travels around the country and people he met. He is famous for his YouTube Videos of living in Japan. Funny and I learned a lot from this book)

Only When I Laugh by Paul Merton (He grew up not that far from me and I know the places he talks about, especially Bishop's Palace Gardens in Putney. A very shy boy who grew into a comedian and who I love watching on Have I Got News for You. We also something else in common - old black & white silent comedy films before the 'talkies'. I was a huge Buster Keaton fan.

I wanted to fit this one on the list, so as an extra I nominate Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear by Masab Abu Toha. This is by a Palestinian poet who was born in a refugee camp and writes poetry about his experiences, like seeing his friend killed, and living with fear and carnage around him. He speaks of just wanting to live in his own country free from persecution and with all the everyday things others take for granted, like regular water and electricity supplies. Again, this was book was written before the present conflict.

For three years I have bought various Planners for my writing, but none of them have really worked. Many have things in them I would never use, and I already have a system for recording my submissions (a book and index cards). This year I am doing something different and have bought a project book with tabs I can write on for various things like deadlines for submissions and to record the progress of my novellas through various stages of development. Hopefully, this one won't get abandoned half way through the year like some of the planners! I tried hard to think about what I really needed and what I didn't want. Besides, Planners are so expensive, especially when you don't use most of it.

As for goals for this year, the only two I want to see come to fruition is for my Christmas novella to be published, and to finally publish my flash story collection. I shall continue to submit to small press magazines and the odd competition.

Do please feel free to comment on anything I've said. Maybe you have a top book list, a way to record your writing progress, or something else you would like to share. 

Happy New Year, and happy writing and reading.