Procrastination

Sutton Writers launch night

 Well, I'm good at this procrastination thing. I know when I've got it bad because I actually think about doing housework rather than write or edit. I cannot get lower than that!

Writer's block means nothing to me. Yes, I get times when I get stuck. For that I just leave what I'm writing and walk, or leave it to my 'mulling time'. It usually works, even if it isn't immediate.

But procrastination is a whole new ball game. It usually happens when I have finished something and I take a break. And that break drifts from days into weeks. It's not like I don't have lots sitting on my laptop waiting. I still have two pieces unfinished and loads of editing to do. There are also submissions I could be doing. Motivation goes, and my pen pals (yes, I have those - something I began around the age of fourteen and still have one pal I write to who I first wrote to when was eighteen) begin getting letters they have waited months for.

Take today, for example. I thought I might begin editing (well, actually I thought that yesterday and spent a long time on social media and listening to music). It never happened. Today I've been reading nearly all day. It is a very good book called The Gathering by CJ Tudor, a favourite writer of mine. It falls into the horror genre. I'm already three quarters of the way through and I only began it two days ago.

Before that it was too hot to write. This is true. It was too hot to do anything, but there is a breeze now and the temperature, while still hot, is not that fierce 32c or 34c we've had.

So, I've decided to put the book down and do something. But you see, I'm not editing; I'm writing a blog. Close, but still avoidance.

Do you have this trouble too? What I do know is once I actually open up a file and start, I'll be okay and well into it. So, why do I do this? I've no idea, but it happens. I can't even say it's because I received a rejection the other day. I went over my head, just one of those things. It doesn't always go that way. Maybe I was too hot to care.

I don't want you to think I've not been doing anything writerly. I have. Just not what I am supposed to be doing. Recently, I was at Sutton Writers Anthology Book Launch Night. It was held in the Cryer Arts Centre in Carshalton, in a marquee out the back. There were readers of poetry and prose from the group, and the mayor attended. There was blip with the arrival of the books, but we did have some copies to sell on the night. If you would like to buy a copy here is the link. I have two poems in it. If you buy it please leave a review.

After the official launch we headed for the bar in the arts centre. It was a fantastic night with some fantastic talented writers reading.

I have a flash fiction piece being published in an online anthology by Wildfire Words very soon. I will get to read my piece on a showcase zoom at the end of next week. Oh, and the piece was 'commended.' |I was really chuffed at that. I was looking up some strange facts as part of something else writerly and found something that made go, really? Well, I never knew that. That sparked an idea. I won't tell you anymore or I will spoil the reveal. When I have more details and links, I will put them up.

Finally, I had a moment of inspiration over a manuscript I had actually thought I might abandon. It really wasn't working and I couldn't see what I could do with it. It had been edited, looked at by an editor and rather slammed. I tried to change things and then I got to that stage where I felt I was losing my original idea. It was becoming overworked. So I stuffed it away. It needed a new approach, and I came up with writing it as a diary. It was originally written with mainly looking back at events with bits of the present. Now the present features more as my main character writes briefly about his day before looking back. I tried to use something that would connect the two. I hope it works. It's now sitting.

Now I have a choice. Edit the extensive work, finish a half-written manuscript, or rewrite the ending to the piece my proofreader read. Maybe the latter now I look at it logically because there is less to do, hopefully. Meanwhile, there are some submission deadlines coming up at the end of the month, so I need to get my finger out if I want to get something sent. More procrastination? I hope not!

Weather, sleep, life and keeping going

Nothing to do with writing but cute!

 I don't know about you, by my sleep pattern is completely gone to pot lately. The hot weather, late night football, and this morning, around four o'clock, we had the mother of all storms. Admittedly it was exciting with so much lightning. I got up to watch, but that's my morning messed up because here I am at five thirty writing this. Breakfast number one must be due. I often find I am eating two breakfasts when I am up early. This isn't helping the diet!

I am falling asleep before lunch and have to take two naps sometimes in this heat. Rue is suffering too. Two nights ago he dragged me downstairs. He wanted to go out. What he really wanted to do was lie on the patio in the dark, enjoying the cooler air. Eventually, I threw the curtains back on the open window to let in as much air in as possible and he settled on the bed. I was then under the covers because I was chilly!

Lack of sleep makes me snappy and I cannot concentrate, so I've found myself in bed in the afternoon just to catch up. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed up to watch the Scotland match, but at least this one finished around 1am, whereas the previous match didn't start until 2am (no way was I staying up for that one).

Strangely, Rue isn't bothered by storms (nor fireworks, thankfully) but if he finds a random flying plastic bag, he's spooked. We have a fan downstairs and Rue has two cooling mats, one downstairs and one upstairs. I've been taking him walkies earlier and earlier in the mornings. I must admit I like the early morning walks when no one much is around, but these really early mornings make the day drag sometimes because it's too hot to do anything. Yesterday I did some early morning gardening after Rue's walk, and made it out to the post office after breakfast. I don't have anything much on this week, but friends are telling me they are cancelling meet-ups because it's too hot.

I feel sorry for the tennis players (Queens last week and Eastbourne this week). Surely, there must come a time when these events are cancelled if summers are going to be like this? I see most horse racing has been cancelled due to the heat. Thank goodness someone is thinking of those horses travelling long distances in this weather. For a long time I have thought that our world is going to have to change and we really aren't prepared. This morning I was reading that rail companies are suggesting people only travel if necessary. In this weather rails can reach 50c and that's when they buckle. And does anyone want to travel on the tube? London is unbearable in the heat.

On Friday I go to a short tennis class for the over 50's with the dreadful title of Forever Active! I'm not sure about this week. The guy who usually oversees the class is away, and he opens the fire door to the outside when it's hot. The other staff don't. My gripe is that as people of a certain age, it is is less safe for us in the heat with the door shut for 'health and safety' than it is for us being open. I may go for one game and then leave. I'll see how I feel and how hot it is before I decide.

Anyway, I didn't really mean to go off on one about climate change (though have you noticed that the sea is no longer as cold as it used to be at this time of year?)

I am writing a climate fiction story right now, so this kind of feeds into it. The first time I wrote about climate was back when I was in my twenties (like King Charles I was aware of all this way back). I still have the story (handwritten) in a cupboard. Maybe one day I will dig it out and revise it.

Yesterday I sent my six poems to the tutor for feedback. I did a little more editing before submitting them. I'm interested to see what she thinks and how the poems can improved.

The manuscript I sent to my proofreader has come back and I have made most of the amendments, but I am yet to receive answers to the questions I asked. However, she doesn't like the ending, and there are aspects of it I don't like either. At the moment I am not sure what to do with it, but I feel it is not going to be ready to submit by the end of this month for the competition. There will be other opportunities. As the fee for entry is quite high, it is not worth sending something that I am not completely happy with. It has to be the best I can do and not hurried.

Meanwhile, Streetcake magazine has published their latest issue which includes a piece by me called Best Mother in the World Award. Two friends have read it and laughed in all the right places, identifying with the sentiments of motherhood. Do have read yourself. I'm quite proud to appear in this experimental magazine for the third time, I think it is. I love reading the magazine too.

Well, I'm off. Should I eat breakfast or go back to bed? I'm not sure, but I really would love a decent night's sleep. Stay cool folks.

Writing yourself into a story

A recent meet-up with the London Writers is always helped with the right refreshment!

 When I talk about writing into a story, I'm not talking about that part where you write tons of backstory before the story begins. You know the sort of thing I mean. It's those first paragraphs or pages that help you find out what you are writing about, and later you delete. I'm talking more about really loving your story and finally being in the moment when you think about it wherever you are. The sort of thing that makes me forget where I am and almost miss my tube stop because I'm in the head of a character or living the next scene I am going to write, and missing hours of sleep going over future scenes wondering if I should just get up and write it. Are you with me now?

When I get to that point where it takes me over, where before I had been struggling to 'get personal' with it. The characters are separate, and the flow of writing is slow, and I cannot seem to get into it. Then suddenly everything clicks, and I am in the story. Everything becomes more real and my characters follow me around disrupting my non-writing life!

That's the point I love (though it's not great when I wander off a train and think 'where am I going'?). I guess you could call it obsession.It's also that point where the writing really begins to flow and I put off shutting down the laptop, making myself late for other things. Leaving my characters in limbo makes me smile, but I don't always have time to finish a scene, which is both annoying and a delight because I know what I am going to write when I get back to it.

What I have learned over the years is that it is better to carry on with a piece rather than leave it. I have two unfinished manuscripts on my laptop. The one I am currently working on and another. Leaving things means going back months, or even years, later, feeling a little alienated from the piece and having to work yourself back into the story, rereading everything that went before because you've forgotten it. The momentum is hard to summon up again. And that's what has happened with this piece. There is another side to this, because rereading something that's months old and finding you still like it or that it surprises you, means you are likely to finish it.

Rereading this one, I found I love the beginning, but I got a little lost and couldn't find my way. It became abandoned, and it has taken me several thousands of words to get to that sweet spot of being in the story. Suddenly scenarios came to me. I had to research one to make sure it was possible. I've always known the ending, it's just getting there, but I am now making my way towards it. There was also the problem with one character, about his destination in my story. Ideas came and went and what I've just written shocked me! I do let my characters lead, which I find is part of the adventure. I never pin them down because I like to give them free rein, though I might yank them back! This way I never get bored. Of course, I have some set things, though when I say set, I use the word loosely.

Anyway, I now feel I can finish this story, hopefully soon. I have several pieces waiting to be edited and to decide on their future. 

I am also one of those people who research as they go and often read around a subject after I have written the story. This might seem the wrong way round to you, but I don't want to be swayed by things until I have told my story. I can flesh things out later.

You might be waiting to hear about the piece I mentioned in my last post. It is still with my proofreader. She has come back to say she likes the story and is now going through it again to make notes and answer my questions. One thing she did mention is pacing. I wonder if she means it's too fast (my usual problem) or with adding extra scenes I've slowed things down too much. I will have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, I have completed the four-week poetry course I was doing via email. I have really enjoyed it and found it became rather a personal insight into my connection with London. I have chosen the six poems to send for feedback, but will let them settle for a few weeks and re-edit if needs be. There was so much material on this course that I have thought about putting a series of poems together on the subject of London.

Finally, five weeks ago I became a grandmother for the first time. My youngest son and his wife have a gorgeous baby girl. They are also in the throws of moving (two stressful things), but they are moving closer to us. My other son is a very proud uncle and offered to buy a car seat for her to go in his car. The first things I bought her were a bath book and a board book. It pays to start early!

Until next time enjoy your reading and writing.

Overwriting or underwriting

Photo: unsplash
(ashutosh-knot)

 The advice is to overwrite and I'd agree with this. I used to struggle with this aspect of writing when I first  began story writing. Maybe that's why I rather like flash. It's short and to the point. No time for backstory. You are straight in on the action.

Overwriting allows for the very important aspect - editing. And friends, editing also means cutting. It is far easier to cut than add. If you are submitting a piece of work which has a word limit, then you must stick to that. I can always remember when I was writing essays for an OU course how people would complain that they had 'so much to say that it wasn't possible to get it in to the word count.' Oh, yes it is! Word limits there for a reason and are great for honing your editing skills. I've cut hundreds of words to get a piece to the right word count to submit. It's amazing what you can cut without losing the story.

Adding to a story can end up being filler. Trying to plump out a manuscript. It is much harder and may well reflect in the work you have put in. I had this problem recently, and totally my own fault. I misread the word count and had a novella ready and waiting to go after an edit. I sent it my proofreading friend and then thought I'd just check the submissions process again. Horror! I was six thousand, five hundred words short of the minimum requirement. At that point I was ready to give up. That's far too much of a gap to fill. And then I thought, could I do this?

I emailed my friend and told her to hang fire reading it because I was going to try and rectify the problem. I felt I had an original story, and I loved it. What I will say now is I can't stand reading it again and can't see the woods for the trees. I got there, adding three new scenes and inserting new work into my original scenes, but does it work now? I can no longer be the judge of that. I have asked my friend to be honest and let me know. She's the kind of friend who will. I can only wait and see what she says. I'm pretty sure it's littered with mistakes. The first thing she said when she printed it off was that I had two chapter 23's. That didn't surprise me. 

So, my advice to you is to overwrite and then cut. It's a nightmare doing it the other way around, unless you are only short by small margin. I am proof of that.

I will let you know what my friend says about my manuscript. I'm expecting the worst! The good thing is that I kept the original before I doctored it. I wouldn't want to do that again.

Publication, open mic, and a new course

 

It's strange how things come together at the same time, but that's life. After a long waiting time, Stoat Poetry was launched at the end of last month. This is a new journal, and if you would like to buy a copy just follow the link. This issue contains two of my poems. After a leaner period of submitting last year, it was good to end the year on a high when I heard my poems would appear this year. It was good to finally see them in print.

After writing a lot of fiction over the last year or so, the chance to read poetry at an open mic event, was one to grab. This meant searching through my poems to see what to take. Choosing three was difficult. How to pitch it? I began by searching through some loose poems I had read elsewhere or just happened to have printed off. One I came across I'd not seen in a long time and straightaway after reading through it again, I knew I was taking with me. That would be my opener. Another was a lighthearted poem entitled A Chance Encounter with Marmite, and finally one about clothes on a line.

Having chosen my poems, I had a longing to write poetry again, but writing poems uses a different muscle to writing fiction, and I had got out of the habit. What to do about that?

Anyway, the date for the open mic appeared. It was a daytime event - a Saturday afternoon at Whitehall House in Cheam Village. Whitehall House is a gorgeous old building with a lot of history. I had been there before some years back and is really worth looking around. The open mic was held on the first floor, and I knew a few other people from Sutton Writers who were reading.

Our host/organiser was the poet Sara Nesbitt Gibbons, and she read some poems from her book And They Are Clapping, and yes, I did buy the book! There were eleven readers in all (I was first in the second half). The poetry was really good, and this is the point where I wondered if my work was as good. My little demon, that negative voice, was sitting on my shoulder asking why I am here. However, that feeling changed. I was given a full introduction, the fact that I wrote fiction as well as poetry, and Sara mentioned some of the publications I could be found in. I've never had an intro like that. Once I began to read, I settled down and remembered my own advice to others about not rushing! People laughed in all the right places, and I got a cheer at the end. That's a good feeling. I am now on Sara's mailing list.

Having read at the open mic, my interest in poetry peaked again. Maybe it started when I went along to the Free Verse Poetry & Magazine Book Fair. Anyway, I was looking for a way back into poetry writing, yet I needed a push, something to give me that kick-start. Searching online, I found Sue Burge who runs courses via email and has taught at The Poetry School. The course that drew me was Tales of the City, all about London, the city I love. I signed up. The course runs for four weeks, and for a little extra, I will have feedback on four to six poems.

I began the course on Monday and I am hooked. This first week is all about the River Thames, my other passion. The resources are brilliant - articles, music, readings and printed poetry, plus freewrites and prompts. One prompt really was a challenge, but one I was keen to try. This is writing a poem using just one vowel! I got there in the end. The process was all consuming but fun.

Sometimes I can kick-start my own poetry back into life, yet this time I knew I needed something more, and after trolling through several courses, this was the one that spoke to me, and I'm thrilled with it. There is lots of potential for more writing using the resources supplied. I feel a theme coming on!

So, right now I am knee deep in poetry books and studying away on new ways to write.

The Poetry Book & Magazine Fair

Inside the hall

 Yesterday was my day to stock up on poetry books and do a little networking. I'd missed this fair for the last couple of years for one reason or another, now it was in a different venue to the one I remember. So I set off for Knightsbridge in London and St Columba's Hall (St Columba's Church of Scotland).

The Free Verse Poetry Book & Magazine Fair is a great place to meet people running small press magazines and books and is sponsored by The Poetry Society. Expect a crush of people and the heat! To be honest, it is always hard to know where to start. There are so many stalls (there were 69 this year) and lots of nice people to chat to. I recognised some publishers like Two Rivers Press, Shearsman Books, Magma and The Long Poem Magazine, yet others I had never come across. Even though I had a programme I still managed to miss Out-Spoken and Poetry London.However, I have the list and can look them up.

When I first attended this event hardly anyone took cards. I remember having to get cash out and carefully keeping an eye on what I spending, and watching the cash run out far too quickly. Now nearly everyone has a card a machine (only one publisher preferred cash yesterday). But as I told one exhibitor, paying by card you lose track of what you are spending!

So who did I speak to? Well, I met Tommaso Olivero who runs Osso Prints. He makes little booklets, some of which are sewn up by hand. I like the approach, and we had a chat about how he runs his business with the personal touch. I also spoke to Tuba Press and Paekakarisi Press, the latter from whom I bought two books of poetry about London (they offered me a deal!) I also managed to pick one free book of poetry from another publisher. It's not often you get something for free, but the guy was moving and couldn't take everything with him.

I had to limit myself to what I bought. I think I ended up with six books and a freebie, something like that. When I used to attend this event there would be sessions of events, discussions, and poetry readings going on throughout the day. I arrived too late for the first event on Publishing New Poetry and the talk following, The readings were not until 7pm and I couldn't stay that long. So, I was a little disappointed. Listening to poetry is always evocative and can pull me enough for me to want to purchase a book by that poet. 

My poetry book haul!

It was a great pleasure to meet a lady from Banshee Press. They have published a couple of my flash stories. Based in Ireland, they publish writers from across the world. We had a lovely chat, and of course I bought one of their books, though they had already run out of their journal.

Having not written any new poetry for a while, I thought visiting the fair might kick-start my creative juices. I've certainly accumulated enough material to read, and nice to see so many tiny presses still hanging in there, as so many have gone to the wall over the last few years. For some small presses, these fairs are a lifeline as they cannot afford publicity, and are often run by volunteers who dedicate their time to the love poetry. They need our support.

So, I think that's my poetry reading sorted for another year! I hope all the presses had a good day yesterday. I certainly did. If you want to know what's being published and have the chance to chat to those running the presses, this is a good place to start. I shall try to remember to post the date for the next fair when it comes around again.

The venue for the book fair

Let's talk about poetry

Photo: Nick Fewings on Unsplash

 We all have questions about poetry, like how to write the best opening line, titles, poetry forms and why some poetry leaves us cold while other rave about it.

These, and other questions, were discussed last night in a Poetry Toolkit Zoom by Bridport Prize, hosted by the lovely Liz Berry. Liz spoke to two poets, Michael Lavers and Kizziah Burton. All three read a poem they had written, and Liz explained how she edited her poem, workshopping it with a group and with another poet. I don't know why, but I just thought that well-known poets don't need to do that. They've made it. They know their craft. So this was a bit of an eye-opener for me. Am I really that innocent? Seems I am! This editing process was fantastic to watch, and included which parts she changed and what was important in her poem that she felt should stay. Liz showed examples of the edits before it reached completion.

So, first lines. These were described as being:

• an arrow in flight
• mysterious
• surprising
• something to engage with the reader (whether they agree/disagree or feel curious about)
• a question
• beginning mid-story or conversation giving info to locate so the reader can enter the poem

What a poem should not be:

• boring (what you did on holiday - what is known as postcard poem)
• predictable (in spring the daffs bloom)
• too obvious or on the nose
• cliched
• a run-up to a poem (I've been thinking about trees or when I was young we had....)

The good thing is that a bad first line can be transformed.

Suggestions:

• read your poem aloud
• Refine, add detail, the more the better
• come to the poem with questions not answers (you don't need to know the ending of your poem before you begin)

Now about those submissions to competitions or magazines:

It is all subjective. A poet once entered the same poem twice to the National Poetry Competition. The first year it didn't even make the longlist. The second year he won the competition. It was down to different judges and what they liked. So don't beat yourtself up the rejections. There are many reasons for a 'no'. Which brings us on to those poems we cannot understand and think we must be an idiot when so many people rave about it.

Liz Berry suggested we compare it to music. We all have different tastes. Some genres of music we may really dislike, others we love, yet our friends may feel totally different about our musical choices. Poetry is the same. Suddenly, after hearing this things began to make sense. So, it doesn't matter if you 'don't get it', that you think the poem you've read is obscure and doesn't touch you, while others think it's the best thing since sliced bread.We all have preferences. I also think this is like art. I visit many galleries and exhibitions. Some pieces move me (and some I can't even say why, except maybe the colour choices - I'm no art expert), while other pieces look as if they have been painted by a kid in nursery, and why is it so popular?

When it comes to your writing, write how you want. There is a sudden trend for abstract poetry, big gaps, long drawn out concrete poetry. All three poets have noticed this trend, and they seem to be winning prizes, but I hate it. Often I don't even read it. The way it sits on a page does my head in! But that's my preference. Some of you reading this may well really like it, and that's fine. It was suggested that as poets wee can play with these ideas. Give it go, but you don't need to adopt it, just because it's the trend. Trends change.

Still on forms, it was suggested that we consider the form we use and how it works for our poems. I wonder how many of us reading this use a set form for our poetry. I love free verse, but do sometimes write a sonnet or villanelle. I do like to experiment now and again. I'm a big fan of Brian Bilston who writes a lot of amusing poetry and was known as the Twitter poet. Once he wrote a poem in the form of a spreadsheet. I loved that idea and got the idea for my Sudoku poem from him.Thanks Brian. I had it published!

Finally, that old chestnut - how do you know when a poem is finished? Most poets will tell you that a poem is never finished, and I understand this. I've had poems published and gone back to them and thought, 'I can do this better now'. And it's always going to be like that. Kizziah Burton said that with her, some poems seem to lock the door on her and refuse to let her edit anymore. Again, I understand this. One of my best poems (it was a runner-up in a competition) was written in one long stream of consciousness. After some editing, I was totally happy with it, and though it had been out on submission a few times with no takers, I would not alter one word of it. I backed it as it was, and it came good in the end. Other poems, Kizziah said had loose threads in them that needed attending to. According to Michael Lavers, he said the finished poem came when he was sick of it! I think we have all been there!

Liz Berry said that some poems never get finished, and that she had lots like that. They just don't work however much she edits them. Again, that sounds familiar.

And those pesky titles? Each poet said titles for poems was hard, so we are in good company. Keep going!

There was time for a quick Q&A and then the hour was up. I learned a great deal from this Zoom and will have to check out my first lines.Maybe compare the ones that made it to publications against the ones that haven't. But at the end of the day reading a poem is subjective, so our poetry takes a chance, and we hope it gets to a person who appreciates what and how we write.