A busy February

 

Three of the five books I bought while I was away in Canterbury

February has been quite a month for me. My poem The Treatment was published by Writers' Forum in their Feburary issue, and I was excited to receive my cheque and Chambers Thesaurus. I then got a 'yes' from both Paragraph Planet and Visual Verse (flash and poem both published this month), and I also heard from Ink Sweat & Tears that they will be publishing a poem of mine next month.

I have just checked and seen that I have submitted to eight different places this month. I had some very good feedback from Pennine Platform. Although they didn't take any of my poems, their feedback was unexpected and the response fast, considering everything conducted through snail mail.

This month we've lived through three storms, and I was away in Canterbury during two of them! I had to change my arrangements and leave home a day earlier than planned to outrun Storm Eunice. The afternoon of the storm I spent in my hotel bed catching up on sleep! I took my laptop with me and wrote three poems and make notes for a piece of fiction. 

Early in the month, I attended Helen Cox's Poetry Hour, an online class. It was fast and furious, and I didn't get much written, but I did manage some notes for a poem I shall go back to.

Also this month, I accidentally deleted ProWritingAid. I never realised before how much I relied on it. The company were very helpful to me when I explained. In fact, Sarah (at the other end of my Inbox) and I became quite chatty towards the end. It took two days, several emails and even some photos to get it up and running again. I am so grateful for Sarah's help on this, and happy to have my 'helpmate' back.

Two resources that you might be interested in:

Neon Books Big Writing List of UK Writing Competitions An A-Z list. Very useful.

Robin Houghton's Poetry Magazines Spreadsheet. There is a sign up for this. There is also monthly email with a list of submission windows. Robin has also written a book about submitting. Everything here is worth checking out.

That's it for now. I wonder what March will bring? 

Canterbury Cathedral from the Cloisters