Bookish and Writerly things

 

The pond on Wimbledon Common

I seem to be rebelling against myself. Last month after a struggle I submitted to six different places. This month so far I have sent out to one. Maybe it's because I'm a summer person and I want to be out there walking, sitting in the garden and reading, visiting places, but the urge to write has faded. My goal of submitting to at least five places a month may well fall this month. I read about deadlines coming up, yet I cannot drag myself into submission mode.

Last month I had a piece published on Visual Verse. I'm still waiting for Seaborne magazine to be published so I can see my two poems in it. There has been a cover reveal on Twitter, and it looks brilliant. Surely, publication must be any day now!

I met my writing buddy last week and it took us both a while to get our writer's heads on. It was a slow start. We do free writing, using a random word as a prompt and then set a time limit. We laugh so much I'm surprised we haven't been asked to leave the cafe!

I am two weeks in to a four week poetry course with Julia Webb on Writing the Personal. Now this I am enjoying. I've been delving into my past, growing up, relationships, other roads I didn't travel, and writing a lot. This is the only writing I'm doing right now.

The call of summer is stronger than my call to write at present. I am walking, lazing in the garden reading and heading out to visit places. I've also attended three author events at Wimbledon Bookfest. The first one was all about William and Jane Morris, though really about where Jane sat in this relationship, and her contribution, which gets less coverage. Normally, it's all about her affair with Rossetti! Very interesting talk, and of course I bought the book. The second event was author and journalist Tim Marshall who writes political/current affairs. I never used to be political. I think these things only started to matter when I had my children and with the current state of the country and the world, as well as my passion for environmental issues stemming back to childhood, I feel I have a lot to say these days! Tim's talk was excellent. I have read one of his books, and I have mentally added two more to my book list.

I've heard it said that authors shouldn't air their views on political matters online. What views do you have on that? I'm afraid I have become more verbal. These are things I am passionate about and everything you experience in life seeps into your writing. It's a bit like people who say you shouldn't mix politics and religion. Really? I think the church make some very good points/arguments about what is going on today, and wasn't Jesus political?

My final event at Bookfest was a workshop and walk on Wimbledon Common with author Leif Bersweden. As we headed off into the woods I had a moment when I thought about the book We're Going on A Bear Hunt, only we were going to hunt for wildflowers. Leif made the whole thing very accessible to someone like me who can't tell a weed from a flower, and anyway isn't a weed just a flower in the wrong place for most gardeners. I have buttercups and dandelions in my grass and I love them! This was a brilliant walk. I even wrote down the names of the plants we found. The one I loved was the Pineapple Weed. If you squeeze the flower buds they really do smell of pineapple. Leif told us little stories about the plants he found for us and made the whole thing come alive. Afterwards we all received a copy of his book which he signed individually for us. I'd love to follow this up as I've never been good at identifying plants, but it certainly makes walks even more interesting when you can 'name that plant'.

So, while I'm not writing much, and submitting has fallen by the wayside, I have been involved in bookish and writerly things in other ways.

Three of books I bought at Wimbledon Bookfest
At present I'm reading about John Ruskin, a book by the same author as the nbook on the Morris's