The other half of my A-Z, might appear tomorrow! Today I want to talk about a poet whose work I enjoy, Christopher James. I'm not sure how I came across him, maybe via the National Poetry Competition which he won in 2008 (he has won some other big prizes too!). Anyway, I have three of his poetry books, England Underwater, The Invention of Butterfly and The Manly Art of Knitting. His poetry amuses but is also thoughtful. It would be wonderful to see him perform live.
I was prompted to write this post because this morning my Inbox pinged with a post from Christopher's website informing me that he and his wife had just stayed in Bleak House, where Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield. They slept in his bed, sat in his study. How cool is that?
Christopher's work was possibly the first non-BIG name poet I read. I'd read a few classical poets and poets such as Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy and Tony Harrison. All these are well known poets. Maybe by finding Christopher's work I began to realise there were other poets out there writing good stuff which never gets the same 'air space'. Christopher was now up there with the big boys through his win, but he'd been ploughing away at it for years before. Even now his name is not on everyone's lips, hence the plug!
At the Altar of the Green Goddess is a poem from The Invention of Butterfly and charts the exit of people from the Tate as the fire alarm goes off:
Their look says: Does that mean I have to leave?My look says: Save your own skins
later:
Two teachers sweep a class off the floor in a flurry of golden cut-outs and satchel buckles; felts tips rattle like spent cartridges.
in the last stanza:
We spill onto the wet steps and look for smoke. Others are still inside basking in Turner's sunsets.
The Title poem from The Manly Art of Knitting begins:
When my father taught us to knit he held the needles like fencing swords
His father ..carried his crochet hook like a penknife;
The last stanza begins with advice:
When we were bullied, he told us to think about the big centre forward who knitted the world's longest football scarf.
I do hope that has whetted you appetite! Have a lovely day.
I only found out about NaBloPoMo yesterday through a post by poet Josephine Corcoran. I've never heard of this November challenge before, where you write a blog post every day for the month. Last year I took part in NaNoWriMon and that was pretty wild! I ended up with a 50,000 word draft of a novel (still unedited!).
Well, I'm always up for a challenge, so here goes. You will find a slightly different content here for November, more perhaps an overlap of what I write about on my other blog. I have no idea what's coming! Anyway, to start off I thought about an A-Z post, not only about writing but other aspects of my life. Here is the first half. Hope you enjoy it.
See M - for music
A – is for articles. I have only written one article that
I’ve been paid for. The editor liked the idea but wanted me to interview people
and supply photos. The article was about vegetarianism
and faith. I’m a shy person and interviewing people I don’t know is terrifying
for me. I nearly chickened out but asked a Priest at my church for advice and he gave me
the names of two people to contact – So I did my interviews (one I did by
phone) and got my photos. The third person I interviewed was a friend of mine
(much easier). I remember I was paid £45 for it. A lot of hard work and stress.
B – is for books. As an avid reader I get through between
50-60 books a year on average. I read all genres but during the last eighteen
months I’ve been drawn to crime novels. I particularly enjoy books by Andrea
Camillia and Elly Griffiths.
C – is for cold. I hate the cold and since I was a child I
have suffered from chilblains. When I get too cold my brain seems to stop
functioning. The cold makes me miserable!
D – is for dawn. Considering I used to hate early rising I
am quite an early bird now. Before I married I used to lay in bed until at
least 8am (11am on a weekends). When I had children that all changed! Although
my two sons went to a local primary school, when they attended secondary school
I had to get up at 6.30am to make sure they were out of the house by 7.30am.
Nowadays I still get up around 6am to 7am. No one else is up. It’s my time to
read or write. Often I’m at the laptop between 7-7.30am and have 1,000 words
written by breakfast time (if I’m lucky). I love watching the sky change
colour, the sun come up, hearing the birds. These things often prompt a poem.
E – is for escape. I love my days out and I’m happy to go
alone if no one is free or not interested in a particular exhibition I want to
see. I adore London and I’m always amazed how many green spaces there are,
hidden parks and hidden spaces. I love seeking them out. Occasionally I’ll take
myself off on a retreat. I can be quite antisocial at times. Even at home I
need my space. Unfortunately I don’t have a room of my own to escape to and it
could be a long wait for one of the kids to leave home!
F – is for fun. My father was the joker in our house and I
think I have inherited his humour. He could see the funny side of anything,
even in dire situations. He made us all laugh. I also enjoy making others laugh
and my humour comes out in my writing. Lately, I have been pushing the
boundaries on that in a particular novel I am writing. It’s like the shackles
have come off and I’m just going for it. I still love the comedy I grew up with
– Monty Python, Dave Allen, Dad’s Army, Fawlty Towers and ‘allo ‘allo.
G – is for growth. Each day there is the capacity to learn
something new and add it to experience. I am capable of much more now than I
was a year ago, and last year more capable than the year before. I learn
something and that leads me into new areas. Knowledge and experience grow and
all that adds to my ‘life portfolio’ – such a help when I write.
H – is for holidays. I love getting away from everything. I
am particularly drawn to places by water, whether that is a river or the sea. I
have rather a passion for Italy since visiting Sorrento a few years ago. It has
to be up there as one of the best holidays. Iceland was also pretty great. I
have rather a long list of countries I want to visit but I still love the UK.
There are many places I haven’t been to. So many places, so little time!
I – is for ideas. I have an ideas book. This is relatively a
new idea (the book). I write odd things down. Names are one. If I come across a
name I like or think of I write it down. This is because I’m not good at
thinking of names when I think of characters. If I’m not careful I end up using
the same names in what I write! Quite often I sit at the laptop trying to think
of a name and stare at objects in the room – names on books, bits of paper,
objects or I google names! One of my characters got his name from a packet of
seeds my eyes made contact with! In this book also I write bits of dreams that
might develop into some writing. Ideas come from everywhere – poetry often comes from something I see through the window or while walking, maybe read about or are personal
memories. My fiction often comes through dreams or ‘night thinking’.
J - is for Justice. I grew up with ideas others had no time
for. Justice for me is for everyone whatever race or religion they are. This
also extends to justice for animals and the planet. I try my best to buy things
that do not harm animals, the planet or people. I thank my maternal grandmother
for this. She set me thinking when I was a child about the cruelty of circuses. There was no
stopping me after that. Sometimes my views make me unpopular. There are things
I will not do or take part in because I feel they are morally wrong.
K – is for Kids. I’m very proud of my kids. I may moan about
them but I’d fight for them and I love them. Both are now in their twenties. They
are very different. One is sporty and independent; happy to holiday alone, he
also cooks…adventurously, and goes out underdressed in winter (at least I don’t
say ‘are you wearing a vest?’ like my mum used to!). My other son is a computer
geek; he’s my tech-mate and is caring and thoughtful (apart from when he
doesn’t bring his plates and mugs back and puts all his washing out in one go!)
We often have great conversations.
L – is for learning. As my regular readers will know I am
always signing up for new courses, often online ones through Coursera or
FutureLearn. They are free and so well put together. I’ve learnt so much over
the years. I hated school and left at the age of fifteen with no qualifications.
I have studied short courses and a certificate course with the Open University
and it’s like I cannot stop now! I see something that interests me and I sign
up. Most courses sit under the umbrella of ‘humanities’ but I also have a
strange passion for early history and forensics! I’m sure there is more to
come.
M – is for music which I am addicted to (I am listening to
an ATB Chillout Mix from YouTube as I type this). I grew up with music. My
parents (and aunt) sang in a choral society (my dad was a choir boy too), my
grandfather played piano in a pub and worked as a piano tuner to some famous
people including Tommy Steele. My mother wanted to be an opera singer and she
went to the same school as Petula Clarke (some claims to fame!). I play guitar
badly (self taught) and keyboards even more badly, don’t really read music,
though I took some basic lessons last year (another thing to follow up
sometime). I have two guitars – acoustic and electric, began writing songs
before my teens and have an awful lot of cassettes full of my efforts! I also had
dreams of working as a sound engineer. Still, I’ve been singing in a community
choir for the last seven years and love it. I especially love performing, and as
long as I know the tune of a song I can work out harmonies for myself. Too long
without music and I start getting grumpy! I use playlists when I write,
sometimes the same ones over and over again (Trance mixes - I’m a huge Shane Collins
fan).
♫ Best of Progressive House Sessions ♫ - Sounds from Above Vol 14 (Shane Collins)
It's been a strange day but I've had a laugh over it. Yesterday I received news that the piece of flash fiction I had submitted to Paragraph Planet had been accepted and was going to be published on their site today. Excitedly I checked it out this morning to find they had linked it to someone else's Twitter account! I contacted them and they later apologised and said they had deleted the post and put up a new one with the right Twitter link. Someone else noticed that they had also linked it to a wrong page on their site! The poor guy must have wondered if this would ever go right. It did. However, the Twitter post had used the wrong first word from my piece - it said 'We' when it should have been 'He'. Someone else pointed that one out - I hadn't the heart! The main thing is the link is right now and the words on my entry on their page uses the right word.
This is the second time I have used an extract from one of my longer pieces of writing to send Paragraph Planet (and had it published). At 75 words exactly it's hard. I did have to slightly edit the piece to fit the word count both times but that is a sacrifice I am happy to make. Today's offering is from a chapter of my Adventures of Austin Stapley novel which I am still writing.
So that's the first thing. Next came a challenge to myself to write a ghost story....well at least something spooky. I have wanted to have a go at another short story, and as I have been reading Susan Hill's Printer's Devil Court short novel I wondered if I could attempt something. It is not my preferred genre (though I like a good fright), even so I decided to have a go. So before I went out this morning I began a piece of work. I have started as usual with just faint idea of something but no real plot! However, I am rather pleased with the way it is going and managed to get down around 1,500 words. I have yet to read back what I've written, so it could be utter rubbish!
On the bus this morning my head was full of idea as to where this story was going and I have scenes in my head waiting for the page. Buses are great places to think! Anyway, I am taking a break from my 'Austin' novel to have a go at something completely different.
The bus was taking me to my choir practice. We have several concerts and singing offers coming up from the start of December so today we launched into White Christmas! I am afraid the enthusiasm wasn't quite there. We also did the chorus from Gaudete and then part of Carol of the Bells (which I love). I know Christmas is coming but I try to avoid it as long as possible. Still with DFS having been promising their sofa deliveries by Christmas for some weeks now, I know I am defeated! We will shortly be doing a whole session of carol practice at choir. The town centre has their Christmas lights up. It's coming!
(PS if you are reading this after the 28th Oct. you will find my piece in the archive section on Paragraph Planet)
Last night I attended an author event in a local library. The writer, Emma Burstall, who lives nearby came to talk about her new book Tremarnock, set in a Cornish seaside village. This is the first of a new series. I have to say I have never read any of Emma's books (I did look in my library for one but couldn't find any).
A crowd of six came together (so sad these things are not well supported) to hear Emma speak about her route to becoming a published author, her method of working and what she is currently doing (second draft of the next book!). She then read a short passage from Tremarnock and answered our questions. Of the six of us, two were men, one had written but said he wasn't writing at the moment, and one lady was contemplating writing a book. Emma happily answered my question about whether to pay for someone to do a professional read through of a manuscript. She advised trying agents first and see what feedback came (if any), then try a few more. If I had no luck she said it might be worth it. She was lucky and was picked up quite quickly.
Emma also answered a question on whether she used real people as characters and whether they recognised themselves. She said one woman was convinced a character was based on her....but it wasn't! We writers are not that stupid! I guess friends might think writers do that. We might take one thing from someone, but it gets mixed with other traits which come from others or are made up. And to be honest even the writer is in there somewhere!
Other questions included the choosing of words, dialogue, length of book, ideas and research.
I found the evening boosted me up and took away those negative feelings I've been having (too much time writing alone). These events are my lifeline and I was able to give some encouragement to the lady who was thinking about writing and wish her well. We all need these things, a few words of encouragement, either to get us going in the first place or to keep writing when the nagging doubts start to fester. A nice inspiring evening. Thanks Emma.
I seem to be in a quandary. I am writing virtually everyday, sometimes for several hours, yet I am unsure what to do.
The writing itself is going well. I have chosen to publish early short chapters on Scriggler.com. I've had some positive feedback which is encouraging. I'm just not sure how much to publish there. Do I keep most back and then try sending it to a publisher/agent?
I started this particular story after I 'scene wrote' in my head one night when I couldn't sleep. It's a mapcap account of one man. I had no proper plot but the words kept coming and I published the first short chapter almost straight away on Scriggler. Since then I have an ending and notes (most of which are being superseded!) as the story has taken a turn I did not see from the outset. I have gone with it and so far it is working. Although I want it to continue as a comedy, this adds some depth to the character. I am just having doubts about my methods of publication. I have in fact written 18 short chapters, about half way through the novel.
I already have one 'free-to-read' story on a blog which is ongoing. Should I continue or am I burning my boats? I have no writing buddy to share work with, I don't belong to a writing group and most of my friends while encouraging have not even bothered to look at my blog. One said to me, 'if you ever bring out a book, I'll read it, but I don't read stuff online.' I guess I've become discouraged (again). The only motivation I have is mine. If I didn't love writing so much I'd have given up long ago. However, is this type of self promotion damaging? Thoughts please.
On a slightly different note I was speaking to a lady at church the other and she is considering writing a book set in the Spanish Civil War. She already has a degree in Spanish (it may be literature or history, can't remember which) and she was given the advice to maybe do an MA and then she might get some help with the book. She couldn't contemplate it after years of study and I told her not to. I really don't think doing and MA will get you a book deal. At least I was able to have a decent conversation with someone about writing and books. Chats like that are a lifeline.
Next time I put up a chapter of my comedy novel I'll try and link it here and to Google+ Some feedback would be greatly appreciated (all previous chapters will then be found by clicking on my name).
