All things come to those who wait

It's felt a bit like groundhog day (ok - officially Groundhog Day WAS last week) every day for a while. We're still living in strange times and still interacting remotely to keep safe. In the last few weeks I've taken part in a few online writing workshops and at the weekend our Coney writers met up remotely.

It was good to connect over coffee, catch up on our news and also to write. We really stretched ourselves with some difficult writing exercises from the comfort of our homes, while the stormy weather raged outside.

We do miss meeting up in person, but thanks to technology we can still stay connected. With signs of spring appearing, hopefully it won't be too long until we can meet up together in person again.

Today The Belfast Writers' Group launched a new anthology  'Worlds within Worlds'. It's been a while since I submitted a poem for consideration for this project but I knew it had been accepted and the anthology was in development. It's understandable that many projects have taken longer than anticipated in the last two years with so many other challenges. 

So it's exciting to see it come to fruition and it's definitely been worth waiting for. It's now available to buy on Amazon here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09RWZNB8P

Review of the Year

The start of a new year is often associated with setting goals for the year ahead. I haven't decided what my 2022 writing goals are yet, other than to continue writing and developing my craft. For now, I want to take stock of my writing in 2021.

The year started well with three of my locally set stories being included in Jo Zebedee's 'Everyday Magic'.

During continued lockdowns our writing group met virtually, bringing support and encouragement to each other. I also took part in a number of online writing workshops in locations I otherwise wouldn't have had time to travel to, including a Poetry workshop on the first Northern Ireland Writers Day. March saw my poem 'I've a Date' published on 'Inspiration in Isolation's' site https://www.inspirationinisolation.co.uk/post/i-ve-a-date

March also saw my award winning photograph 'The sun sets on summer' being brought to life at the Waterways Storymaking festival.

This awards ceremony took place remotely during lockdown - it was lovely to see the winning images and listen to the poems and stories which were shortlisted and won.

May saw three of my poems published  - two in Dreich's third book of 'wee poems'

And another I'd written a very long time ago in an anthology, 'To Dads - with love'

Over the summer when restrictions eased our writing group was able to meet in person again. The highlight of our year was definitely our writing retreat in August. Having had to hold our retreat virtually last summer, we made up for it this year, even if we didn'tget the weather we deserved.

September saw my story 'Return to Sorrento' published by Bradt in their gorgeous anthology 'Travel Write'.

For me, my writing highlight occurred in November when a colleague sent me a photograph she'd taken when out for a walk. It features a poem I'd written as part of Northern Ireland's 'Centenary Scripts' and it is on display in a number of locations across  the local council area. 

Since then I've spotted the poem beside writing by WB Yeats and John Hewitt and have been sent photographs of it by family and friends.

The writing year finished on a high with the Christmas anthology 'Underneath the Tree' which features my story 'Secret Santa' raising yet more money for good causes.

Here's to another successful writing year in 2022!

Twixtmas reading

It's that strange time of year again when it's impossible to know what day of the week it is, that glorious holiday period when nearly everyone seems to get a break - twixtmas - the time between Christmas day and New Year.

It's the perfect time to chill out, catch up on reading, stay cosy and indulge in chocolates. And thanks to my family I have a new pile of books to work my way through.

But as the weather today was brighter and drier than yesterday we wrapped up and ventured outdoors for a walk, to work off some of the Christmas treats. Our walk took us to an area I'm familiar with, but a park I'd never been in until today - the Six Mile Water Park in Ballyclare. It was amazing to watch so many ducks and the herons. And my twixtmas reading continued as we walked through the park reading the centenary scripts.

I'm incredibly proud that amidst poem excerpts by John Hewitt and WB Yeats, my poem, 'Land of Linen' has also been included in the Centenary Scripts on display here. It's lovely to be able to combine some reading while enjoying being outdoors.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's hard to believe we're in December and the countdown to the big day has commenced. Albeit we've been bombarded with Christmas music and adverts for several weeks. 

Yesterday morning, while getting prepared to head down to Coney Island, I listened to one of the editors of 'Underneath the Tree' talking about our gorgeous anthology on BBC Radio Ulster. 

It's still available to purchase and would make a lovely gift. 

My cranberry and orange muffins were just the perfect accompaniment to coffee in Coney while we shared our writing highlights of the year, and helped get us in the festive mood.

This year we were able to meet together and enjoy a Christmas meal, (which was a veritable feast), and was all the more special, because we'd not been able to get together last Christmas. And while it was cold outside (and chilly inside due to good ventilation!) our hearts were warmed by the good cheer. Our writing group is such a blessing - supportive, encouraging and welcoming. 

Later, a trip to Antrim's Enchanted Winter Garden helped to work off some of the calories. It was magical and the perfect finish to the day.  I felt as if I had been transported into a fairytale. 

Anthologies for Christmas

I've written before about how much I love Christmas anthologies. Over a busy period they're perfect to dip into - either to read one or two stories or poems, or to read from cover to cover over the holiday period.

And I'm always on the lookout for more to add to my collection. It was lovely this week to drop into my local independent book shop, 'The Secret Bookshelf' as they and neighbouring  shops began to get into the festive spirit.  On a cold, windy November evening we were cheered by the brass band playing Christmas carols in the courtyard while we browsed in the local shops and I spied another book destined to join my Christmas anthology collection.

I'm trying to keep it until December but I have to confess I haven't been able to resist dipping into it already. And it's just as gorgeous inside as the cover is.

If you're stuck for Christmas gift ideas, I'd suggest an anthology can be a perfect present. And unashamedly there are three which feature some of my work which I'd suggest:

'Travel Write', a Bradt guide, is a beautiful collection of travel writing short stories taking you on journeys around the globe.

'Places of Poetry' is a gorgeous treasury of poems taking you around all parts of the United Kingdom.

'Underneath the Tree' is a delightful selection of Christmas stories by writers from Northern Ireland.

While they're all available on various online platforms, why not drop into your local book shop, and you'll also find other wonderful gifting ideas.

Communications

I had a very pleasant surprise today when a colleague sent me a photograph of some of my work. 

A poem I'd written earlier in the year as part of our local council's Centenary Scripts project is now on display on a local woodland trail. I'm looking forward to getting out to see it for myself soon.

This news came at a good time, after several rejections and being pipped at the post to be runner up in a couple of writing competitions. And while it was very thoughtful of my colleague to take the photograph and let me know about my work, I did wonder why the organisers hadn't thought of telling me about this themselves.

Communications in writing competitions was a hot  discussion topic at Coney Island last weekend when a few of my writing friends met up. 

On a windy wintry morning, we shared our experiences of competitions/ book events that have run like clockwork and have been a joy to be involved in, and those that 'could do better'. I think there's definitely a blog post or article on that topic itself!

And fuelled by coffee and apple and cinnamon muffins we also managed to put pen to paper and write!

Book Week

It's been Book Week in Northern Ireland this week- a joint initiative between BBC NI and Libraries NI celebrating the pleasures and benefits of reading.

As an avid reader I appreciate the many benefits from reading - aside from enjoying the actual book, relaxing and escaping to new worlds, there are definite benefits to our mental health and wellbeing.

This week I've been making my way through a variety of gorgeous books, dipping into short story and poetry anthologies as well as some research and novels.

While I wasn't able to pop in to my local library during the week, I have also been reading a couple of books borrowed via the Libby App - Lisa Jewell's 'One Hit Wonder' and appropriately for Book Week, Matt Haig's 'The Midnight Library'. 

I managed to catch up on a couple of events virtually including the wonderful Poetry Pharmacist in Belfast Central Library and also attended a virtual bookclub hosted by Translink in No Alibis bookshop in Belfast with local authors Shirley McMillan and Brian McGilloway.

All in all a great week of books and reading but in my world Book Week should really be every week!