spine poem

Just a bit of fun earlier today! As part of Book Week Scotland I had a go at creating a spine poem:

 

 

 

 

 

Birds without wings beginning the unbearable lightness of scones,

Angels and demons sweet caress holy fools,

Joseph Andrews eats, shoots and leaves in a blue velvet dress,

Warning Jude the obscure half of a yellow sun

Disappeared north and south in cold blood.

 

 

It also reminded me I've piles of books in the house still to read! 

NaNoWriMo - my way

So, it's that time of the year again - less than six weeks to Christmas and half way through NaNoWriMo - or National Novel Writing Month in full. You can find out more about this here https://nanowrimo.org/

I've taken part in this a few times before, with varying results. Twice I've run out of steam half way through the month and once I completed a first draft of a novel. This year I decided to do it my way. It is a big commitment to write more than 1000 words a day for a month, and I've a few WIPs (works in progress) so I decided that instead of starting with a blank page on 1st November and ending up with a first draft on 30th November, I'd take a draft and work intensively on it this month.

I started on 1st November with my rough first draft of a children's middle grade novel and have been working my way through it diligently for a time every day. I'm now half way through November and half way through the third draft. There's still so much to do in editing the work I suspect I will still be editing and redrafting this after 1st December.

Remembering

As we approach the centenary of the Armistice, I'm delighted that one of my poems, 'Stop...Start..' is going to be included in the Pendle War poetry anthology.

https://pendlewarpoetrycompetition.blogspot.com/2018/11/2018-anthology-contents-for-uk-ireland.html?fbclid=IwAR1ML2k7LxNlbMzPp7h7c9z8fTiwaTuJgsDQ_bgO6SZz7mmhs_7jdTIf-MQ

Return to Coney

It was one of those wild, winter mornings when we arrived at Coney yesterday - the type of day when otters appear out of nowhere and the sea crashes over the bumpy road. The tail end of Hurricane Oscar made its presence felt as we descended on Coney. When I opened the car door, it was buffeted by the wind and we were met by rolling surf and salty air.

 

It was good to see everyone again. We spent the morning catching up on our writing news over coffee and chocanana muffins. We discussed the recent successes in the group, recapped on key elements in a story and read out some of our work. And as we spent so much time talking, we didn't have time to write, so now we've homework for the next time.....

A cat in Longford

Today was the day Fergus travelled from Carrickfergus to Longford  - quite a journey for anyone....

 A cat's journey

So we decided to take advantage and make a mini break out of it and explore the area while we were there.

We spotted these two and their Mum in the cemetery in Longford yesterday afternoon and knew from the way they are being cared for, that Fergus was going to receive a warm welcome.

Co Longford has literary links to Oliver Goldsmith (I loved seeing 'She Stoops to Conquer' at Belfast's Lyric theatre when studying 'A' level English) and Maria Edgeworth (I have to shamefully confess I still haven't read any of her work). The area has a thriving arts scene. The event I attended this morning in Longford Library was part of the Aisling Children's Arts festival.

Local children came along to hear the five shortlisted entries in the Longford Writers 'Write a Story for Children' competition. I was delighted to have my story 'Fearless Fergus, King of the Castle' included. The children listened intently as Rose read all five stories to them. Then they cast their votes in the special voting boxes.

I was delighted to her that my writing friend Rhonda's story 'Tooth Fairy Trouble' was voted second in the competition by the children. My story was a runner up.

 

Most importantly though, this morning gave me the opportunity to see and hear the children's reactions to all the stories. And I got to make new writing friends with some of the prizewinners and competition organisers. Thanks to all involved in Longford Writers for a fantastically run competition from start to finish. It was refreshing to have the children judge the competition and great to see such a vibrant, buzzing library. Thanks also for making us feel so welcome.

SCBWI meet up

This morning I caught up in Belfast with fellow writing friends for the Belfast SCBWI meet up over a coffee in the Crescent Arts centre café. It was good to see everyone and to catch up on each others news - writing and otherwise.

The venue for these meet-ups is so important for them to be a success. It seems the criteria is as follows- it has to be welcoming, serve good coffee (and cake), support creative learning, be near good public transport links and most importantly, it must be near a book shop.

 

There is of course a danger in this - that I end up in the bookshop, and purchase a book. Today I was delighted to get my (signed! :-)) copy of Orla McAlinden's new book, 'The Flight of the Wren'. And even more delighted to be travelling home on the train, so I could start reading it.

Seals, swimmers and sparkly sea

As the wind howls and the rain batters the window this evening, it's hard to believe yesterday was one of those 'Indian summer' autumn days. It started off cool yesterday morning when I baked some writing fuel

- aka chocanana muffins. But by the time we reached Coney Island the sun had come out and was shining! It was shining so much even a seal was tempted to swim by and distract us from writing (not very difficult with such stunning views!). He was soon followed by a lady swimming in the sparkling sea.

As we munched muffins and drank coffee we tried to get to grips with different points of view (I still need to practice 'third person limited' and 'fly on the wall') and used a few exercises to try this out. at one point the sun streaming through the window was so hot I had to move seats to cool down and concentrate! Days like these help keep winter at bay.