A good week for writing

It's been a good week for writing. Although there have been a few rejections this week, there have been several high points, some of which have been the fruits of labours undertaken earlier this year.

On Monday evening we had great fun at our SCBWI Ireland quarterly Zoom meeting with our special guest Shirley-Anne McMillan, Children's Writing Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University, Belfast. Shirley shared her writing process with us and then set us a challenging writing exercise.

Yesterday was Bookshop Day, so I called down to my local bookshop The Secret Bookshelf to have a chat with Chris and Jo, browse what's new and of course I came away with a bag full of books. Among the purchases was a Christmas gift and one of Shirley-Anne's novels, ' The Unknowns'. I also got a lovely goodie bag filled with all sorts of writing/ reading treats.

And today I was absolutely thrilled to see in print that I'm one of The Sunday Post's short story competition finalists. 

As children staying at our grandparents' Fife house we couldn't wait to read The Broons & Oor Wullie in this paper. Almost as exciting as it was today to track down a copy of the paper and open it to read my name alongside the other finalists in black and white 😀

Just the motivation to start writing another story....

A week of writing related activities

It's been a busy week of fun writing related activities. Monday evening saw the launch of Sheena Wilkinson's new Middle Grade novel, 'First Term at Fernside' in the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast. 

The occasion was joyous from start to finish, with Fernside school themed cakes and biscuits, sweetie goodie bags, spot prizes which included a tuck box and Sheena being interviewed by Shirley-Anne McMillan and reading from her book. It was good to catch up with local writers there, and I was thrilled at the message on my signed copy of the book.

Thursday was National Poetry Day. I was (pineapple) delighted to have my poem 'To a Pineapple ' included in a celebratory poetry upload on the Dirigible Balloon's website.

https://dirigibleballoon.org/  

This is a fantastic children's poetry resource with over 200 poems from over 100 poets participating in the National Poetry Day upload. Thanks to Jonathan Humble for all the work he puts in to planning, organising and promoting the Balloon. 

On Friday lunchtime I attended an event at Belfast's Linenhall library with local Young Adult author, Shirley-Anne McMillan in conversation with Wendy Erskine. It was great to hear about Shirley's writing journey and her plans in her new role as the new Seamus Heaney Children’s Writing Fellow. It was good to catch up with other local writers at this event too.

And yesterday I was back with my writing pals at Coney Island, catching up on news over coffee and apple and cinnamon muffins. While a wild sea crashed outside we got stuck into some fun writing exercises.

                                                

Having a 'tribe' and attending events like these with other writers encourage and support us on our writing journeys and help strengthen the local writing community. But now to get on with some writing.......

Writing inspirations and aspirations

I'm just back from a lovely break in Scotland. With visiting new places and catching up with family and friends, there wasn't much free time to write, but a holiday is supposed to be a break from the norm isn't it?

Before I left I'd been busy making some autumn plans for our writing community. This involved a quick visit (at last!) to the Seamus Heaney centre at Queen's University in Belfast. In the short time I was there, I was impressed and I'm looking forward to getting back again soon. The inspirational quotes could only encourage writers to keep going when facing writer's block.

While on my travels in Scotland, I came across a beautiful shop front that made me stop in my tracks and stare. Unfortunately the shop wasn't open the day I was there. Had it been, I would have been so excited to go in and explore. It looked like a place where magic words and stories are created and the sort of place I could only dream of writing in.

So in the absence of such an author's den and now that summer is over, I'll just have to put on my coat and go to where I like to write - in my garden.

Stretching out summer

We've been squeezing out the last few drops of summer sunshine, enjoying a spell of good weather over the weekend. The gorgeous sunny morning yesterday coincided with a trip back to Coney.

It almost felt like we were back at our writing retreat, as we caught up on news, shared some of our work as we ate blueberry muffins and coffee. We then did some writing exercises with fun prompts with the sun warming our backs. 

Later, back at home I took time to enjoy the sunshine in the garden while continuing to work on some pieces I'd developed at Coney in the morning.

But I was soon distracted, tempted by the offer of an ice-cream at the nearby seafront  with my nieces. We wanted to stretch yet more out of the day, just like the pollinators back in the garden.

A tonic of a treat

I've just returned from a tonic of a treat - time spent in good company in an amazing location with good food and good craic and with the added bonus that I also managed to write! Our annual writing retreat usually re-energises us and sets us up for writing into the winter.  This year's retreat was excellent as always. 

Top grade writing fuel is always essential and we couldn't complain about any of the food - we feasted like kings the entire weekend. Everyone contributed delicious home made delights.

Often we are blessed with fabulous weather  - this year it was a bit more changeable but that didn't stop us getting out on to the beach to relax in between focusing on working on various writing projects, reading and sharing our work and giving and receiving feedback.

Prior to the retreat I'd made a plan of what I wanted to work on and I'm pleased that most of my planned work was completed. We also started planning ahead for the coming months.

While it felt like a hurricane was making landfall when we were leaving, we came away with full stomachs, our heads buzzing from being together and energised to keep working on our various projects as we head into autumn and winter.

Creative Energy

After a break it's good to get back to routines again. Last weekend our SCBWI Ireland Belfast group met up. Due to the holiday period our numbers were depleted but we still had plenty to chat about. And it gave me a chance to use our new desktop sign our Illustrator Co-ordinator, Debora designed.

Spurred on by the creative energy that develops when writers get together I've been making writing plans during the week.

I also finally got round to recording the sound files for some of my poems on The Dirigible Balloon. You can listen to them here:

https://dirigibleballoon.org/writer/mornasullivan

And I've made the most of the good weather this weekend, getting outside to write when I can in betweencatchingup with family and friends. Yesterday morning I took advantage of some amazing weather to enjoy a coffee in the garden while I wrote a first draft of a new short story.

Fingers crossed summer has finally arrived!

Scots inspiration

I picked up my battered copy of Robert Burns' poetry at a jumble sale many years ago, when still at school and contemplating studying English literature. Ironically I studied and learned more of Burns' work at home and at primary school - his work wasn't included on the syllabus at grammar school and at university there weren't any modules as part of my English language and literature degree then covering his work.

On a recent road trip to Scotland, I took a welcome break from traffic disruption to stop off at the Robert Burns museum in Alloway, Ayrshire. I've popped in before for a quick bite to eat in the cafe and a hasty look around the shop, but this time I had a bit more time, so I was able to visit the museum exhibits.

Seeing the actual desk at which Robert Burns sat down to write and his writing set, along with some actual manuscripts was awe-inspiring. 

The museum displays have been carefully curated so that those who are not so familiar with Scots can understand fully what is being conveyed in Burns' writing.

The visit was a good start to a welcome break in Scotland and inspired me to get my own notebook and pen out to write while I was there.