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!

Holiday reading

They say a change is as good as a rest, and while a rest would have been nice, a busy break away visiting family in Scotland was lovely. The change of scenery was beautiful and walks along by the River Tay certainly blow the cobwebs away.

We managed to call into the Robert Burns museum on the journey home for a quick visit, 

some sustenance and some inspiration. 

Good as it is to get away, it's always lovely to get back home again. And even lovelier when I found  my copy of 'Travel Write' was waiting for me.

I was delighted to see my story 'Return to Sorrento' in print in this beautiful book 

and I'm looking forward to dipping in and out of this anthology on my next travels, even if the trip is only from my armchair.

Take Me Away

Today's the day my story 'Return to Sorrento' is published in the Bradt anthology ' Travel Write'.  It includes the best entries over the last twenty years in the Bradt travel writing competition. I've been fortunate to have been longlisted twice in this international competition so I was delighted to have one of my stories included. It's also lovely that one of my writing friends, Mairi, has a story included.

I can't wait for my copy to arrive in the post, to delve in and be transported across the globe. I've missed foreign holidays and travelling in the last two years, so it will be exciting to travel to exotic places from my armchair. You can order a copy here  https://www.bradtguides.com/shop/

The Secret Bookshelf in Carrickfergus will also be stocking the book (it's a great Christmas present idea for that person who loves their holidays!)

In the meantime, enjoy some of the views from Villa Crawford, which features in my story. Ciao!

Childhood wishes

Do you remember making a wish when you were a child? And can you remember what you wished for? 

I can remember making the same wish for what seemed like an eternity, until eventually it came true. My wish was to own a set of 24 coloured felt pens. And by entering and winning a colouring competition I won a set of 30 coloured felt pens. Not only was I delighted that my wish had come true, but I learned a valuable lesson. Wishes don't come true by magic but by hard work and my hard work and determination brought a result that had surpassed my wish. 

I've always loved sets of coloured felt pens and at this time of year when pupils will soon be returning to school I can't resist the temptation of stationery.

So armed with my new pens and a new jotter I went back to school and made my way down to Coney Island last weekend for a couple of days of writing. 

Having been away from Coney (and from writing) for a long time, it was lovely to be back. It was good to see writing friends, enjoy time catching up on each others news, and to actually do some writing after a few exercises to flex our rusty writing muscles. It was lovely to walk on the beach, admire the views and be inspired by nature.

And after a beach walk, when it began to rain, it was lovely to return to a welcome coffee and home made carrot cake (it was delicious!)

One other childhood wish I had from around that time was to be a writer. And while I'm still chasing that elusive publishing deal, I'm delighted that through my hard work and determination this wish has also come true, having had stories and poetry published. However this wish is still a work in progress!

The highs and lows of getting back to the theatre

The last year and four months have been tough for all of us, coping with lockdowns and restrictions and missing many of our former interests. I've looked back fondly as memories pop up of theatre trips with friends and longed so much to get back to see a play performed live.

Outdoor theatre looked like it would be the best way forward. So when we saw 'The Great Gatsby' was being performed locally, we began to plan an outing. Normally with our unpredictable and often cool  damp, summers we wait until close to the date before booking (it's not the first time our picnic has taken place in my kitchen due to midsummer downpours). 

So we were disappointed that tickets to see the local play were sold out within days, a few weeks ago. We began to look at other venues, a bit further afield but still within reasonable travelling distance where the performance was also due to take place, but, always mindful of the weather, we held back booking tickets.

Then our weather surprised us. We're currently enjoying a heatwave with the hottest local temperatures ever recorded  - just perfect balmy evenings for outdoor theatre. So when it seemed we were in for a period of settled weather, we booked tickets to see 'The Great Gatsby' at a different venue a bit further away.

But then last week we noticed on social media that due to one of the cast testing positive for Covid, several performances would be cancelled. It seemed our outing might be cancelled too. 

But last we packed our picnic and made our way to the Riverside theatre in Coleraine. Under shady trees we sheltered from the still hot sun on a glorious Saturday evening and waited for the show to commence.

And we were not disappointed! This much longed for show was fabulous. The setting could not have been more perfect! Heartbreak Productions transported us back 100 years and taught us dance moves from the roaring twenties, immersing us in the jazz era of Daisy and Gatsby.

I've enjoyed reading some of Fitzgerald's work and seeing this iconic story brought to the stage was definitely worth the wait! Catch it if you can!

Back again....at last

The sun may not have shone as brightly as we might have wanted yesterday, but at least the rain held off. The smell of the seaweed on the fresh breeze welcomed me back to Coney Island and it was lovely to experience this view again after such a long time.

Thanks to Zoom our writing group has stayed connected and has gone from strength to strength over the last 18 months, continuing to provide support and encouragement to each other.

And while we now are living in different times where adering to the use of face masks, hand sanitiser and social distancing have become normal, it was good to be able to enjoy simple pleasures together again, including chocanana muffins over a coffee.

Father's Day .....40 years later

Today was Father's Day in the UK.  While my dear Dad is no longer with us, he is never far from my thoughts. Forty years ago (I had to check the sums as it doesn't seem that long!) I wrote a poem about him and submitted it to the Belfast Telegraph's Father's Day Poetry competition. I was delighted that it was published and I won a book token prize at the time. 

My Dad was proud that my poem had been published then and I'd like to think it would make him smile that it's been published again, forty years on, this time in an anthology celebrating Dads which was published in the last week.

My copy of 'To Dad's - with love' arrived yesterday and I've been dipping in to it over the weekend. You can get your copy here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B096TN7NN7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_0EZJK77ZRBNK2JKQV638

Reading material

Our weather over the bank holiday weekend has been very disappointing - four seasons in one day,  a wash-out and dreich at times! So it's been perfect reading weather and I've enjoyed some free time indulging and catching up on my reading material.  In the last week a lovely 'wee' poetry book dropped through the letterbox. 

Published by Dreich poetry, this is book three in a trio, and I'm thrilled that it features two of my  poems. You can get a copy here  https://hybriddreich.co.uk/wee-books/

And I enjoyed watching the launch of the latest issue of the Bangor Literary Journal over the weekend. 

It's packed full of beautiful images and writing (and I'm delighted that I have a photo included in it). You can download the issue here   https://thebangorliteraryjournal.com/2021/05/03/download-issue-14-now/

Then and Now

I've loved playing with words for as long as I can remember, writing poems and stories for enjoyment. And I've been enjoying entering writing competitions for much of my life. One of my early successes which resulted in subsequent publication was when our local newspaper, The Belfast Telegraph held a Fathers' Day poetry competition. I penned a few lines about my dear Dad, edited the poem and then sent it in. I can remember my delight a few weeks later when the newspaper was delivered, leafing through it to read the results and reading my poem had won a prize. I was also tickled with the illustration the paper's cartoonist had included with my poem which was a very apt likeness. The following days Dad was asked by his work colleagues who had read the poem what had happened to the shelf? He reckoned it was poetic licence. That was then.

Last year I read about an opportunity in 'Writing,' magazine - Aurelien Thomas was collating an anthology about fathers. I'd lost my dear Dad a few months previously and I submitted the poem I'd written a few decades ago to remember the wonderful man who had inspired my love of poetry. The project has been in development for a few months and the book, 'To Dads - with love' will now be launching in the next week. You can watch the promotional video here

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the book and reading all the contributions and remembering fondly how proud my Dad was the first time this poem was published.

Playing with Words

I spent a lovely morning yesterday with Coney writing friends on our monthly Zoom catch up. We chatted about how we're all coping through lockdown, juggling work and family responsibilities and shared our good news on the writing front. It was great to see such success for Coney Writers at the recent Waterways Storymaking Festival with two of us shortlisted (and subsequently winning prizes) across two of the three categories.

I've continued to bake my chocanana writing fuel muffins for our writing meetings throughout lockdown even though I obviously can't share them with the group. Early morning baking is such an important part of Coney catch ups for me - a ritual I want to keep going when we emerge through the other side of this awful time. My family are benefitting as there are more muffins for them! So over coffee and cake yesterday we did some writing exercises, played with words and stretched our creative muscles.

We're all looking forward to when we can actually meet up for real at Coney - hopefully we're getting closer to that day every day. In the meantime we have to make the most of things and are grateful for the encouragement we give each other and support we have in our small group in between our virtual meet ups, whether through sharing writing opportunity news or helping each other on a piece we're working on. It's the sign of a strong team that we've continued to stick closely together when the going is tough and I feel very blessed to be part of such a friendly supportive writing group.

Awards

Yesterday I took part in the annual Waterways Storymaking Festival awards ceremony. 

As always a huge amount of work must have gone into the planning of this event because it all came together seamlessly on the day. The organisers really excelled themselves in presenting such an enjoyable and uplifting event - just what we all need at the moment! And this year the event was different as it took place remotely. While we were able to enjoy the ceremony from the safety and comfort of our homes on a blustery March afternoon, for an hour and a half (which flew in), we were transported across our beautiful country through the evocative words and images submitted by entrants.

I've participated in several of the previous awards ceremonies and have been very fortunate to have had entries shortlisted and won prizes in previous years in the poetry and prose categories, so it was lovely to listen to the shortlisted entries in each of these categories this year. I was delighted when a couple of my writing friends had their talent and work recognised. Well done!

And I was thrilled that this year I had an entry shortlisted in the photograpy category. Instead of being on tenterhooks waiting to see the other entries, hear the judges comments and the results in an auditorium, I was going through these emotions at home. A beautiful photograph of a swan and it's reflection rightly won this category but I was delighted to be a runner up with my entry called 'The Sun Sets on Summer'.

If you missed the online event yesterday, you can watch it here and see all the shortlisted photographs and hear each entrant speaking about their image, along with all the shortlisted poems and stories.

https://www.facebook.com/waterwaysstorymakingfestival/videos/465955344606191/

I thoroughly recommend it as a restful way to spend an hour and a half looking at beautiful images of our wee country and listening to the creative words such beautiful words have inspired. Thanks to the Waterways Storymaking Festival for making this such a memorable event. Well done everyone!

Dates

As we look forward to the days when we have a bit more freedom, many of us are desperately looking for dates to plan towards - when we can meet up, when we can eat out and when we might even go on holiday. It's good to have something in the diary to look forward to, but at the moment taking things one day at a time and not looking too far ahead may mean we're not too disappointed if plans don't go as we might like them to.

During the last week I celebrated a couple of important dates in the diary - World Poetry Day (21st March) and the first Northern Ireland Writers Day (23rd March) by taking some time to write. And I was delighted that the poem I created on World Poetry Day, aptly called 'I've  a Date', subsequently featured on Inspiration in Isolation's site this week. You can read it here https://www.inspirationinisolation.co.uk/post/i-ve-a-date

And on Northern Ireland Writers Day I was lucky to be able to take part in a Poetry workshop facilitated by Daljit Nagra through the Royal Society of Literature where new writing prompts resulted in a few creative sparks - never before had I thought that 'maths' and poetry could be so closely linked. Watch this space to see what might develop...

Constants in Chaos

Photographs came up on my timeline today from one year ago. They are from our last trip out before we went into the first lockdown. Little did we know that day as we made our way to HMS Caroline what the next year was going to bring. It was a dreich day and there were very few people on board as we explored. As we walked round each deck we were careful not to touch handrails and doors and were already carrying small bottles of hand sanitiser.

During this strange year there have been some constants that have kept us anchored and grounded. For me, keeping connected (virtually) with friends and family has been so important. In the old days I always looked forward to our monthly writing workshops with Coney Island writers and being able to keep meeting (albeit virtually) throughout the last twelve months has been one of these important constants. Our Saturday morning meeting has been something to look forward to and yesterday was no different. It was lovely to see everyone across the screen and hear what everyone has been doing (or in most of our cases not doing) in the writing world. It's difficult to keep the creative juices flowing all the time but when they don't flow it's important not to beat ourselves up about it. Recently I've struggled to write, and to be creative. And when that happens I've consoled myself knowing it's temporary. This strange period will end, eventually. And instead of writing I've lost myself in someone else's writing.

 

Last week when World Book Day was celebrated, alongside spending some time reading from my current pile, and taking part in a couple of workshops organised by Women Aloud Northern Ireland, I treated myself to this gorgeous anthology. And I'm loving dipping in to it every day. In a busy world  when some days there isn't time to read a chapter from a book, there is ALWAYS time for a poem. And already I know this is going to become a favourite, and a new constant in a chaotic world.