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.