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.
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