Do the things that make you happy

This morning saw an exciting stage in a project I've been working on for a few months. Instead of pens, pencils, paper and a laptop, the car boot was filled with a menagerie.

I headed into Belfast to take part in filming a couple of children's stories I've written in Ulster Scots for an enchanting project. The stars of the stories accompanied me and at first they seemed a bit camera shy.

But they soon lost their inhibitions, so much so that when I left to come home, they were asked to stay on 😃

It was a fun morning, working with a professional team and seeing what goes on behind the scenes. New connections were made and new skills developed. As I sat drinking a coffee before we started filming it felt like these posters on the wall were the instructions for my day ahead.

And today, I really did! 😀

Minding our Language

I've just returned from our annual writing retreat. While the weather may not have been as kind to us as usual, it was perfect writing weather. 

With a gale blowing outside and incessant rain pounding the windows, we were quite content to concentrate working on our writing in good company and with delicious food.

There was the best of craic from our chats and being creatives and lovers of words we all excelled in the board game 'Mind Your Language' - educational, informative and very entertaining. It's a while since I've laughed so hard my sides were sore.

We celebrated successes and good news together -  A couple of us had poems included in the 'Measure' anthology which was launched over the weekend at the Seamus Heaney homeplace but as it coincided with our retreat we missed the event.

Our retreat is an opportunity to relax, reset, refresh and review - what we've been working on and what we'll work on in the coming months. We shared pieces we'd been working on, reminisced and made plans.

When the sun broke through we enjoyed beach walks. And now as we head into autumn and schools return, it felt like it was the start of a new writing term and we left reinvigorated for our writing.