longlisted haiku

Some good booky, reading, literary news on World Book Day - I'm quite delighted to hear one of my poems has been long-listed in 'Haikus for the NHS'

 https://nothingintherulebook.com/2017/03/01/haikus-for-the-nhs-read-the-poems-here/

Edit, edit, edit

Yesterday I attended an editing workshop at the Crescent Arts Centre run by the Irish Writers Centre. It was the first IWC workshop I've been on and was excellent. Ciara Considine, an editor at Hachette Ireland led the workshop. She packed tons of useful information and tips into the day. As well as sharing her experiences and advice, Ciara led us in a number of helpful writing exercises.
It was also an opportunity to meet with other writers and share our experiences and learning.

Some of the nuggets I came away with -

'in developing and re-writing your work, get it wrong as many times as necessary - you only have to get it right once'

'pick out the important moments'

'whose journey are you trying to explore?'

If you get the chance to attend this workshop, I'd recommend you do.

Now to let the advice percolate and put it into practice.....

A room with a view

 I didn't ask for or expect a room with a view, but I got one - and what a view? Just what would Lucy Honeychurch have made of this view?

 

I doubt she would have had any complaints. This has been the view from my room for the last few days and I have to admit it was even more amazing than the pictures convey.

 



 

Downhill Beach House's Space to Write event http://downhillbeachhouse.com/ takes place every year. Thanks to this facility, I've been away from it all to benefit from space and time to write - time away from normality, time to recharge the writing batteries, time to walk on a windswept beach, time to meet and chat with other writers, time to read and most importantly time to write.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'd thoroughly recommend this event to any writer. How could you fail to be inspired in such beautiful surroundings?



 

 



The benefits of being in a writing group

There are many benefits of being part of  a writing group. If it works well and is the right group, it can provide support in a sometimes solitary pastime, a sounding board for our ideas, a friendly critique and the momentum to keep going, chasing that elusive publishing dream. I've been so fortunate to have all of these features in my writing group. I've been even more fortunate that as our writing group has developed we have also become a group of good friends. Yesterday we celebrated a big birthday with our friend and writing mentor, Maddie. Without her, our writing group just wouldn't be the same. Here's to many more years of happy writing!

New Year, New Writing.....

It was good being back down at Coney Island today - just Rhonda, Fionnuala, Maddie and I.  It was good to think about an exciting year ahead - New Year's writing resolutions, parties and lots of writing opportunities.

Happy New Writing Year

short story

I'm delighted that one of my short stories is published today in 'The Incubator' journal.


https://theincubatorjournal.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/the-incubator-issue-11.pdf