Every day's a school day

Last month I signed up to a writing workshop I saw advertised, called 'rewriting the future'. I went along one cold Saturday morning in February to a former Presbyterian church in an area of Belfast that has seen considerable conflict over the years.

It was led by two larger than life facilitators, sisters Autumn and Adrienne, who brought the topic to life with their enthusiasm and joie de vivre. Not being a sci-fi fan, I knew I would find it challenging, but in the writing visionary fiction in the workshop, I soon found that while I was learning new concepts, there was also common ground and tips that could be applied across other writing genres.


For the last few weeks I've been attending a writing class held in a local museum

(this is a fantastic venue for such a class) facilitated by one of our local writers (who happens to be a sci-fi writer!). I initially signed up to the class because of the convenient location and I'm always keen to learn something new. And from the start of this year I've been learning something new every week, discussing ideas with new writing friends and writing new material.

So while both venues hark back to former days and different times, I've been challenged in my writing in both experiences, in learning new concepts and ideas, and in learning from others but most importantly enjoying the experiences.

Happy St David's day

It's the start of a new month, meteorological spring, the sun is shining and it's St David's day!

I've had a lovely start to the day - the first email I opened this morning contained information relating to a writing project im involved in.

 

Tributes to Trees

I've just heard tonight that I've had one of my poems 'Winter's Trees' included in Forestry England's 100 years of forestry celebration. 

There are some beautiful pieces included in this year long celebration. You can read them and pay your own tree tribute here....https://www.forestryengland.uk/100

“Come with me to the vintage fair,” she said

I was thrilled to hear today that I've had my poem 'The Vintage Fair' selected for inclusion in the Community Arts Partnership's 2018/19 Poetry in Motion anthology. All entries in the anthology are considered for the 2019 Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing.

Judges for this are Damian Smyth, Maria McManus, Stephen Sexton and Conor Shields.
I'm looking forward to the launch next month at the Seamus Heaney centre.

When writing can be dangerous....

 

I never imagined my writing could cause a road traffic accident, but yesterday it almost did...

It was quite a writing day! It was always going to be a busy day with a writing workshop in the morning and an awards event in the afternoon. And a busy day, requires energy, so writing fuel in the guise of white chocolate and banana muffins was required to kickstart the day.

This was all that remained at the end of yesterday... and they have all disappeared now.
So with muffins baked, writing bag packed for Coney island, I set off, tuning in to BBC Radio Ulster on the journey as I'd noticed on social media there was going to be a feature on the 'Your Place and Mine' programme about the event I was attending in the afternoon at W5 in Belfast. I knew my short story entry had been shortlisted so I was looking forward to hearing all the winning stories and poems. I listened to the Lagan Navigation Trust's Chief Officer and this year's storymaking festival writing workshop facilitator, Olive Broderick https://lettersfromladyn.wordpress.com/ . I could hardly believe my ears when Olive read out my poem 'Riverdance' the winner of the poetry category in last year's competition. Hence, there was almost a road traffic accident! 

So with a singing heart, I ventured on to Coney Island for a very enjoyable morning with my writing friends (including the muffins).

The afternoon was equally enjoyable. The Waterways Storymaking festival celebrates all sorts of storytelling - in stitches, words, music and in song. 

 

These are just a selection of some of the fabulous tapestries created for the festival by community groups around the Lagan valley. The detail included is amazing - I particularly love the swan's feathers.

During the celebration we were entertained by Donal Kearney - his traditional singing is mesmerising https://www.donalkearney.com/folklore.html

A beautiful piece of music had been written for the event by Brigid O'Neill https://www.brigidoneill.com/ The mesmerising 'Lagan Flight of Locks' was performed by Colin Reid.

The Creative Writing element of the festival included poetry and stories. This year's theme was 'Linen on the Lagan'.

 

I was delighted to see my story, 'A breath of fresh air' on display at the event. 

But even more delighted to be runner up in this year's competition.

 
 

 

You can read my story here or catch it in the forthcoming exhibition which is going on tour over the next few months to a number of venues on the Lagan's banks

 

Out of the Blue

I was delighted to hear last week that one of my short stories was longlisted in a UK competition. Today I found out the story was also commended in the Bradt New Travel Writer of the Year 2019 competition.

 

My story 'For those left at home' was published on their website, along with some of the other top stories.

It's a great start to a new writing year!

The game of writing

Back at Coney yesterday, for the first time this year, it was good to get the creative juices flowing again after the holidays and to try something new. Coffee and cranberry and chocolate muffins (new recipe) helped on a grey, cold day.

 

We shared our writing news. In the last few weeks I've received news that one of my short stories has been shortlisted in a local competition and another one longlisted in a UK wide competition - fingers, toes and everything else crossed for the outcomes in both of these!

We engaged in fun writing exercises to help warm up our brains as we composed a few limericks before thinking about writing in a new environment for all of us - in Gaming. It's big business now.

And like a story, for a game to be successful, there has to be a hook which draws you in, keeps your attention and makes you want to keep engaging in the story, identifying with the characters and trying to solve the problem. At the start of a new writing year it was good to think of writing in a new way.