Fighting Talk

A few months ago, I saw an opportunity to become involved in a Global Writing Lockdown project the organisation 'Fighting Words' was facilitating. A couple of my friends volunteer with Fighting Words. The organisation aims to help children and young people and adults who did not have opportunities as children to discover and harness the power of their own imagination and creative writing skills. It also aims to use creative writing and storytelling to strengthen children and teenagers from a wide range of backgrounds to be resilient, creative and successful shapers of their own lives. You can find out more about them here https://www.fightingwords.ie/about-us

I'm delighted that my piece of flash fiction 'There's No Such Thing as Can't' has been included in this. The 'Near and Far' anthology.

In the Glen

 One aspect of lockdown has been re-discovering the gems on our doorsteps. 

While I'm very familiar with the area, a walk through nearby Valentine's Glen revealed there had been some changes since my last dander there, including the appearance of a plaque commemorating a murder that happened in the glen last century. Since 1952 locals have been fascinated with what really happened that night and the mystery surrounding the murder has inspired books and television dramas and has become a key aspect of local culture.

I'm delighted that my story 'In the Glen', inspired by the Curran murder, has been included in 'Stories from the Waterside'. This anthology was produced from a writing competition celebrating people's connections with Ireland's rivers, lakes and beaches. The publication has been launched this week to mark #WaterHeritageDay

What is a virtual writing retreat like?

At the beginning of each year our writing group makes plans for the year ahead. Along with writing goals, these plans include our schedule of workshops and our annual writing retreat. It has become a tradition for our writing group to assemble for a couple of days each August for our much anticipated writing retreat in Coney Island. 

But this year, like so many other planned events, we had to review and revise our ideas for the writing retreat, just as a good writer edits and re-edits their work.

We've managed to continue to hold a monthly 'virtual' writing workshop throughout lockdown and easing arrangements. We were loathe to cancel the retreat so considered having a 'virtual' get-together was the best option for our writing retreat. Over two days we gathered together over Zoom meetings to chat and share our writing and in between times we wrote, edited, revised and read.

There were some elements of our writing retreat which remained the same this year as in previous years.

The sun shone most of the weekend; coloured pens had been purchased; we ate good food; we received support from each other; the 'craic' was good; we wanted to write; there was no pressure to write; and we could guarantee a real belly laugh - probably the first I've experienced since lockdown commenced where I laughed so much I cried.

But it wasn't a writing retreat as we knew it. The views were different; the accommodation was different. We missed the anticipation when it would be decided which one of us would be lucky enough to secure Maddie's beach house for the weekend. The food was different. We missed Maddie's speciality dishes. We missed each other's company; we had distractions as life intervenes more when you're still fully immersed in it; and a level of anxiety hovered.

I still managed to fit in walks by the shore, albeit a different piece of shore and managed to write a couple of new pieces.

And just as many of us have managed to survive 2020 so far, we adapted to this new normal and made the best of it and wrote. 

More ups and downs

It's been another exciting writing week - with more ups and downs, and thankfully with more ladders than snakes.

On Sunday I heard that some of my poems had been published on Pendemic's website http://pendemic.ie/coronavirus-lockdown-well-meet-again-and-hippocrates-poetry-by-morna-sullivan/

On Monday I heard that another poem I'd written has been accepted to be included in a forthcoming anthology - more news to follow in due course.

On Wednesday I joined up with SCBWI Ireland members for a virtual catch up. When we can't meet up, it's good to keep in touch this way and to meet new writers and illustrators I wouldn't otherwise have met.

On Thursday I received a rejection from an agent. Later that day I heard one of my short stories has got through to the next stage in a writing competition  - fingers crossed for the next stage!

On Friday I heard a piece of flash fiction I'd written will be included in a forthcoming anthology  - again more news to follow in due course.

Then just as I thought it had been a good writing week, it got even better! On Saturday a fellow contributor to an anthology made our group aware that through her hard work in promoting the anthology, Jeremy Irons had written a few lines to support our work!

When we write we don't always think who might read our work. Words can be powerful!

Jeremy had this to say about our collection:
 “One of the positive realisations to come out of this plague, is how we all need each other. I hope these stories help us never to forget as we live our future lives.”

 Wow!! We are beyond delighted by his words, and are humbled he took the time to read the works within ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ Many thanks to the wonderful Niamh Cooper for her part in all this. She truly is a gem!!

This week I reckon my writing won snakes and ladders.

Peaks and troughs

We've all been looking at graphs more in the recent months - looking at how the curves could be flattened and wondering when the peak would become a trough.

I've had a week of mixed fortune regarding my writing - mapped out it would make an interesting graph - whether that be a pie chart, histogram, box plot or scatter graph! Maybe something a bit like this:

Sunday: I received news that a regional UK radio station was interested in featuring poems included in Inspiration in Isolation's website.

I'd had a few poems published on this site and was hopeful one of mine might be selected to be broadcast. 😀

Monday: I received the news that a poem of mine had been unsuccessful in a poetry competition. 😕

Tuesday: I received a rejection from a publisher on one of my manuscripts 😕

Wednesday: I heard one of my poems featured on Inspiration in Isolation had been selected to be broadcast by Tring radio later in the week 😀

I also received another rejection from another publisher on one of my manuscripts, but it included some positive feedback. 😉

Thursday: I heard another publisher had liked a sample of writing I'd submitted and was requesting the full manuscript 😄

Friday: I received the news that another poem of mine had been unsuccessful in another poetry competition. 😕

Later I received very helpful feedback on a piece of writing from an online critique group I'm part of. 😃

I also received a rejection from an agent on one of my manuscripts. 😞

Then, I listened while my acrostic poem 'Coronavirus' was broadcast as the 'Poem of the Day' on Tring radio https://tringradio.co.uk/ read by Natalie Spence. 😊 You can listen to it here:

Saturday: I finished off the writing week by joining my Coney Island writing buddies for a Zoom catch up, sharing our news and listening to work some had written. 😃

Mixed fortunes, but on the whole, a writing week I'm pleased with, and one that ended on a high.

National Writing Day in lockdown

Today is National Writing Day and this year like most things this year it's a bit different. In previous years I've participated in writing workshops and gone to outdoor theatre events.
They say things come in threes and today that was true. Among the emails I received today three were encouraging and all in different ways.
The first related to an Amazon delivery- at last it was on it's way. After ordering a copy of the book some of my poems are included in a few weeks ago I was disappointed when it got lost in transit.

So the email heralding it was finally nearing its destination was warmly received. And a couple of hours later the package arrived. (Deliveries seem to have taken on a special delight over the last few months!)

And it was lovely to open the package to find a book I have contributed to inside. I'm looking forward to reading all the pieces soon.

The second email arrived about an hour later. It was a rejection of a piece of work I had submitted. And while I was disappointed to hear my work wasn't quite what they were looking for  I was touched that the email wasn't just a standard rejection and that the sender had taken the time to provide some constructive feedback on my submission. This is not common practice so it was the best type of rejection to receive.

The third email arrived around another hour later and it was the best one. It was an acceptance of a piece of my work which will be included in an anthology being published later this year. More details to follow.

National Writing Day has been very special in lockdown.

Pitching again...

I'm enjoying  a couple of days off work at the moment. Unfortunately the beautiful weather we had earlier in the week has disappeared to be replaced by cold wind and rain so I'm not out in the garden as much as I might have anticipated. But there's plenty to keep me busy indoors. 

Yesterday's entertainment included experimenting with the new coffee machine. It's amazing how exciting a parcel arriving at your front door has become in recent weeks! Prior to lockdown commencing I knew that one of my most essential items would be coffee. It's my drug and I need it to function. Just the right amount is required each day, of the right variety and blend - too little isn't good and too much is not good either.  The cafetière is not used every day, being kept for weekends and holidays. Usually instant coffee is the staple interspersed with a take away latte (or two) from a city centre café and I'd recognised a few weeks ago that (aside from seeing my family and friends) the one thing I was missing desperately in lockdown was a 'real' latte. 

I also spent quite a bit of time taking part in PitchWars' PitMad event on Twitter and really enjoyed the experience, my second time pitching on Twitter. This event is mostly for the North American market so it started at 8.00 EST (13.00 BST). Again I released my three pitches during the day, sat back and watched to see what might happen. While I was 'sitting back and watching' I was looking at the other pitches and retweeting those I liked - some were from writing friends I know, some from writing acquaintances I've made on social media and some by writers who were new to me. My pitches received a few retweets as I waited to see if an agent or publisher would like them. 

This would be the signal to go the next stage and submit something to them. I was delighted that my pitches received a ❤ from three publishers based in North America (one Canadian and two in USA). 

I've now followed up on a couple of these - and will pursue the third soon too.  And I'll wait and see what happens with them.