The holiday’s over…

I’m back to work tomorrow and I’m feeling low that my month off has come to an end.  I’m pleased that I’ve managed to work on my pamphlet and now have 18 poems which are as ready as they’ll ever be to send to the printers – although I haven’t had a lot of contact with tall-lighthouse, my publisher, which is making me nervous and there will probably be more tweaking to do once I’m sent print-ready proofs of  the poems.  I’ve got stuck in to my notebooks and found that I have at least 20 other poems, some of them already published, which are finished or nearly finished.  I need to organise sending them off to magazines and competitions and decide if I want to try to put together another pamphlet or go for a full collection – that’s probably something I still need to work towards.

We’ve enjoyed some good family time over the last few weeks as Andrew has been able to work from home for a change. There are a few good things to look forward to: I haven’t quite signed up but I’m seriously considering doing a six-week ‘correspondence course’ with Glyn Maxwell, working with Live Canon, an ensemble performing poetry.  There will be the opportunity to work on poetry for performance and to hear the company record my work.  I just have to commit to the time involved and make sure that I’m not taking on too much.  The last thing I want to do is pay for a course that I don’t really have time to take.

Then, there are two poetry festivals coming up which I’m looking forward to: the first is Winchester Poetry Festival which takes place next weekend, 12th – 14th September.  In particular, on Saturday, I’m hoping to get to see readings by Modern Poetry in Translation; Patience Agbabi; Liz Berry, Olivia McCannon and Jacqueline Saphra; Edna Longley; and the main reading in the evening which is by David Constantine, Julia Copus and Michael Longley.  As usual, I’m leaving everything to the last minute but I hope I’ll be able to acquire tickets for all of that.

Last, and by no means least, Swindon Poetry Festival is coming up and I’ve booked to be a Swindon resident for four days, 2nd – 5th October.  Really looking forward to readings and workshops with Don Share, Maurice Riordan, Kathryn Maris, Cliff Yates, Jackie Wills, Robert Peake, Allison McVety and even more!

I started off this post by feeling quite glum but the thought of all this poetry has properly cheered me up.  Wishing you all a cheerful and productive week, especially if your holiday season has also recently come to an end.