Poet Bloggers 2018 Revival Tour

I’m a pretty regular blogger but I have let things slip a bit recently, mostly because I’ve been busy doing other kinds of writing.  In a bid to up my game,  I’ve been kindly added to this list of poet bloggers who are trying to blog weekly in 2018.

You can also add yourself to the list if you’re a poet and you’d like to try to post once a week about anything to do with poetry or anything to do with *you*.  There are no set rules.  I’ve already discovered some new blogs and poets over there so take a look to find out more.

My first week in January was spent trying to sort out someone to fix our boiler (an ongoing issue), helping my daughter to get ready for her return to uni, reminding my son he needed to be up early to start back to College, kissing my husband goodbye as he set off for his office job after the Christmas break, and setting my own alarm clock early for my return to St Gregory’s Catholic College in Bath where I’m Writer in Residence, one day a week.

It was lovely going back into St Greg’s and receiving lots of cheerful waves and hellos from students and staff alike.  I’m now in the process of typing up poems the students wrote last term, so I can submit them to a few poetry competitions.  I’ve posted details of opportunities for young writers on this post, by the way, in case you’re interested.

I’m also planning workshops for the next two terms and sorting out lists of different students to write with.  I’m very lucky to be in such a friendly and well-organised school.  I feel very settled and welcome in the English Department and I enjoy writing with students of different ages, abilities and backgrounds.  I will continue to post about my residency – use  the search term ‘writer in school’ to find my posts on this blog.

As well as going back to school, the Poetry Society Stanza group that I run met again this week.  On Saturday, 15 of us met in Trowbridge at Drawing Projects UK for our monthly get together. We’re a mixture of published and unpublished poets who’ve been meeting once a month for the past 18 months.  We read and comment on each other’s work in progress, read and discuss contemporary poems, organise open mic events, invite guest readers, and perform our work at different venues.  Drawing Projects UK is a beautiful and welcoming venue with a fantastic cafe.  We had a terrific meeting, which I’ll post about next time.

In the meantime, wishing everyone a happy week.