All Blogposts

  • Submitting poems to online places

    Submitting poems to online places

    I’ve been reading and selecting poems for And Other Poems for over five years now and while I’m not saying that there is only one way to send out a submission, I am extremely grateful to poets who send a submission in a certain way.  Obviously, different places have different guidelines – which should be Read more

  • Reading and writing Christmas-themed poems with Year 7s: #writerinschool

    Reading and writing Christmas-themed poems with Year 7s: #writerinschool

    I’m really enjoying being Writer in Residence at St Gregory’s Catholic College, Bath.  As well as writing with students during lesson time, I also run a Creative Writing Club at Break and Lunchtime, one day a week.  When we’re writing poetry, I usually take in lots of photocopies of poems but today I took in Read more

  • A few last minute submissions

    A few last minute submissions

    This weekend I managed to send off a poem to the Verve Poetry Festival Competition a couple of hours ahead of the deadline – deadline now closed but you can find out more about the festival here – and I’m still working on one I’d like to send to The Cafe Writers competition – deadline Read more

  • Thinking about sound and other senses. #writerinschool

    Thinking about sound and other senses. #writerinschool

    I’m coming to the end of my first term as Writer in Residence at St Gregory’s Catholic College, Bath.  As you know, I’ve been using this blog as a place to document my work there.  Previous posts include Beginning to Write Poetry With Secondary School Students,  Reading and Writing Poems about Where I’m From, National Poetry Read more

  • NoNaBloPoMo or to put it another way.. not doing nablopomo

    NoNaBloPoMo or to put it another way.. not doing nablopomo

    Hard to believe it’s almost November again.  This time last year, I took part in National Blog Posting Month, or nablopomo, and posted every day during November.  I had a lot of fun and made new friends taking part in this challenge – and I am tempted to join in again!  However, I’ve decided to Read more

  • Some recent news

    Some recent news

    I update my ‘News’ page regularly but I realise that this won’t show up if you follow this blog via email or via WordPress.  So, yes, there is some happy personal news over there that I would like to share with you!  I won First Prize in the Buzzwords Poetry Competition with my poem The Read more