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Free online poetry courses

This post was originally published on 12 February 2015 but I’m going to keep adding to it as I hear of new courses. Here are the courses with links to registration forms and blurb from each site. I might see some of you in class! NEW! Ten Premodern Poems by Women – Stanford University – March 31 – June 9 Course… Read more

February 12, 2015
Still writing every day?

I was wondering how your writing is going? I started off the year by resolving to write for at least one hour a day with all distractions (mostly social media feeds) switched off. It was much more straightforward when I was on leave from my paid, part-time (ha!) job but it has become more difficult… Read more

February 10, 2015
The Homecoming of Sir Thomas Wyatt

As I’ve mentioned before I work part-time for The Reader Organisation and I read aloud every week with groups of people living with dementia and their carers. We read all sorts of poems and stories, talk about feelings and memories that these bring to mind, enjoy a hot drink and a few cakes and generally… Read more

February 6, 2015
Someone in the future is waiting for your post

Archiving your blog or website at The British Library As out-of-the-blue messages go, the email I received last week from The British Library, requesting permission to archive my poetry site, And Other Poems, was one of the most unexpected: Dear Sir/Madam The British Library would like to archive your website in the UK Web Archive. The… Read more

January 30, 2015
It’s still January?!

Not once have I mistakenly written “2014” – it’s as if it’s always been 2015 and always January, the month that every year, to me, seems the l-o–o–o-ongest. My write-for-an-hour-a-day-with-the-internet-turned-off pledge has mostly been observed, resulting in three new poems and an old one revised. Four poems are out for consideration. I’ve done two poetry readings,… Read more

January 25, 2015
Writing poems rather than Facebook posts

More than ever this week, my brain has become worn out by being on Facebook and Twitter. It’s brought home to me the value of “owning” a small space on the internet – ie a blog – where I have the luxury of more than 140 characters to write down some of my thoughts about… Read more

January 10, 2015