never knowingly without a pen
Paper Nations is an arts organisation which commissions writers throughout the South West of England to create new work. Earlier this year, they ran a scheme called 'Time to Write' and invited writers who face particular barriers (time, money, location, opportunity) to apply for up to £1,000 to enable them to develop a writing project.… Continue reading Paper Nations: Time to Write
Since lockdown started, and both of my children were sent home from their universities, which I wrote about here, I've had less time on my own in the house and less time to focus on my creative projects. When I wake up each morning, the first thing I do is make a mental audit of… Continue reading Still here in June
Have you finished eating the pasta, baked beans and tins of tomatoes that vanished from supermarket shelves when news of the Covid-19 emergency first broke in the UK? Are you eating all the eggs, which were nowhere to be seen in the supermarket this morning, or perhaps you're baking many cakes? My Instagram feed is… Continue reading Food, food, food
It isn't always easy to be open to criticism, in fact it's something I've learned to do over the years. When I first started showing my writing to other people, I felt vulnerable and exposed. Praise bolstered my confidence but criticism could really upset me and make me feel defeated, as if it wasn't worth… Continue reading Being open to criticism
In this strange time of lockdown, I was excited to see that WordPress has resumed its Daily Post Writing Prompts series - inviting bloggers to respond to a writing prompt every day - and I'm going to have a go at taking part. After all, there isn't much to be excited about these days when… Continue reading It’s no joke
I dreamt I won a poetry competition I hadn't entered I wrote in my diary this morning and all at once it was November, month of daily blog posting, National Blog Posting Month or #NaBloPoMo. So I am writing a blog post while the dream carries on glowing inside my mattress even though it is… Continue reading I dreamt I won a poetry competition I hadn’t entered
Like Julie Mellor and many others in the Poetry Blogging Network, I try to put something up on this blog each week. Like Julie, I don't always manage it but, also like Julie, I thought I'd try again this week. I don't always have something to say so I wonder if it's worth blogging. At… Continue reading Notes from a Cluttered Desk
I've been quiet on the blogging front recently. I've done a few readings and events this year, all noted on my Diary/News page. My review of Filigree: Contemporary Black British Poetry (Peepal Tree Press, 2018) has been published in the current issue of Under the Radar magazine. I'm currently reading new collections published by Pavilion… Continue reading A quick update
I haven't written much about my everyday life recently so I thought I'd do an update. My once a week job in a school ended in July and very quickly after that I was awarded a small bursary to write new poems about the heritage, history and landscape of the area in and around Amesbury. … Continue reading Reading, writing, planning, etc.
I like this contemplative post by Charlotte Gann about the reasons she's drawn to Stevie Smith's poem 'Not Waving but Drowning'. The poem ‘Not Waving but Drowning’ by Stevie Smith is only twelve lines long. Yet, the first time I read it, it created in my mind, for evermore, a whole world – and life story. Not… Continue reading Posts from poetry blogs I’ve enjoyed reading this week
Josephine Corcoran 