writer
I've fallen off the blogging bus and I'm struggling to climb back on. I'm not sure why because it isn't travelling very fast. Perhaps it's my dodgy knee/s. Anyway - Hello! - even if it's already May. I'm fully recovered from my first Covid-19 jab (Oxford AstraZeneca) and waiting for a date for my second.… Continue reading News/No News in April
This week there has been a lot of weeping - proper weeping of the wet face, snotty-nose, aching chest variety. My daughter has moved out of our home and into a house share in South West London, not that far from where she was born, in fact, although she doesn't remember that, being not quite… Continue reading Proper Weeping
It's been ten years since I started writing again, after a long spell of not writing. I suppose I stopped writing because I became too busy with life events - marriage, children, moving house, working to pay the bills. I was never properly SAD about not writing but it was wonderful when the desire and… Continue reading Ten Years of Notebooks
Sometimes it's sad when everyone leaves but sometimes it's just what you need. It's not always possible to go away to write, on a course or retreat or holiday. Even if you can afford it, even if it's free or subsidised, it's just not always possible - for many reasons, commitments, time or ability constraints… Continue reading The gift of an empty house
It's been really helpful to read these posts by poets writing about how they find their way into poems: "Writing" Towards Writing by Pam Thompson and fearless creating by Julie Mellor. As well as containing useful and practical advice, the posts are a comforting reminder that I'm not alone in finding writing hard going at… Continue reading Finding your way into a poem
I was about to tweet a happy tweet and post a happy post about my happy year, when our washing machine broke down and our boiler stopped working. It was eerily uncanny, as if the Fairy who stops you feeling too smug had flown into my house and sprinkled some of her glum magic over… Continue reading New Year’s Eve Musings
I wanted to jot down some thoughts while they're still fresh in my head after hearing Claudia Rankine in conversation with David Olusoga in Bristol last Friday. The evening started with David Olusoga telling Claudia Rankine that Citizen, Rankine's book of lyrical essays, fragments, and images of artwork, is like no other poetry book he's… Continue reading Claudia Rankine in conversation in Bristol
This week, I've spent a lot of time working on one poem for a competition. I sent it off yesterday, Saturday, one day before the deadline. I don't know what's made me enter more competitions this year, it's not something I've ever done excessively, preferring instead to send my poems to magazines. I suppose I… Continue reading In which I send off a poem
There have been a lot of lovely things going on in the UK poetry world recently, including festivals in Birmingham and in Scotland, and a writing retreat in Cornwall, and they've all gone on without me, although I've enjoyed reading about them and seeing pictures on social media. I would have gone to all of… Continue reading Mostly waiting
...and other thoughts about being away from home. I'm just back from three nights away in Sheffield where I met up with all but one of my Aldeburgh Eight friends. We've been trying to meet up again for some time and we managed to arrange to converge in Sheffield for one of the famous Writing Days… Continue reading A visit to The Poetry Business in Sheffield
Josephine Corcoran 
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