never knowingly without a pen
I'm gratified by the number of likes, comments and visits I received to my Not Quite a Post post! It just goes to show that, when you've said you're on a blogging schedule (in 2014 I've been trying to post at least once a week, usually on a Sunday) it's worth plonking your bottom down… Continue reading On the value of blogging.
This week's photo challenge is to take a minimalist photo and this shot of my daughter holding a tiny image of a poppy reminded me of some of the WWI poetry I read with members of my read aloud, reading groups this week. A particular favourite was 'In Flanders Fields' by John McCrae. One woman liked the mention… Continue reading A small poppy
My month off seems like a far away country, yet it's only been 12 days since I've been back at work. Thank goodness my job involves reading poetry, and thank goodness for Anthony Wilson's Lifesaving Poems series on his wonderful blog (soon to be made into a book by one of the UK's leading poetry… Continue reading Lifesaving Poems Saved the Day
One of the highlights of reading for a living is choosing which poems and stories to bring to my weekly, read aloud, shared reading groups. Whenever and whatever I’m reading at home (or on the move) my weekly groups are in my mind: will they find this story/novel extract/poem interesting? Will it get them talking?… Continue reading On not making assumptions about what people will enjoy reading.
People keep telling me how much they enjoy coming to the Library Memory Groups I facilitate for The Reader Organisation in libraries in Wiltshire. They sound surprised, as if they didn't know or had forgotten that reading could give them pleasure. These groups are weekly, read aloud, shared reading groups for people with dementia or… Continue reading How about reading workshops as well as writing workshops?
I'm very grateful for the generous response I received for my previous post about my mother. Thank you to everyone who read, liked or commented on my words and thank you to those of you who got in touch by email or through social media with your kind messages and thoughts about bereavement, families and… Continue reading We read to remember who we are
I've realised that deciding to publish a blogpost every week is much easier than actually doing it. There have been several false starts. I was going to write about waiting, since that is what I'm doing a lot of this week - this month, in fact. I'm waiting to hear about poems I've submitted to… Continue reading Starting and ending meetings with a poem
This week, in my new role as project worker for The Reader Organisation (TRO), I’ve been working hard to get ready for the shared reading groups that I’ll be facilitating, very soon, in Wiltshire. This work has involved lots of reading. Yes, I’ve been slaving over some good books. My first session for people with… Continue reading Slaving over a good book
It's been ten days of highs and lows since I took a new, part-time job with The Reader Organisation. Probably the lowest hours were the five and a half spent travelling up to Liverpool on three, packed, over-heated trains, last Sunday afternoon and early evening. The purpose of the journey was so I could spend… Continue reading Work/Life/Writing Balance and a Book at Breakfast
I wrote the post below when I first started working for The Reader Organisation: There might be a slight change in focus on my blog over the next 18 months as I settle into a new part-time job as a Project Worker for The Reader Organisation. Part-time because I'm still very much part of my… Continue reading The Reader Organisation
Josephine Corcoran 