never knowingly without a pen
Last year, I entered poems into more competitions than usual. I wonder why I did this? Perhaps I was trying to win some money in a patchy year or trying to store up funds for whatever lay ahead? I'm not sure, but, in any case, it's a good job I wasn't relying on competition prizes… Continue reading End of month, rainy Sunday blog
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
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
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… Continue reading A few last minute submissions
I had a wonderful time reading with Louisa Adjoa Parker at Schumacher College, Dartington, Devon, on August 3rd for The Enemies Project South West Poetry Tour. You can read more about The Enemies Project here. It's a project that started in 2011, dreamed up by poet and artist Stephen Fowler, which facilitates new collaborative creative works. So far… Continue reading Writing a collaborative poem
I am fond of writing in bed, by hand, in a notebook, as soon as I wake up. I also like to drift from sofa to chair to sofa, carrying an ever-growing pile of drafts. I sometimes write at our kitchen table but, increasingly, this space has been monopolised by our daughter who's now studying… Continue reading My writing space
It's been six months since my poetry pamphlet The Misplaced House was published by tall-lighthouse. Here's what I've learned, so far: Just because a poem is published in a collection doesn't mean it's completely finished, never to be changed again. I think I agree with whoever it was who said "a poem is never finished."*… Continue reading Six month pamphlet anniversary
All power to your pen if you're taking part in National Novel Writing Month and attempting to write 50,000 words of a novel during November. I won't be taking part myself although I love the idea of sitting down at my computer and bashing out 50,000 words of prose. I love the idea of a… Continue reading On not doing #nanowrimo
It's been two weeks since I switched off my work emails and mobile phone and promised myself I'd focus on my forthcoming poetry pamphlet. I started the holiday in de-cluttering mode, paying particular attention to the oceans of multiple drafts of poems swimming through my house. I know that some poets never throw any of their… Continue reading Writing in between catching up with family.
Josephine Corcoran 