Radio Silence - and the Lockdown Effect

Apologies for not keeping up this blog. So many things have got in the way, nothing too serious but just didn't get around to updating.

Last year, as mentioned, I completed an online poetry writing course. Grades were great and since then I've been subbing to magazines and competitions, so far without success. Set form, formal poetry has been a special interest - terza rimas, pantoums, sonnets and so on - but these rarely appear in lists or magazines. Successful poets seem currently to be writing lovely but rather ethereal poetry, so I'm wondering if I need to be more like that. 

Recently submitted to a single-poem comp and also one for poetry pamphlets - around twenty poems. Waiting and hoping.

Currently I'm studying with an online Art Appreciation course. Not strictly a writing-related thing, but I try to get all the main points in my assignments while giving them a literary sort of style. Really enjoyable but very time-consuming. I've a very long history of published articles and some short stories and flash fiction, but the tutor doesn't know that. He commented, 'Well you can certainly write'! Seven assignments in and marks average 9/10. Find myself watching loads of art programmes on TV and realise I have been watching them keenly for years. 

On the subject of our current lockdown, I have been noticing on social media that many of the writers I follow are struggling with moving their projects forward. It has taken them by surprise, as although most work from home and are used to being solitary, the atmosphere isn't now conducive to concentration. I've recently written a short piece on why this is, and how to manage it, and I believe it will be published online sometime soon. People report that it's more difficult to work with family members buzzing around, and concentration is difficult with all the awful media information pouring in. I'll write more on this soon, in case it might be helpful. In the meantime, the parting greeting 'Take care' has been replaced by 'Stay safe'.

FORMAL FORMS AND FORMULAE

As all poets will know, there are a number of set forms of poems which are usually rigid and which vary from the fairly easy to work with up to those that cause nightmares with their complexity. Keeping to a set of rules while making a poem that has something to say can be very taxing, but it's satisfying if it comes together.
     I have invented two forms-with-rules, and have produced poems in a number of different forms to submit for my online course. Those from the general list I have written so far are:
     Chaucerian Roundel
     Limerick (sad rather than humorous)
     Minute (60 syllables)
     Rubai (plural is the well-known 'Rubaiyat')
     Sonnet
     Terza Rima (one of my favourites)
     Villanelle (wildly taxing)
     Shape (or concrete)
     Haiku.

The elements of an extremely tricky Sestina are emerging, and on a good day I may set my cap at a Pantoum. There are others, perhaps less demanding, but I do love a challenge.
     Is anyone else out there tackling these forms? 

 

BACK FROM THE WILDERNESS!

You know that feeling when you're travelling and it turns out that you paid more than anyone else for your ticket?
     That's what it's been like for me in recent years with my website. Although I did all the work of setting it up, writing it, posting photos and images, and managing it generally, the web host was starting to charge ridiculous fees for 'hosting'. They were also giving me considerable warning that renewal was coming over the horizon, then suddenly the renewal date was imminent. 'But I thought you said ...'
      Each year I considered abandoning ship, but I didn't want to lose all that work (did print it out in case) or the name of my site which was 'registered' with them. Also, when glitches appeared on the site, they were unable to fix them and I had to recruit a tech-savvy member of the family to take over the site and fix it.
      This summer, I complained about the fees and was offered a year with more than a third off. Fell for that one, but when it came to paying, the site wouldn't work and the host several times said they'd fixed it but they hadn't. Then I got a bill for two years at four times the one-year offer.
      So I have quit. I know about Wordpress, but thought I'd keep this Blogger account, for now at least, and ring-fence it just for writing.
      Currently I'm concentrating on Poetry, studying through an online course. 75 per cent done, and grades started at C+ and have steadily increased so that the last three assignments were marked A+, A and A+. I think my efforts with formal poetry forms and with my own invented forms have helped, and the course is really enjoyable. Aware that I have bragged about this on Twitter, but it's been so pleasing.
      I have now started submitting to competitions and magazines, though the wait to hear further is up to three months, and then only if successful. No idea how novellists cope with the 'wait-to-hear'; more poems can be written and submitted during this time, but a new novel can't be produced that quickly.
      More to follow. If you're still with me, thanks!

Writing for the Family at Christmas

As families get together at Christmas, there is often a lull in 'things to do' once the grand lunch is over. Board games or other everybody-join-in activities don't appeal to everyone, either. 

by LizMarie_AK
via flickr.com

What John & I have enjoyed for a number of years, and which fits nicely into a 'quiet' slot, is to provide a reading, a mini panto, or a play of some sort. Sometimes they're worked out last-minute, but the family always listen dutifully, laugh in the right places, and shout out if it's called for. It's been such fun that I wondered if others might consider giving it a go.

Of course some people are currently busy with NaNoWriMo, but even they could put the idea in their brain section marked 'ideas for later'. I believe all writers have one of these, and that's why I'm blogging about Christmas this early.

by David Blackwell
via flickr.com

Here are some of the 'productions' we've offered in recent years.

*  We'd acquired an Angelina Ballerina Theatre set to amuse the grandchildren. So, for two

        consecutive Christmases I wrote 20-minute 2-act plays for the Angelina characters to

        perform. The script had stage directions and everything. I did the moves and most of

        the voices, while John acted a severe Miss Lilly, narrated, and operated the FX,   

        revolving bit of the stage, the curtains and the 'lights'. Popcorn was served in the 

        interval. There were, of course, some black moments but always a happy resolution. 

        The highlight of these plays, in 'Roger the Rat Saves the Theatre', was John's FX for

        the roaring of Roger, made by that crocodile toy that roars when you pull the lever.

        The immediate response from the children was to dive under the table to see how he

        was making the noise.

*  An existing folk tale, narrated and with speaking characters, about a princess saved by a

        donkey that could make gold coins shower out of its huge ears. At crucial moments

        a handful of gold-wrapped chocolate coins would be thrown into the air, and play

        stopped while the children scooped them up.

*  A reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas, which was written in 1822. I'd taken the
        liberty of altering the text to remove any references to Santa smoking his pipe, so I
        was interested to hear very recently on the wireless that someone else was thinking
        along the same lines.

*  A ten-minute Christmas ghost story for children. Each character had resonances with at
        least one person present. It involved a family where the tree decs had always been red
        and gold although the girl would have loved something different for once. The ghost of
        a child visits the girl on Christmas Eve, and in the morning there's a new purple bauble
        hanging on the tree.

*  Usually I also write or copy a poem suitable for children, print it out and laminate it, and 
        ask the children if they'd be willing to read it for us. No refusals so far! My all-time
        favourite is Christmas by Steve Turner. Four lovely 8-line verses, with the recurring
        theme a variation on 'We always do that.'

This year's effort isn't planned yet, but now the children are older, I'm thinking a play with perhaps a ghost theme and involving social media. It might be an idea to write in a part for each of the children, too - I'll ask them.

by WaterHorse Media, LLC
via flickr.com

If anyone is inspired to do this sort of thing this year, I'd really love to hear about it!  It can be a lot of work for a short 'performance', but great fun and, hopefully, memorable. Anyone want to borrow a story?!

Short post - a family poem

Wanted to share this poem, written recently by my very lovely granddaughter Olivia. With her permission of course ...

My Home


A safe haven,
A nest to hide away,
A familiar, welcoming embrace,
My home.


My bedroom, a friendly mess,
A treasure trove of memories,
I can relax, remember,
In my home.


In my bedroom, I am free as a bird,
To do what I like, think how I wish,
Letting my true self shine,
My home.


From dazzling white to crimson red,
Our past pasted to the walls,
In the ever-changing camouflage
Of my home.


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