World Book Day 2013

Happy World Book Day 2013!

How will you be marking it, I wonder? 

I shall be at the Ipswich Writing Workshop at Gainsborough Community Library. I will then attend a poetry evening with “Managing a Masterpiece” Poet in Residence, Dean Parkin in Gainsborough House, Sudbury. Dean will be reading from his new collection, inspired by the artistic history of the Stour Valley. The event will include the announcement of winners of a County-wide Poetry competition for adults and young people, now published in a new book, Poems of the Stour.

And ... in case it is of interest, I am currently reading Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain (memoir) and Pepys by Caroline Gilfillan (poetry).

  “I kept always two books in my pocket, 

one to read, one to write in.” 

Robert Louis Stevenson

Book Corner: National Libraries Day 2013

Mai with the Ipswich Writing Group display

Saturday (tomorrow) is National Libraries Day, and Mai, leader of the Ipswich Writing Group, has been mounting a display of our creative writing in Gainsborough Community Library in Ipswich, where we meet. This popular library serves as a hub for those who live in the area and for those who come from further afield.

There are friendly members of staff on hand - and a very popular cafe. There is also a good section of large print books.

The Writing Group has been going since last summer. Members have enjoyed input (from Mai and other members) on novel-writing, journalism, poetry and screen-writing. We also spent a session on Shakespeare, reading excerpts from Romeo and Juliet.

We were looking at novel-planning yesterday, and were able to make good use of the books in the library. I selected a novel called The Poet's Wife by Gillian Allnutt. It is about Patty, wife of the poet, John Clare - and is a book that I will add to my GoodReads shelf in due course.

You might like to read my poem, Ode to our Treasure Keepers, in support of Newcastle libraries here. You can read about the background to the Newcastle library campaign here.

Let's celebrate and cherish our libraries, particularly in these difficult times ... and if you have a project for the National Libraries Day, you can Tweet it, using this tag: #NLD13.

Writing Workshop: National Short Story Week

Drake's urban cousins?

This is National Short Story Week, so it may come as no surprise to discover that we were presenting our short stories in the Ipswich Writing Group in Gainsborough Community Library this afternoon.

Gainsborough Community Library, Ipswich

Suzi, a group member, had got us writing all kinds of lists last week, as a means of creating our characters - lists of small items, lists of luxury accoutrements, lists of items in a refrigerator (my character had a door key), and so on ...

It was fun hearing the stories. I used to write the occasional short story, but until this last week, had not done so for quite a while. I sometimes write narrative poems, but these are structured in a very different way. We were given a word count (give or take a few) of 400, and my piece came in at 424. The only problem was that this was only the first half of a short story or perhaps the start of something a bit longer! I wondered about re-drafting it to make it fit the mould, but decided to leave it be until the group members had had the chance to express their feelings or make suggestions.

Nic introduced us to a helpful A-Z of points to consider for writing fiction. 'E', for example, stood for the 'empathy' that one needs to have or develop for one's characters if they are to leap of the page. 

We had a go at crafting a second story in the workshop this afternoon. Thirty minutes was barely sufficient time for me to get down my organic ideas. I ended up with characters, setting and a narrative, but there is no plot to date!

I don't see myself emerging as short story writer, but I always enjoy the chance to flex those writing muscles in a new way. My thanks to Mai and Nic, who led a great session today. My aquatic character, Drake, is still poised on the edge of a loch, so I had better go and rescue him before a certain monster rears its head ...

Poetry Workshop: Creatures of the Night

Spidergraph

I gave a poetry workshop on 'creatures of the night' yesterday at Gainsborough Community Library in Ipswich. We began by thinking about poetry as a painting in words, and thought briefly about what kind of brushstrokes would suit which kind of poems e.g. we might paint Blake's 'Tyger' in bold strokes just as we might use soft words if we were writing about the wool of a new lamb.

We made spidergraphs as poem prompts and used poetry fridge magnets to give us words to incorporate. Each member of the group had brought in a poem, and I was thrilled to see how many had selected a poem that they had written themselves.

We considered the key part played by each word in the poems before us. We also tried to assess the role of repetition and the difference (positive or negative) that an adjective or adverb can make. It was good to have the chance to look again at the 'spotted snakes with double tongues' passage from A Midsummer Night's Dream, and to see how Shakespeare viewed the creatures of the night. 'Rere-mice' was a new (if archaic) word to most of us. I am really looking forward to hearing some of the finished pieces of work next week. My thanks to Mai Black for running the writing group.   

Gainsborough Community Library

Fiesta Time: National Poetry Day 2012

'when the stars threw down their spears ...' William Blake (artwork © C Gill)

I wonder how you will be celebrating National Poetry Day!

I am looking forward to the Gainsborough Community Library poetry workshop here in Ipswich. We shall be toning our poetry muscles and honing our poetry techniques. Each participant is due to present a favourite poem. No prizes for guessing which one I have chosen!

I hope to throw a link to NPD sites I see during the day ... so let's start with the official National Poetry Day site, which can be found here.

• National Poetry Day with the Poetry Society
• If you are in to txting, 'Texperiments' might be the activity for you.
• Poetry Prescription ... a panacea for all poetic ills
• Poetry Magazine (USA) reaches 100!