Slow and occasionally steady…

January is over half-way thorough and I feel as though I’ve done nothing, mainly because this last week has been an enforced bed week. These weeks are incredibly dull and always a little worrying. The thought is always at the back of my mind as to whether this push will be the push to far, the one that tips me into never being able to push again. Balance has never been natural to me, and it’s unlikely it ever will. I’m hopeful that my current pattern can sustain me. I’m still hopeful it might go the other way, and that one day I won’t crash. One day.

What of writing though ? I have had an enjoyable copywriting project, based on travel which I always love. The only problem is it makes me want to go to the places I’m writing about; some of them anyway. I’m working on my skills in structured poetry, delving into the world of sonnets and sestinas, which I find fascinating, like completing a jigsaw with words.

I’m also preparing for my next two Poetry School courses, one which is purely feedback, so it’s a chance to untangle some of my work that I’ve been wrestling with for a while; poems that I think have something, but I can’t quite make them work. I’m not precious about my writing and will happily abandon work that is overblown or simply terrible, but there are some pieces that just need a fresh viewpoint. Something as simple as altering a linebreak can make all the difference.

My second course is all about crafting musical poetry. I’m so excited by this one, I’ll be looking at sound,pacing and tempo which I hope will mean I create pieces that are truly ear-pleasing. One of the downsides of working alone is that I rarely read my poetry to others, so I don’t get feedback on how it sounds. I’m hoping this course will help my understanding, and perhaps give me confidence to begin to read in public. Not randomly, you understand, I shan’t start declaiming poetry in my local. Not for a while, anyway.

So, little has happened in January, other than a little physical and mental recovery, but I am hopeful that my work over the next couple of weeks will begin to bear fruit.

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Time to wrestle with a sestina I think.