Nice news and warm (ish) feet

Chilly isn’t it? I’m sat wearing my mouse slippers, having made my submissions for National Flash Fiction Day, Bath Flash Fiction and the W&A Short Story Prize. I’m much more organised this year, and have a nice bank of work to find homes for. I’ve also had the happy news that two more poems are going to be published at the end of February. This is very cool. One publication felt like a fluke, two felt like luck, but three is starting to feel like I may be on to something.

I’m becoming relaxed about the pieces that aren’t accepted, and realising that it’s as much about finding the right audience as the actual words on the page. I know when something is good, and I know when I’ve sent work that simply hasn’t been ready, or that I need to let go. Several pieces from last year have been archived, and several from two years ago are being resurrected. Growing detached from things that are so very attached at origin is difficult, and a bit weird, but it has to be done.

My courses with Poetry School   are underway. For my first foray into Crafting Musical Poetry I have written a poem about an egg. My brain never fails to surprise me, but I actually kind of like the poem. We were tasked with writing in iambic pentameter which is something I avoid, essentially because I find it hard. Tackling technical writing is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’m confident this course is going to challenge and improve my skill. My other course is Fortnightly Feedback, which is exactly what it says, I submit poems that are nearly ready to be sent out into the world, and get feedback from a proper poet, and my peers on the course. It’s a great idea, but I’m struggling with an element of impostor syndrome. Everyone else seems to write complex work with words I have to look up…I am feel startlingly inadequate. I’m also struggling with giving feedback in this group, which I never have before. I think it might be because we’re not learning together, so the disparity in experience is more noticeable.I have a terrible feeling I may have irritated one of my course mates with feedback I gave, so I feel reticent about offering anymore. I shall stick with it, but it doesn’t feel as positive and friendly as previous courses.

That’s my week really, couple of poorly days, which is annoying, but nothing too terrible, and plenty of good things happening when I have been able to be up and functioning.

I’ll post links to my published poems when they go live, and of course shout to the rooftops about it on social media, for which I make no apology.

Thank you for reading, please, please usurp the money driven algorithms and like/share/comment and tell all your friends.