Tag Archives: #flashfiction

How is it the end of August?!

I mean – how is that possible? This month has meandered away under a cover of cloud.

The end of summer usually makes me sad – warm weather means less pain for one thing. I miss eating outside, watching the swifts and martins overhead and the general floatiness that comes from spending every day in long skirts and flip-flops. Autumn is beautiful, of course, and winter is pleasingly austere but summer ? Summer is for smiling and pretending I live somewhere altogether less stoical.

I feel different this year. Perhaps it’s because much of summer has been taken up with house renovation, perhaps it’s the insistent gloom of the skies over Coalbrookdale. Perhaps it was that glorious week on the Welsh coast. I don’t feel as bereft and wary of winter as usual.

It could also be because I feel I’ve regained some equilibrium. I’m writing more mindfully, rather than scribbling from a turbulent mind, which inevitably means work that is more poem than outpouring – ultimately, work that is better.

I’ve also been more proactive with submissions – looking at my Trello page and seeing I’ve only three pieces in circulation was a bit of a shock . I spent some time reviewing, redrafting and refining some of the poems I’ve made this year as well as seeking homes for them. Always nerve racking. Always exciting. Always full of “why can’t I just be happy with gardening instead of putting myself through this”.

Camping at Caerfai seems like years ago

Good news too – I’ve had a piece of flash accepted for publication by Sledgehammer Lit. who are fast feeling like my poetry-spirit home. I love what they publish and I love that they seem to like my stuff. This piece is one that I love and that I’ve found hard to home – so I’m thrilled it’s going to be part a journal I admire. A couple of poems were declined – but that’s how it goes.

New projects are brewing too – a couple of gentle collaborations with friends whose art I adore may be coming to fruition in the not too distant future.

I seem to have a new direction in terms of how I want to write. My aim is to set aside a week – autumn I hope – and do my own mini writing retreat. I’ll have to stay at home obviously, but I’m going to try to minimise other work and manage domestic duties so I can focus on reading,writing and exploring new directions. Or I might go and make furniture in the Scottish Highlands like Cate le Bon.

So summer is closing, with a whimper or a bang remains to be seen, but I feel positive about my work, and positive about where I’m going – slowly, as ever, but I’m moving. And that’s what counts.

If you’d like to comission a poem, for yourself or as a gift then you can ! I love to create bespoke poetry – it’s a privilege to be asked to express people’s love and care for each other. If you’d like to find out more just click on Poems from the Hare at the top of the page, or send me a message kathrynannawrites@gmail.com

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It’s kind of like a drug…..

……this writing lark. The more I do the more I want to do and the more my brain pesters me with ideas and random sparks of  sentences. I’m obsessive by nature, and easily become fixated on things. Sometimes my brain actually hurts (you’re allowed to think of the Gumbies) and that is when I have to stop, and that is when it gets really frustrating. I suppose it’s like a runner pulling a muscle. 

What has caused this fizz of enthusiasm ? I think it’s partly time. I’ve been hibernating, not gardening, not going out and not seeing many people at all.  I’ve had the luxury of waking up with nothing to do but write. Admittedly, a good chunk of that writing is about sofas and storage lockers, but it’s still writing. And it still makes me happy. 

I’m having a good creative spell too though. The Short Short Fiction course from Poetry School  has produced a tangible improvement in my flash fiction, which has had the happy effect of inspiring me to sort and collate my poetry from the year. I’ve realised a key failing for my Primers application was that there was no real theme. It’s not that I have to create a collection of poems based on my love for toasters or the like, but there does have to be a thread of commonality. Obviously I didn’t have a clue about this at the time, I just put together six poems I didn’t hate. This is where the hard work I talked about in my last post comes in. Research, reading, and really understanding what I’m submitting is crucial. The time I spent today has illuminated my themes, however subtle, and moved me towards creating a considered collection, rather than a random assortment.

Submissions

Submissions are happening. I have to wait until January at the earliest to get feedback. It’s a pest, but it’s how it is. I read a tweet from a fellow poet today that he has had 90 rejections and 17 acceptances this year. That’s a sobering percentage. The reality is that my focus and joy has to come from creating pieces that I love. If others love them too, then that is a bonus. 

Thanks as ever for reading, please do comment, and if you can take a second to like and share on one of the social media platforms, it really helps support me. 

Being bold

My favourite pieces to produce are the ones I just write. These are the ones that come out in a big old rush of emotion, driven by anger or sadness or even joy. These are the times when I have a feeling of having to write something, rather than working towards a prompt or structure.These pieces are the ones I love. 

It’s easy to imagine writing is all about wafting around waiting for the muse and staring wistfully into the future but (as I was disappointed to discover) the reality is hard work. From researching where and what to submit and understanding how to improve, to reading enough to maintain my own love of language and understanding form the amount of time spent writing can feel uncomfortably small. My nature is that I distract myself with order and find safety in structure so it’s easy for me to become more planner than poet. The result of this is that I get a little lost in terms of what, and indeed why I write, so my work feels like it belongs to someone else. This isn’t about refining and editing, those are part of the joy, it’s more about finding my place in the machine, and as ever, trying to make myself fit. I think that is part of the wobble in confidence I spoke about in my previous post.  

What about those moments I spoke of at the start ? Those are the crunch to the crackling, the extra cheery robin at the backdoor. They are why I keep working. I’ve had good feedback on two pieces of work recently,one from my peers as part of my Short Short Fiction course with Poetry School, and one from a random act of kindness via Twitter. Feedback from real, (and in my mind proper) writers is a grand thing and is welcome encouragement, especially when a pair of poorly weeks have limited my working capacity. I think I’m starting to find confidence in my style, that ever elusive voice. This is a big step, and a positive one. 

Something else I’ve realised is the sheer amount of patience that is needed. The time from submission to response is anywhere between two to six months. That’s a long time for a praise-hungry writer. Feedback is important to me, although as part of my online Short Short Fiction workshop, our tutor Tania Hershman http://www.taniahershman.com/wp/  gave a different slant, saying that she essentially writes herself stories and the fact that anyone else might enjoy them still seems somewhat miraculous.  This is a liberating departure from the constraints of writing towards a degree qualification, and gives me back a little freedom to think, and above all enjoy writing.

I move towards the end of the year feeling more balanced about my work. The high of having something published is addictive. Publication will always be my formal goal, but I think I have allowed myself to become distracted by the end result rather than the pleasure of the process, and of getting that fizz of feeling when I know I’ve written something good. I shall write myself poetry and flash fiction in the hope that someone else might enjoy them, rather than trying to meet a particular style or tone. 

As ever, thank you all for reading, following and feeding back.* Your comments are so valuable, and help me feel I’m not just whispering to the sky. I’m embroiled in my next round of submissions over the coming month, so hopefully there will be good news come the new year. 

*Extra special thanking to those of you who always like and share on social media. You make me feel good, because I know someone is reading, and make a difference to how many people see what I write. 

Reflections and autumn and all that.Taken at Lower Slaughter 

Buses……

You know how things just gently work themselves out? It seems to be happening. A couple of posts back I wrote about my tricky start to the year, viruses, horribly dark mood, and a head that felt it would burst if I tried to make it think of one more thing. The virus is still here, and the black moods still pop their head up, but my brain seems to be more fertile and free. I’ve been reading some great poetry which has excited and inspired me. I find I have to give myself a kick to make sure I don’t stray into self pitying “I’ll never be that good ” frame of mind. Once I get over myself (only I control how I feel after all), I can flit and fly with the joy of reading new exciting work. The delightful consequence is that I’m writing more again. By giving myself permission to stop, I’ve given my mind freedom to ruminate and relish the thoughts and ideas that grow.

This book is amazing. It manages to give me a kick and hold my hand all at once. Wonderful stuff.

Combine this with receiving the fabulous book “How to be a Poet”, and the chance to take part in an online poetry reading/feedback session hosted by Bare Fiction magazine and I seem to a have a happy mix of opportunities. I’m terrified, but I’ve got to be brave. Putting myself out “there” is frightening. Burying myself in the false comfort of consumerism would be even worse.

OCA work is moving forward too.I’ve completed my penultimate piece for Writing Short Fiction with the help of a master proof reader (thank you Gill!) . It’s almost ready for submission and then it’s time to start the final part of the course. I’m also on the OCA thirtieth birthday celebration picture! Can you spot me ?

Read, like, share and comment. Interaction is good for me!

Looking up

I’ve learnt a lot from my feedback for assignment three of Writing Short Fiction. It wasn’t as glowing as previous feedback, and looking back through what I had submitted I can see why. You may remember from previous posts that I’ve been struggling with everything lately. In hindsight I should have taken a break earlier, rather than pushing myself to beat a deadline that exists for no one but myself.

The main things I’ve learnt are

  • Don’t get distracted by form. The story has to be king.
  • Write what you know. Yes, I’m still trying to write in a way that I think is perhaps a little more clever, or literary. I need to stop it.
  • Be authentic.
  • Stop when I know I should stop.

I think I’ve read so many things saying there is no such thing as writers block and I should just write through it ( which I agree with), that I have tried to apply the same to M.E.. Foolish. As a wise woman said to me, “you rest your body, so you need to rest your mind”. Those who know me know my mind is full of four hundred and eighty-seven things at once, so this is a challenge. I have taken the challenge up, and now spend ten minutes each morning watching the birds from my window. Just watching the birds. Not thinking about things I wish I’d said, or what I need to put on the shopping list. Just watching the birds eat and flutter and fight and generally be wonderful. Pulling my mind back every time it wanders is hard, but I hope it will help me to learn to focus on one thing. Ridiculously, the only time I truly focus is when I write. Not resting stops me doing the one thing that means my mind is less fragmented.

I am seeing benefits already my brain seems to be coming back to itself. I’ve given myself a less punishing schedule for the rest of my course, and I hope that I will be writing well again soon. The nagging pressure of trying to succeed is still here ( as it should be), but I feel I have cleared a pathway that was getting overgrown.

Please comment, feedback, share and like at will.

Winter is icumin in

Winter is properly here. No snow in the Dale as yet but it’s forecast and I’m excited. Odd really, but it feels different to be trapped by snow rather than trapped by being poorly. Perhaps it is because it makes me think of being small; playing out till I got too cold, then pikelets by the gas fire,whilst being warned of mysterious things called chilblains . Whether I will still feel like this when I am cold and slip-sliding around is a different story but,for the moment, I shall remain excited.

Winter is also wonderful for writing. There is nothing else to be done, no gardening, no lazy barbecues with friends, no trips to the seaside, no temptation to try to write outside and end up distracted by pretty much everything. I have had two solid days alone and it has been wonderful, allowing me to focus on finishing my third assignment and to begin my next module. This module is all about the history of the short story, and whilst interesting , it is somewhat condensed. Nineteenth century fiction is given a grand total of two pages. Poor old Chekhov.

I find I am comfortable with this kind of study. A lot of it is familiar territory and because of this I am able to use the course materials to understand my own writing and how to improve it. I feel quite calm, whereas whilst studying the previous section on Flash Fiction I felt like an excitable puppy. My confidence is growing, and I am finding I seek to criticise my work in order to improve it, rather than to convince myself I’m worthy of even trying. This is a massive step forward.

I haven’t entered a great many competitions lately. For one thing it is very expensive, and for another I am focused on trying to get the most from this course. As well as the technical knowledge, I get high quality criticism from my tutors, who are all published writers,so hopefully by the end of this course I should be in a better place to win, or at least get shortlisted. Or long-listed. Or the ‘we really like it but it won’t sell’ listed. You get the gist.

I am waiting for feedback on my most recent assignment . I submitted three pieces of Flash Fiction, and I adored writing them. This is an area I am new to, as both reader and writer but, despite initial misgivings, I find that I love to work in this way. It’s a tight, disciplined way of writing that forces the writer and reader to focus on the details and undercurrents to gain understanding. The most memorable pieces of flash I have read stay with me in the manner of a good poem. I am happy to have found it. One of the reasons I love this format is because the end product is easier to navigate. Proof reading two thousand plus words when I have brain fog is incredibly hard and a source of constant frustration. I generally manage about two hundred words before I realise they are starting to swim and merge and that I can barely remember what a comma looks like, never mind how to use it. A short, sharp piece of flash is possible to proof in two sittings, which means I feel a little more in control of the process and that I am working with the story as a whole.

It’s a fabulous feeling to finally be doing what I’ve always wanted to do.

Thanks for reading. As ever I love to have your support. Having people to write for, however few, is helping my confidence and skills grow day by day. If you have read this, would you help me out by liking my Facebook post, or liking/commenting on here ? I am trying to see how many people my blog actually reaches.

Finally, a picture of a snowman.

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