Free Post Thursday – Painless Edits and a Visitor

I am keeping this short today as I am very tired!

We had writing group this evening and it went very well.  I took some poems for improvement and it was remarkably painless: a few lines to tidy was about it. I am planning to read Cicero at the open mic, which is a little political: I still think it needs improvement but none of us could decide what! So I will read it and see how it feels as a performed piece.

When I got home, I had a most unexpected visitor: a lizard on my doorstep.  How marvellous – it’s the first one I have seen since living here in the countryside, and I hope he made it home to a cosy corner somewhere.  I love seeing the wildlife here – from rabbits to foxes, badgers to bats, hedgehogs to bees and beyond, it’s an absolute pleasure.

I can see why so many writers make worlds for them, they positively demand a storyline!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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The Right Words, At The Right Time

Firstly, this is where my mind went after I typed this week’s post title:

This song brings such a strong emotional response to me, that it’s actually a really good representation of my task for the next few weeks.

I am now in preparation for not one but two open mic nights.  I decided not to focus on new work for the next one, but to get some neglected work up to the necessary quality.

It’s all about getting the mood and the language in harmony, really – finding the right word at the right time in the poem.

I’ll give you an example I am trying to fix: I wrote a poem about walking in the countryside; it’s a painting-inspired and natural poem in which I used the word crepuscular. Not a good choice: too technical, a little unwieldy and unattractive, and put in to shorten a line rather than because it’s the right word.

In a long poem a single word might not stand out, but this one is so wrong it needs a precision removal and an artistic, fluid word to go in its place. Not sure what but I have a few weeks to find something!

Editing is the hardest part of writing but when I do find the right word it is immeasurably satisfying!

So here’s to being inspired by Tracy Chapman and to making my poems as good as they can be.

Happy writing, and listening!

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – A Thought

Recently I decided to share more positive things on social media, so for today I decided to expand that idea to here.

So here’s a quote from the Dalai Lama, which I particularly like.

If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.

Isn’t that great? No judgement, no expectation; just an observation that we can have an impact over and above what we expect.  That’s positivity to me: no preaching, just explanation.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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The Unexpected Poet and the Next Event!

As you may remember, I cajoled a couple of people into performing at the open mic event last month because I was worried about the turnout.

I actually didn’t need them to perform, numbers-wise, but I am glad they did because one of them has developed an interest in poetry as a result.

Not only have they started writing a piece of their own but they have also borrowed a second book of poetry to read through.

Such is the magic of words!

I have also been spending a little time this month explaining why we’re not having an event in September – it’s great that people enjoyed it but from our point of view we need time to work on new poems and performances.

However, the advert is now out for October, the night has been double checked for emergency meetings! and we are building up some more support for the writing group.

Roll on next time – and here’s hoping another person gets struck by the wordy bug!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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Free Post Thursday – Dealing with Disgruntlement

I have spent a lot of time this week talking to people who are unhappy in some way about their state of affairs.  Work, life, politics all figure and in many cases the solution is outside of their immediate control.

It’s a reminder that we rarely know exactly what is happening in someone’s life – sometimes people who seem extremely happy are hiding a deep sadness, or the life and soul of the party goes home to a lonely life.

So this week I need to give myself a mental shake and remember to be kind, to everyone, even – or maybe especially – when it’s hard.

There’s a quote by Mark Twain that I might just put on my wall at work to keep me focussed:

It is higher and nobler to be kind

Let’s be higher and nobler where we can.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Writing the World

As you know, sometimes I feel the need to write about the current world in order to process my thoughts and feelings.  Often this is a response to a political situation but at the moment it’s about our collective disregard for the environment.

I am a little obsessed with plastics right now. Having spread the word on microbeads to anyone who would listen, it’s now a wider issue of plastics turning up in our rivers, seas and oceans – and the fish we eat, the water we drink, the salt we add.

So I decided to work on a poem based on the flow of rubbish.  It might end up being – well, rubbish! But it allows me the opportunity to get up in front of some people and raise their awareness of a particular issue in a way I hope will make them think, but not feel lectured.

We shall see.

In the meantime I was on a car journey today on narrow, unlit, closed-in roads though the dark night with owls flying over us – I have a whole new stanza for my spooky poem.  I better get that finished soon too: we set a date for the next open mic, and it’s not long before Halloween!

Off I go to watch videos of clogged waterways to think of a metaphor that can carry me through the plastic lifecycle…

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Triumph!

I didn’t post yesterday as I was too busy resting on my laurels, as they say!

Thursday’s open mic night went brilliantly, far better than I anticipated: we had about 10 performers (most got up more than once), ran for an hour and a half, the venue was full and at the end a number of people asked when I was arranging the next one. And when I said November, they wanted one sooner!!

It was a huge relief, and a real buzz.

We had mostly poetry, a mix of self-penned originals and recitation of published works, but also some singing and storytelling.  For a small community, we have a lot of talent!

I can’t say how happy I am that our event was so well received; I only expected about 5 people to turn up (3 of them my family!) so to have a full house was way beyond my imagination!

Now I have to start thinking about next time!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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A Little Bit of Convincing

I apologise for the lack of a Thursday post – I was unwell and forgot to do a deferral!

This week I have been trying to drum up interest in the open mic.

There is more still to do: it takes a number of forms – communication with the writing group, a request for a reminder to all the people going to the emergency event scheduled at the same time (we have moved our start time to avoid overlap!), a message out to friends and family on facebook, posters at strategic points…

But possibly the most fun was a discussion with some waverers at the local pub, where we made a deal: if I would sing on the karaoke that night, they would read something at the open mic.

So I sang, and now I have two more performers on my schedule!

Other than that, it hasn’t been a great week for writing.  We are busy preparing for the family wedding, there have been medical appointments, late nights at work, the return to table tennis, which we’ve missed for a long time; basically, there’s been too much to fit in so writing got sidelined a little.

Still, I might not need so many pieces to read now I have my extra performers!

I am working on the basis of each performance being between 2-4 minutes long, and we have around an hour to an hour and a half for the set as a whole.  So with a couple of songs, a few musical interludes, and about 10 poems (read slowly) we’ll be ok!

The most important thing is not to worry, but to enjoy: we’re there to have an entertaining evening and hopefully encourage a few extra people to have a go at writing.

Failing that, I guess we bring out the karaoke again!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

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Challenge Tuesday – I Digress

I warned you there was no book this week, but I still wanted to write something for you, and came up with the idea of sharing quotes from books I have read. The purpose is to give an insight into the writing style of the book and perhaps encourage people to read books they’ve never tried.

I wanted to start with a particular favourite but I couldn’t find it (the horror!) so went for a Man Booker prize winner that I read a few years ago and ought to revisit – The Inheritance of Loss, by Kiran Desai.

I opened it up at random a few times to see what floated my thought boat and I found this:

Then there was the cat, Mustafa, a sooty hirsute fellow demonstrating a perfection of containment no amount of love or science could penetrate.  He was, at this moment, starting up like a lorry on Sai’s lap, but his eyes looked blankly right into hers, warning her against mistaking this for intimacy.

I was pleased to have found this section, having been told it is International Cat Day today – sometimes the fates align for most peculiar things!

I don’t remember if I enjoyed the book or not, but I feel like I ought to give it a second chance to have a positive impact on me, so onto the list it goes!

Happy reading,

EJ

🙂

 

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Wham Bam, Thank You Spam!

I am sure I am not alone in getting all sorts of strange comments sent to me at the blog.

Recently there has been a decided change because they are nearly all in Spanish.

Normally I just check and trash but having them come through in a different language is quite educational. I try to read them, at least basically, to learn a little.

I am sure you have seen the ones in English that look like random words have been picked from a dictionary; the Spanish ones may well be the same, but at least a word or two are sticking in my brain!

Long term readers may remember that I was trying to use words from other languages or with different roots to English for a mini poetry project. Sadly, after a few efforts it felt a bit forced, and it didn’t last as a concept.

In reading the Spanish spam, I remember that languages have different sound and feel different when you form them in your mouth – that perhaps linguistic choices have to be made differently for a performance piece.

So, once our slightly shortened open mic is done I can think about something new, something with a Spanish feel, for the next time.

And I am already working on the next time.

So when you next clear out your spam, have a quick look at what’s appeared: who knows if it might actually be worth reading!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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