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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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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Free Post Thursday – Hi, Haiku!

I’ve just got in from writing group, where we have decided to set ourselves a little winter challenge – to each produce something for our local newsletter for publishing between December and January.

To get us all in the mood we spent some writing time on a few seasonally appropriate haiku. Now, as I’ve said before, I love this form of writing as it’s so accessible to writers who are new to poetry or who lack confidence in writing poetry.

I thought I’d share one I wrote today, just for fun:

An eiderdown fall:
The world is feathery white –
Our noses are numb.

Happy writing

EJ

🙂

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Free Post Thursday – Location, Location, Location.

It’s the last Thursday of the month so tonight was writing group, and we tried out a new location. The place we usually meet is lovely, convenient and friendly, but a little too noisy as we don’t have a space where we can close the door.

Tonight we tried somewhere with a door. It was quieter, but I did eat more chips… 🙂 It was also a little further away, through some narrow country lanes.

It occurred to me today that everywhere I go, I travel through the English countryside. I travel to work via back routes past fields and farms; or I head to the nearest town by driving through woods. When I go to my trapeze class I get double bubble: countryside and coastline.

It wasn’t a conscious life plan to live in this place, but I am very happy we ended up here.

This evening I read out a poem about walking through the village one day. I have been told before that my best poetry is my nature poetry, and although I don’t know that I agree with that assessment entirely, I do think that the peace and beauty of nature come off the page.

It’s a poem I couldn’t have written ten years ago, when the evening walks were through housing estates, the sounds of twilight were the double-click of a car door locking and the jangle of keys in someone’s hand. I didn’t know what it was like to live in a place where you can hear sheep baaing in a field most evenings, or the clip clop of horses on the road most days.

Towns and cities have their own beauty and joy, and I can explore that too, now I have the tools in my writing arsenal. But I’m not sure I’d look at nature poetry in the same way if I hadn’t seen so much of nature just by looking out my windows.

The right location really does add value; I’m just not sure it’s one an estate agent would recognise.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Thoughts on a Friday – Moments

I thought I’d do this post a day later than planned too, just to keep a little gap between posts 🙂

As writers, we know the importance of getting the timing right – the perfect moment for a reveal, or the point in a poem where we change or enhance the rhythm.

So when I saw this picture, I thought I’d be writing about picking that moment in work, and how I make decisions.

 

But you know what?  That isn’t what this picture makes me want to write about at all.

Instead, to me it’s a reminder that each moment is fleeting, that every crash of a wave on the sand is unique, never to be repeated.

It’s a reminder that we need to experience life if we want to record it with any authenticity.

So take a moment, or two.  Don’t think about the technicalities of writing, the form or style you want to create in your work.  Just look at the picture, and think about something you’d love to do.  It might be a hobby you’ve always fancied, or learning a new skill.  It might be getting a makeover or booking a holiday.  Whatever it is, try to seize the moment and make it a reality.

It’s amazing how a change of scenery, or meeting a new group of people, can open you eyes as a writer.  It’s pretty good for opening your eyes as a person, too.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Thoughts on a Thursday – Contemplating the Moon

Most people have a time when they are more mentally aware, more awake, more in tune with the world. We’re night owls or early birds, and I am most definitely more comfortable as a night owl!

Night is when you can really see how we fit into the cosmos, and I wonder if my love of all things space comes from my many late nights looking out the windows and seeing the stars come to life.

This is a picture my partner took of the moon at the weekend, as I promised I’d post.  It’s a reminder to me that whatever else is going on, I still have a universe to explore, dreams to dream – and fulfil, an eternity of possibilities to write about.

 

I look at this picture and I know that inspiration will always be with me.

Not a bad thing to remember, hey?

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

 

 

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Thoughts on a Thursday – Going with the Flow

 

 

I’ve been talking about going with the flow a lot recently, and it’s one way I have of coping with the limited time I have to spend on everything right now: just let everything float by, and catch what I can of it.

I guess that’s like writing anyway – sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s slow, sometimes the tide beats you back.  Sometimes you have to just take it as it comes.

 

 

 

The joy of writing is that every day you can add to your store of ideas and possibilities; you can create new worlds within your imagination.

So going with the flow might be a good technique, at least for a little while – I’m updating my metal stockpile of ideas and inspiration. In fact, if I think about it like that, my lack of work is actually work!

Allow yourself time to rebuild your imagination sometimes; trust that the tide will take you where you need to go – whether you know it or not.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

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Thoughts on a Thursday – Passion

I’m not sure if I’ve used this picture before but if I have it’s long enough ago for everyone to have forgotten, I hope!

 

For those of you who don’t recognise this, it’s a passion flower.

This particular plant is a tenacious little thing. I had it in a pot, it got ripped out by small children and left like a handful of twigs on the edge of my garden – and from that scrubby bit of half-dead birds-nest material a bushy climber began colonising a corner of my house.

I have had to cut it back many times but it returns, year after year, to take back its place.  Even when I’ve cut it back, the coils of its tendrils still hang on to wires and other plants.  Its glossy leaves and inside-out flowers are beautiful and I wish I could let it grow as vast and luxurious as it would like.

That plant behaves exactly like I should behave.  It never gave up, it strove for a place in the world.  It absorbed whatever material it could to make a difference and improve its lot.  It held on even when it seemed hopeless.  And it bloomed: no matter how many obstacles were put in its way it found a way to succeed.

I need to be a force of nature.  I need to write with determination, to fight for my place in the writing world, and hold on to whatever gives me strength so I can build on that position.

I need passion for writing – and I have it.  If you want to make writing a key part of your life, you need to have it too.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

 

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Thoughts on a Thursday – I Spy!

My partner got this picture when we were on retreat; the bird here had to take a back seat to a very cheeky, sneaky squirrel who kept climbing the tree and filling his tummy with bird food.

I cropped in when I uploaded it as I think it’s more dramatic than the original – and I am a self-confessed lover of drama 🙂

There were some sheep behind this tree, and they seemed to eat all the time.  Lying down, standing up, going to the toilet – sheep eat.  How I missed that for the past x number of years I’ve seen sheep about, I do not know!

In fact, it doesn’t matter how often you’ve seen something, when you look with your writing eyes – when you look with the intention of noticing every detail you can – you see things you’ve missed.

In writing group I’ve encouraged everyone to try some sensory perception exercises, because they force you to look about, listen, and think about everything in your environment.  I really found these useful when I was studying – the exercises were based on some I did in my second writing course – and it was a timely reminder to use my environment to my advantage.

I looked at this picture above once more, before signing off for the day and I noticed something I hadn’t seen the last few times – what looks like a wire, strung parallel to the branch.  I wondered what it was for: outside lighting, or was there another feeder out of sight, or a speaker to spread the sound of birdsong in midwinter – or a microphone to listen to conversations.  Were our hosts recording conversations?  Why?…

Well, me being me, this thought process ended up a little bit sci-fi and I won’t bore you with it – but I was pleased that such a convoluted story came from a little detail.  Try it out and the same could easily happen with your own observations!

Keep your writer’s eyes open, and keep looking – there are little stories everywhere.

Happy writing

EJ

🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thoughts on a Thursday – Little Wonder

I have a tiny obsession with macro photos of flowers.

I think part of the allure is that they are so impermanent: if you don’t take the picture when you have a chance that moment is gone.  The same could be said for so many things that I would love to take photos of everything, but that’s not really practical so I specialise 🙂

I’m not very good at these pictures but here’s one I took on retreat in Wales last summer.

The feeling of having to record things immediately is one I’ve been developing for the last few years in writing – I’m sure we all have the tale of ‘the one that got away’; the great story opening or line of poetry that we didn’t write down and it disappeared like a whiff of smoke.  Even with notebooks everywhere, you can’t capture everything!

Sometimes I use photos instead of books.  I use them like a painter would, as a reference point to draw my image.  This works well for me for things like sunsets, the colour of the soil, the shapes carved into a wall; things that require some better description than the off-the-cuff notes I scribble as I wander around.  That’s another benefit of the macro photo too – you see a level of detail you might not have seen in person.

If you want to see what I mean, have a look at some amazing, properly macro, photos here!

Happy writing

EJ

🙂

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