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

🙂

Free Post Thursday – When Life Gets In The Way!

It’s been a bit of a busy time for me recently, life-wise.  There’s been a lot going on – some great, some not so great – and it’s one of those periods where everything seems to happen at once.

The outcome of this is that there is not a lot going on with my writing.  However, there is a lot to feed my writing, when I get back to it!

In the meantime, I am trying to focus my attention on the more practical things I need to do – adverts for the next open mic night; booking in long overdue time with my reading group; helping friends find poems they want to read and so on…

It’s a shame to lose the momentum I had reached but life is full of challenges for all of us, and what is important is to make sure I get back in the writing saddle as soon as possible. With some fun times to be had this weekend, I hope it won’t be too long before I find a poetic moment!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

Challenge Tuesday – Trust your Instincts!

I made it, and just in time for a non-review…!

I gave up on the book Special Topics in Calamity Physics.  I knew when I read that first segment it was a risky one, but I was sold on the title.  I have said before we should trust our reading instincts and I didn’t.

As I can’t really review it I will just say that the style was not to my taste.  I do, however, feel that it’s more suited to a teenage audience than adults.  The constant parenthetical reference to books the narrator had read, used as a descriptive tool, got very intrusive for me.  I put it down and in nearly 2 weeks haven’t bothered to pick it up again!

However, life is a little bit complicated at the moment and I don’t really feel like writing so no doubt I will dig another book out soon…

Happy reading,

EJ

🙂

 

Normal Service Will Resume Soon

I am sorry not to have been around but it’s been a bit of a week!

I will try to get a post sorted tomorrow but if not, please bear with me – it’s one of those times when real life has to be given some extra attention.

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

Missed Post/Challenge Tuesday

I didn’t write on Sunday because I forgot it was Sunday – bank holiday weekends always confuse me! Suffice it to say I was still on a high from Thursday and spent some time chatting about the open mic.

I am also going to report a book reading break: I have been reading as I said I would, but the book is languishing on the side awaiting some interest.  I find it a bit too verbose and not particularly entertaining so will decide this week whether to read on, or reject.

I am especially tempted to reject when I think how much writing time I could gain back!

I will decide by the weekend but for now the focus is on reviewing and refining work to share!

Happy reading and happy writing!

EJ

🙂

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

🙂

 

Back to it!

Well, after a lovely long weekend celebrating a family wedding, I am back to the grind with the preparation for tomorrow’s open mic night.  I have a pile of poems ready to go, and a group of people now putting their hands up to say they’ll take part – or, at least, turn up with a possibility of taking part!

I decided not to spend too long editing the work – partly because there’s less time than I realised! But also because I will use the event to review them, so I can make adjustments as a result of what I hear.

As it’ll be a late night tomorrow I probably won’t tell you how it goes until Friday – in the meantime, wish me luck!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

 

 

Back Tomorrow

So I will see you then!

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

Free Post Thursday – Festivities

It’s a family wedding this weekend and I have just finished packing all my bits and bobs.

Being me, I was all sorted, had my outfit ready and knew exactly what I needed until a few days ago when I decided not to wear the planned outfit because it wasn’t flattering…

In my defence a. It’s a wedding so the photos will be seen. A lot and b. Both outfits will be worn multiple times, so neither is going to waste.

It’s nearing three years since my own wedding, so I can imagine how the bride is feeling now.

I mostly remember that calm feeling of the day though, when people expected me to be stressed.

I wasn’t.

Alll that passed and I was just happy.  I hope they both get that feeling; it was perfect.

Because of the associated family gatherings I might not write a post on Sunday – time will be pretty limited and I want to get the most from seeing people we don’t always see!

So for today I will just say see you soon

Happy writing,

EJ

🙂

Challenge Tuesday – Taster

As I still haven’t got a book on the go, I decided to pick one from my ‘to read’ pile, open it at random, and share a quote.  If it makes me want to read, it’s all for the good, and if not, it’ll save me some time.

I chose Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl. Not sure if I started this once before but I definitely haven’t finished it.

So here goes:

Hannah was wearing a housedress the color of sandpaper, crudely scissored off at the hem so tiny threads hula-danced around her shins when she opened the door.  Her face was as bare as an unpainted wall, but it was obvious she hadn’t been sleeping.

There’s a lot of description and I cut off before the metaphors got too jumbled – I don’t generally appreciate work that is tightly packed with this kind of description.

However, I love, love, love the name of this book, and the synopsis blurb sounds interesting.  So I think I will give it a go.

I should be reading comedies, but for my long weekend this might be a good choice – it’ll keep me occupied anyway.

I will not be working on poetry per se during the break, although if something comes to mind obviously I will note it down – but there will be no pressure to work, only relax and have fun.

500 pages of a possibly YA novel is a start!

Happy reading,

EJ

🙂