I've been fascinated by spine poetry for a while, but I've just been too lazy to try it out.A couple of weeks ago, I shed the laziness and began. Like all kinds of writing, I liked some poems more than others. Some of the poems were so unappealing after a couple of days, that I didn't even bother to share them. But for the rest, over the last nine days, I have been sharing a poem a day on my social media handles.Here they are, all together. Which one(s) do you like most?Edited to add: I deleted one! I don't like it anymore.If sweetness is something you look for in poetry ...Once Upon a More Enlightened Time At the Back of the North Wind In An Antique Land A Song BeginsHere is a slightly dark one.Night-Time is My Time I, Lucifer Incognito Knock Down The Innocent ManThis one was just fun. I saw the first and third books … [Read more...]
My Year in Writing
Being a writer is never easy. Things take too long, and there's little to show for it. Long silences, endless waiting and wondering, a general feeling of isolation ... Yet, the highs are so high that they make everything worth it.In 2019, among the biggest highs for me was the discovery of warm, supportive groups on social media. I didn't even know that this was something part of me needed, simply because I'm so used to the feeling of submitting stories into the void and never hearing back from editors and publishers. Rejection, too, is equally normal. Form rejections are terrible, but silence is worse.Then, I discovered that people set targets for themselves - of how many rejections they will get each year. A hundred rejections - that's a normal target.And this was new to me. It opened my eyes to wonderful new possibilities. Instead of agonising over perfection, why not send … [Read more...]
Catching Up – Writing
It's that time again, when I've postponed blogging for so long that I don't know where to begin. I keep saying that I intend to do monthly roundups and that never happens. I'm now planning to do a series of posts, catching up with what's gone by, though.In terms of writing, I'm working on multiple things, and that's a wonderful place to be. I just had a poem published by Scoop - a UK-based children's magazine that has published writers like Neil Gaiman, John Agard and Jacqueline Wilson. If I don't count the poems that were published when I was a child, this is my first poem to be published - the first of many, I hope!My poem is called "Making a Clone", and it's about two girls who come up with a wonderful plan - they'll make a clone out of ketchup and potato peels.I also had a travel story published by Inside Himalayas - the first bit of non-fiction in a while.My … [Read more...]
I used to think
I used to think That if I held my breath, I could make friends with Anne Shirley, George, Sara Crewe, And Dorothy.I used to think That if I oiled my doll’s hair And shampooed it Maybe trimmed it now and then; If I took care of it, It would grow.I used to think That if I just knew how, I could transport myself To the Lake of Shining Waters Or Kirrin Island Or even Norway, which was as made up as the rest.I used to think That if I caught the mirror unawares, I would find it doing something else Its own thing Without me in it.I used to think That if I believed hard enough The Tooth Fairy would be real. As real as Matilda.I used to think That if I felt enough Or thought enough Or was enough, I would be in a book With real adventures And characters who loved deeply and spoke so beautifully.I used to think That hiding in my dark room, Was a … [Read more...]