I travelled to Europe, to study and to work, before going to Teachers’ Training College. I flew to Brussels on a Sabena Airlines plane, with just £50, all the currency you were allowed to take abroad in those days.

While I was there I  first heard of ‘Benelux’, which consisted of  Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. This felt like something special, and I loved the sound of it. To me it was the sound of freedom, of the chance to travel and see new places, meet new people. The  Benelux countries were part of the core group of European countries that had signed up to the treaty of Rome some years before.  They were part of what was to become the Common Market and this was my first encounter with it. There was a referendum in the 1970’s and, as I was over twenty one by then, I had the vote and I voted ‘IN’. United Europe grew and more countries joined. It became the EEC (European Economic Community) and then the EU.

All that time, ever since I first went to Belgium and discovered they already had duvets, two languages, and ate chips with mayonnaise, ever since then, I have considered myself a European.

I still am.

At the end of that year in Belgium I travelled by train through what was then West Germany and through the restricted corridor of East Germany to meet my father in Berlin. I have never forgotten that experience or how frightening borders and border guards can be.  In 1964 Germany was a divided country; a country divided by a wall, and had been for almost three years. I stood with my father on the Unter Den Linden, the great boulevard leading up to the Brandenburg gate. We went as close as we dared to the wall. It was a ghastly sight: miles of concrete and barbed wire stretching in both directions and every few yards a watch tower with armed guards watching us, two innocent tourists, as we stood below. I asked my father if he thought it would ever be knocked down. He was a great lover of Europe, having worked for a Dutch company for most of his life. It was with great sadness, I remember, that he said that he didn’t think the Berlin Wall would ever come down, either in his lifetime or in mine. Twenty years after he died he was proved wrong. The wall came down, pulled down, sometimes with their bare hands, by people who did not want to live with borders and divisions any more. Germany reunited and became the powerhouse of Europe that it is today.

For me this story is a story of hope. Now we live in a country deeply divided and in what seems like political chaos. It is also a frightening place where we could see borders and barbed wired grow up between us and our friends in Europe. Yesterday Angela Merkel described us as ‘leaving the family’ and that is what it feels like to me.

In the midst of all this and of my sadness and shock at what’s happened, I am trying to hold on to the idea that there is no way we can know the future and that it is human will alone in these matters that directs what happens. We need to find the people to lead us who will understand that we are still part of the great continent next to us and who will lead us with truthfulness, imagination and integrity into a new relationship where we belong, and forward to a resolution and healing of our differences here at home.

Till next time

June 16th 2016

My Writing Life

Goodness! It’s nearly a month since the last blog. That’s because there’s been a heat wave and I’ve been going out to the allotment until it was too hot and then coming back to collapse in the house. Anyway, last Friday it rained, big time, and has been raining more or less ever since, and things are back to normal.

In spite of not blogging, my writing life has not come to a standstill. Over the last few weeks I have written a sequence of poems about our holiday in April in the North of Ireland and Donegal. Always in the past I have exclaimed fiercely that I can’t write sequences and whenever I write two poems on the same subject and someone, usually someone in  my writing group or a poetry workshop,  says ‘you could write a sequence’, I have instantly dried up. However this time I wasn’t even trying and a sequence of five poems has just popped out.

One of my projects at present is to send groups of poems off to magazines in the hope of getting some published, and four of these five will be going off on a hopeful journey soon.

The kind readers of my children’s book have nearly reached the end, and July is set aside to write the third draft in time to submit the book to the Mslexia children’s novel competition in September.

July is also my website review month and I hope to be getting several things up there as follows:

1. A poem of the month from my previously published work, as often as possible a reflection on the time of year or similar.
2. The posting of the first part of ‘Ways of Exploring Morecambe Bay,’ poems and photographs of the Bay, a collaborative project with Sid Barlow, stained glass artist and photographer.
3. Information about my forthcoming series of Creative Writing Workshops here in Lancaster.

So watch this space!

Reading Week (or weeks really!)

The best book I’ve read recently was Owen Shears’ There was a Man and I just finished it last week. It’s very well written with engaging characters and a good story unfolding through a wonderful sequence of flashbacks and moments of suspense. The best section, to my mind, is the one dealing with a character who, as a member of the US Air Force, works in a station in central United States, firing drone controlled missiles remotely at identified targets in the Iraq War. Through the character, Shears explores the moral and ethical dilemmas of drone warfare in a very moving and realistic way. It gave me much food for thought.

 Hare in the Headlights

This isn’t really scary, well I hope not,  just a reminder that Kendal’s first ever Poetry Festival takes place 24^th 26^th June, and I’ll be there throughout and report back on my next blog.

For now.

 My writing life

I’m talking about my children’s’ book. Yesterday I finished redrafting and have a second draft for further editing etc. I was hoping to get it done by the end of May and I’ve done it with a little time in hand. One reason for this astonishing speediness is that I wrote the end much more recently, after having received some feedback, so the last few chapters needed less re-writing and restructuring. So I’m going to take a little break now and get back to a bit of poetry before starting the third, and I hope the final, draft in June.

Otherwise, my week has been almost, but not quite (see below) barren of all writing. After managing to write a poem almost every week this year to take to my writing group, I have just dried up completely. Actually I really enjoyed going to the group simply to listen to other people’s writing for a change.

Of course this block had to happen just when it started to rain and I could take a break from the garden. So sitting at home with the rain hitting the windows and watering the vegetables nicely, I turned in desperation to one of my writing books, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. She is always a source of entertainment and good advice. She says that if you get a bit stuck then the thing to do is keep on writing and wait for the next thing to turn up. A friend of mine, another writer who is currently working on novel, came round yesterday morning and we were chatting and laughing about Gilbert’s notion that all the ideas are floating about looking for a writer who will take them on. It’s comforting to think of them out there and all you have to do is grab one as it goes past!

Reading Week

Big Magic is not a book to read from end to end, but one to dip into for inspiration because that’s what it’s about. Other than that I’m just reading for entertainment at present and browsing Waterstones for new buys. Although these fallow times can be frustrating there is evidence to suggest that they can be the source of a whole new rush of inspiration. I hope so.

Hare in the Headlights

Well this one jumped out of the bushes at me! On Thursday afternoon I received an email reminding me that I had offered to spend time tomorrow meeting and greeting at the Quaker Meeting House as we are having a ‘Celebrating the Meeting House’ event and are inviting all the users of the House to come and enjoy it. With nearly a hundred bookings a week from cryptic crosswords to archaeology and yoga, it’s very busy place. The organiser also sent me a list of all the users and invited me to write a poem for the occasion. So, I got a commission out of the blue.  I wrote the poem this morning and will be reading it tomorrow and might put it up on my website for all of you to enjoy. That’s the thing with hares, they turn up in the most unexpected places.

Till soon.

My writing life

Has come to a dead stop, or at least slowed to a crawl. I haven’t even had an opportunity to write a blog. There are lots of clichéd excuses for this state of affairs, but I have to be truthful and say I haven’t had a writer’s block or a domestic crisis. If I’m going to blame anything it will be the weather. It’s been lovely for the last ten days and I’ve been out in the garden trying to get ahead of the weeds and keep up with growing plants and watering. So here I am at the key board once more and about to do something constructive.

I have managed to write a couple of poems about my visit to Donegal. One of these will be scrutinised by the other Brewery Poets on Friday, and the other is my offering for writing group tonight. In addition chapters five and six of my children’s book are with my readers, members of my writing group who are offering comments as it goes along. Chapter seven is a big rewrite and I suspect that’s why I’ve been putting it off.

Reading Week

I have abandoned most other reading this week to get through a second reading of Colm McCann’s Transatlantic, for the reading group yesterday. It’s a good page turner of a family saga following four generations of women back and forth across the pond. In includes real historical figures, which some members of our group found a weakness, whereas I enjoyed it. I have also been finishing off my chosen holiday read of the Paddy Meehan trilogy by Denise Mina. If you like crime writing you’ll like this well written witty and unflinching stuff. When you’ve read three good books in a row you always feel at a bit of a loss until the next one comes along.

Hare in the Headlights

No scary moments recently although that list of writing taks is still  long….

My Writing Life

Yes, it’s now two full weeks since I last put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Lots of reasons: a holiday, a computer problem, the time of year, the lovely spring weather, etc. I’ll leave it to readers to sift through the above list and decide which are reasons, and which are excuses.

Anyway last Friday, a week past yesterday, I was in Donegal. Apart from the holiday, the other reason for going there was to attend a book launch. My friend, a fellow writer, Yvonne Boyle, belongs to the Dunfanaghy Writers’ Circle. The Circle has existed for more than 15 years or so and is convened by Alf McCreary, an award winning professional journalist and writer from Belfast. The members meet once a year at Arnold’s Hotel in Dunfanaghy to write, and over the last couple of years an anthology has emerged from their collective creative work. Last Friday 15^th April was the launch of the anthology, entitled Cobalt Blue. The evening, which was very enjoyable, included a splendid dinner and readings from the book as well as a chance to buy copies. Given that the group only meet once a year it is remarkable what they manage to achieve. The title Cobalt Blue is that of one of Yvonne’s poems and the book is beautifully presented and designed. It is a mixture of poetry and short stories.

 Reading Week(s)

No writing this last couple of weeks, but reading yes. I have been reading The Gathering Tide by Karen Lloyd, a member of Brewery Poets, and have a couple more chapters to go. It is an account of walks and observations around Morecambe bay, as Karen comes from Ulverston. I am loving it, partly because of my long standing love affair with the Bay, ever since I came to live here thirty five years ago. I have also got nearly half way through Writing Children’ Fiction the Writers’ and Artists’ Companion by Yvonne Coppard and Linda Newbury. I am finding it very useful as my own children’s book progresses through its second draft.  Otherwise lots of enjoyable holiday reading….

Hare in the Headlights

Lots this week and all self inflicted! H in H takes the form of ‘a terrifying list of things to do for my writing when I can drag myself in from the allotment.’ Well, at least I’ve made the list. Now I had better go and do some of the things on it, especially as it looks like rain…

Oh indeed, it is very tempting this lovely spring day to abandon my, somewhat recalcitrant, computer to its own devices and charge off into the garden, the allotment and beyond! Robert Browning was right, not my favourite of his poems,  it is glorious, but I have my writing life to lead, and it’s quite busy just now.

My writing life

Last Saturday I took my children’s book on an outing to London. I went to a half day session organised by Writers and Artists, called How to Hook an Agent. As I am now almost half way through the second draft, the session was very helpful and encouraging. It was also very intense with four very enthusiastic and professional agents telling us how they like to receive submissions. There was also a one to one session with one of them at which we could pitch our book.

I was exhausted afterwards, but have come home with a clear strategy for the next stage and feeling quite encouraged. At present two people in my writing group are reading the draft as it emerges and this is very helpful too.

The said writing group is getting a a fairly random succession of my poems at present and I’m waiting to hear back about some I sent off to a magazine.

Reading week

I’m off on holiday next week and, as well as some recreational i-books, I’m taking my Helena Nelson how to get your poetry published and a book I picked up at the event described above about writing for children called Writing Children’s Fiction. So plenty of homework.

Hare in the Headlights

My holiday will include a book launch, not mine, but a H-in-H moment for those concerned no doubt. More of that when I get back.

a short one this time. Enjoy Spring!

My Writing Life

Because they are exhausting, in the nicest possible way, and leave you, on the one hand inspired and over stimulated and dying to get home to write, and on the other hand never wanting to hear or read another poem again ever! Believe me I have just been to one and am in recovery…

Seriously though it was great. The festival was StAnza the National Poetry Festival of Scotland which takes place in St Andrews every March.  I had never been to St Andrews before although I have been camping on the Angus/Fife coast, which is spectacular. St Andrews is a lovely seaside town with the Byre Theatre as the hub of the Festival and other venues close by, and selection of great bars and cafes and the sea two minutes walk away if you fancy a stroll on the beach.

I went for two very good reasons. Firstly because my friend and fellow poet, Lizzie Burns, who died last year, and who was a faithful StAnza goer, was being remembered at a reading and at the launch of a film about her final collaborative project; which brings me to the second reason which was that my friend Sitar Rose made the documentary film about this final project. Sitar and Lizzie never met each other, and it is one of my life’s strangest coincidences that I knew them both.

The reading was on the Friday afternoon and part of a two poet event, Poets Past and Present. Introducing the reading the Chair announced that Lizzie’s last pamphlet Clay had been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award 2015 which seeks to recognise excellence in poetry, highlighting outstanding contributions made by poets to our cultural life.

Here is the full quotation about the pamphlet from the Press Release on the Ted Hughes Award website.

Elizabeth Burns: Clay

is a short collection, published by Wayleave Press, of small, meditative poems exploring pottery and the potter’s craft which are themselves exquisitely formed vessels for larger enquiry and celebration. It was written by the poet Elizabeth Burns after she worked on a joint exhibition with painter Ann Gilchrist and potter Paul Tebble, and was published shortly before the poet’s death in August 2015.

(Wayleave Press is based here in Lancaster.)

So, to continue, the exhibition was also at StAnza having previously been at the Edinburgh Festival 2015. I spent the rest of Friday and Saturday at the festival, of which more later, and returned on Sunday afternoon for the launch of the documentary film about the Painter, Potter, Poet exhibition. It is a superb documentary (26 minutes) chronicling the progress of the project both in artists’ studios at the exhibition space and in Scottish woodlands.

If you go to the website A Potter, a Painter and a Poet there is a link to the film Big Words, which chronicles the biggest printed poem, Spiral, by Lizzie, which was displayed on Canongate in Edinburgh as the winner of the Big Words competition 2015.

Having devoted most of this blog to these key events, I have decided to devote the next  blog to writing about everything else I did at StAnza. There is lots more to tell.

My Reading Week

I didn’t have a lot of time for ordinary or leisure reading while I was the festival but I bought a book by Helena Nelson, of Happenstance Press, called How (not) to Get your Poetry Published. So far it is really helpful and I am working thorugh it. I particularly like the format of having a chapter about how to get published alternating with a prompt for creative writing. More of this later.

Hare in the Headlights

Just one scary moment coming on 19^th March: my reading at the International Women’s Day event …

Bye for now

My Writing Life

Since returning from my holidays last Monday, this week has been very busy and full of surprises, not all of them anything to with my writing life. However yesterday morning the phone rang, and it was a reporter from BBC Radio Lancashire telling me that they wanted to feature a clip from something I wrote more than a year ago on their lunchtime programme.

So here’s the back story. About 18 months ago I took part in a project called Documenting Dissent here in Lancaster which was about collecting the history of various kinds of protest and activism in Lancaster over the centuries and bringing it together in a digital record on line. Lancaster has been a city of dissent for a long time; Quakers, Conscientious Objectors, the student protests at the newly founded University in the 1970’s and many more. It also has a long and rich history as the home of gay men and lesbians. Therefore part of the Documenting Dissent project was to record the history of the LGBT community in our city.

I wrote a piece for the project called A Brief history Lesbian Lancaster in Six Nights Out, retelling my experience of coming out in 1980’s Lancaster. The piece was recorded in 2015 and can be heard in full on the Documenting Dissent website.

It was an extract from this piece that was played at the one o’clock news bulletin on BBC Radio Lancashire yesterday (Friday 26^th February), as the reporter, who was following the digital trail this month, stood outside the site of what was once Kizzy’s Bar on Castle Hill. Anyone who wants to hear the clip can go to the BBC Radio Lancashire website and listen again. Eventually a podcast will be available here.

Not out of the blue, but nevertheless with some excitement, on Tuesday I drove up to Ambleside to visit my students from the Creative Writing Course I taught at Learning Plus last Autumn. I took with me the booklet of their collected writing entitled Reflections. They were thrilled with it and I was delighted with what they had produced. I shall be returning there in the Autumn to teach the course again.

Other forthcoming writing projects and events are starting to take shape for me and they are listed below.

Reading Week

As I have been on holiday, trying, not entirely successfully, to get some winter sun, I have been reading lots of fiction lately. I have enjoyed Elena Ferrante’s My Brilliant Friend, which I read for my reading group. I started by thinking it, frankly, just very weird, but it grew on me, as good books do, and now I want to read the sequel.

Currently I am enjoying William Boyd’s Sweet Caress, a venture into the world of fictional autobiography that is fascinating and masterly.

Hare in the Headlights – News

I am thinking of Headlights in the sense of lighting up what is in front of me and will use this week’s blog to list everything currently on my horizon (and who knows what else is round the corner).

Tomorrow, Monday 29^th February, I am being interviewed by the postgraduate Creative Writing students at Lancaster University for their programme on University Radio, called The Writing Life. The interview will include some reading of my poetry and I hope to get a link to it soon. Next week I shall let you know when it is being broadcast and if you can listen online.

On 19^th March at the Gregson Centre here in Lancaster, at 8 p.m. I shall be reading my poetry as part of an evening celebrating International Women’s Day: slightly late because of the flooding and storm damage, but still celebrating.

Later on in April / May there will be new pages here on this website.

There will be an online exhibition of photographs and poems for you to enjoy, entitled Ways of Exploring Morecambe Bay. This is the result of my collaboration over the last couple of years with stained glass artist and photographer Sid Barlow.

I will also be advertising and recruiting for my Creative Writing Course which is to take place here in Lancaster in the autumn. This will consist of ten weekly workshops aimed at people who have tried a bit of writing and would like to do more.

So that’s it for now. Watch this space.

Till Soon.

My Writing Life

Well it does round here, and that means that I am trapped indoors day after day, and I just have to write. Every time I look out of the rain drenched window, I try to think, ‘this is good, more writing time,’ but the garden calls… Let’s hope that by the time I am back from my forthcoming holiday, the weather will actually have dried up a bit.

Anyway, this week I managed to finish the second draft of the first two chapters of my children’s sci-fi book, and two members of my wonderful writing group have agreed to read them through. I look forward to two different perspectives, to help the process along; one from someone who has heard some of the first draft and the other from a member who is absolutely new to the work.

On the poetry front I am managing a poem a week, on various themes, helped along by reading poetry and books about writing. I have a number of different themes on the go at present, looking back at my life as a teacher and also trying to respond to routine activities of every day. I seem to be writing these alternately at the moment, I am not sure why, but it works.

I’m also preparing some poems for magazine submission, which means spending time editing old work, sometimes surprisingly rewarding.

 Reading Week

Still reading Vikram Seth, well it’s a very long, but fascinating, book. The reading group I belong to met last week, here at my house, to discuss Ann Enright’s The Green Road. We all loved it, and those who had read it twice loved it even more. It is so beautifully written and a real page turner.

Hare in the Headlights

Two events coming up:

I have been invited by the post graduate Creative Writing students at Lancaster University to give a half hour interview for their radio programme, The Writing Life. I am recording the interview at the end of this month, so watch this space where I will post a link so that you can listen to the interview once it is done.

I have also been invited to read some poetry at a slightly late celebration of International Women’s Day on the 19^th March, at the Gregson Community Centre here in Lancaster at 8 o’clock. I understand I am to be early on in the programme so if you want to hear the poems get there in time!

That’s it for now.