Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock

I love being busy, but these few days I have been RUSHED which is not what I like at all. Trying to get the balance between classes, work, volunteering, social life...and still managing to do my own writing? Pfff, not the way it's going! So I'm having some serious rethinking about what I can and can't do with my time...fingers crossed that very soon I will be posting a helluva lot more on here!
So where are my writery things at? After my Writing for Children Lecture I started on a piece that I'm pretty excited about. Haven't done much in the way of writing yet but this one is heavily research based as it's going to be very fact heavy. Fingers crossed we'll see that developing soon.
Sudden Prose class with Carrie Etter was very interesting, I'm hoping to spend a lot more time looking at short stories and prose poems. We had to do a piece of work based on 'The Church of Insomnia' by Charles Simic. We had to come up with our own affliction based Church and write a short paragraph about what it would include. Churches people came up with included 'headache', 'Prozac', 'kleptomaniacs' ... lots of awesome ideas. I opted for 'The Church of Period Pains' as a bit of a challenge, so here is what I came up with:

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The Church of Period Pains.

The furnishing is all stained red: carpet, drapes, cushions. One tall glass window depicts a tree bearing fruit, ripe and fertile. Another is Christ, suffering under the cross. The white robed minister holds his wafer plate filled with pain killers and looks disorientated. Chanting ebbs in moans and groans.
Men leave the pub and walk past, scratching their balls.

---

The idea was to describe the church and things in it with things correlating to your affliction, and the final line had to be something in contrast to such an affliction. It was an odd exercise but quite revealing...not a bad way to start a Friday morning. :)

Big it up for Taylor Mali

Hello, been doing a bit of surfing on YouTube, thought I'd mention Taylor Mali. He's a performance poet in the US and is awesome. I particularly like 'what teachers make', 'depression too is a type of fire' and 'for the life of me'. I think his poetry can be both really depressing and touching, as well as clever and funny. check him out
http://www.youtube.com/user/taylormali#p/u/16/ESrzN-JkKsM
so...my writing? well I started chapter 10 of the transplant one today, its going okay I guess. Just about to get right into the action, Dita and Sparrow are about to find out how the transplant donor died etc so epic stuff. I've recently been very aware of what a long process it is. I've sort of been thinking that once I get to chapter 17 or whatever the last one is, that that's it, done and dusty, but of course then I have to type it, and after 2 or 3 drafts, gosh I'll probably have finished uni by then. Need to get my skates on huh!
I had my first class with Steve Voake on 'Writing for Children' which was ace. He is probably one of the most published lecturers on the creative writing team so I'm thrilled to have him as a tutor. He really opened me up to the subject which I hadn't previously thought about, so now I'm thinking up some new projects which will be really research based which is a bit nitty gritty, but it's for kids right, so it's got to be fun!

Time for another poem, I wrote this a few days ago, no editing so far so this is raw :)

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Flight

Feet pumping fast,
I’m carried down the road.
You call after me but
I can’t turn back now.
I don’t think you follow.
I shift the bag from my shoulder
and it thumps on the ground,
pencils rattling in their tin,
my phone, purse, keys;
all jumbled on the floor.
I run on.
People are starting to look
as the wild girl streaks past,
her breath is fast.
Now I peel off my coat
and fling it
behind me.
I’m soaked with sweat and rain.
Liberated, unburdened.
Letting it all go
I’m natural, naked.
Up ahead are lights,
I’m soaring now,
shoes slapping on concrete.
The moments counting down,
everything goes numb,
I can only smile.
As my feet
leave the pavement
it’s all slow motion.
My legs are pedalling in
the air.
I can’t decide whether
to turn my head
and watch, as the car moves forward,
or lock straight ahead, oblivious,
so I close each eye
and then,
I fly.

Two posts in one day? Record!

I promised a revised addition of 'your office is my favorite' which a wrote a month or two back. I am not big on editing, I tend to bury things away after draft one and leave them be, but this year I will make a conscious effort to redraft all my work at least once or twice. So here is me getting off to a good start, with my sparkly poem, fresh from the edit :)

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Your office is my favourite.

Your desk is the centre stage,
life evolves around it.
I’m standing in your world.
Shelving units
are bowing under the weight,
all those books.
No order, just crammed,
brimming,
ready to cascade.
Dust tries to settle
on the pages of poets,
Dickens, Coleridge, Shakespeare.
I clean carefully
around the medley of mess,
a special method
understood by no one
but you.
Little scraps of paper
in shorthand and symbols
are anything but rubbish –
these are your bibles,
your babies.
I understand the necessity
for a dirty coffee cup,
flecked with mould.
A writer cannot be
without their coffee cup.
The obligatory assortment
of pens and pencils
stare at me.
They are the middle men
to your thoughts.
I hold my breath as I dust,
cautiously vacuuming,
tenderly wiping.
All cleaners have their favourites,
to treat as their own
and lavish with love.
Your office stole my heart.

---

P.S. this is the first post of mine that, when spellchecked, had NO typo's or spelling mistakes! YES!!!

Ahead of schedual

I try to read at least 20 books a year, preferably 24 so that it works out nicely to 2 books a month. The average British person only reads 3 books a year, so I feel my efforts are pretty good really. I've nearly reached my quota already, with 23 done and dusted and a few more I'm half through. I don't generally like to read more than one book at once, but I have some that are 'part timers'. I only read a little of them each week, things that can be broken down into easy chunks. I guess I will have at least one of them done by the end of year, so all is well in the reading world!
In the writing world, things are not too bad. I was checking through old emails when I came across a writing competition for students that I might have a crack it. It's to write a modern day German fairytale, not something I am an expert at, so not expecting much back from it, I just thought it would be cool give it a go. I'd better get my skates on though, deadline is rapidly approaching. If you want to check it out, http://london.daad.de/fairytale/call-for-entries.htm
Still not back in lessons yet (one day to go!!!) so no 'homework writing' as such. But I have kept myself busy with my own stuff. I've written the first 9 chapters of the transplant story, only typed up the first one or two, but I'm more than halfway there in first draft terms. Golly, doesn't writing a book take a long time!

The Next Project...?

So at the moment I'm trying to decide whether or not to self publish another book. My first one, the poetry collection, I published in 2006 and it's sat there doing nothing since...but as the publishing service was free it's not like I lost anything by doing it. I thought an angle for the next one could be something like 'a creative writing students guide to year one' and then I could include all my work from last year, so poetry, prose, flash fiction, scripts etc.
I guess if I were the kind of writer who did gigs, like poetry slams etc, a hard copy of my work would be a good idea as it could be sold on from there, but as for just having it on the website, I don't really get anywhere with promotion, and the lack of ISBN means I'm unlikely to get stocked in any shops either. Hmmm. Fingers crossed I'll get to speak to my personal tutor about it, I'm sure she'll have some words of wisdom!
Today I'm trying to be productive, once I've got all my housey stuff done I'm going to crack on with writing :D

Happy birthday to me....almost!

As per usual I've been far too busy to get any writing done these past few days, but ((SHOCK HORROR!)) I have actually written about half a chapter of the transplant novel today, so not such an epic fail as I thought.
I'm really looking forward to getting back to Uni so I can be more spurred on about my writing. It's quite difficult 'being your own boss' and motivating yourself to write if you are not particularly inspired. So although I'll have less time for my own writing what with lesson time and 'homework' (oh how I miss homework!) I will probably be writing a lot more because of class etc. So I feel that attending my lessons is all for the best really.
A student who studied at my uni a few years ago is currently trying to set up a creative writing magazine called 'Dumb'. It sounds quite good, I've just sent him an email asking what kind of thing he is looking for so I can submit, so fingers crosses I will get some luck there. As to other publications, I got a letter back from 'The People's Friend' saying that although they like my most recent submission, they aren't currently looking for any stock, so a disappointment, but a step up from 'nope sorry we don't like it'. So I guess things are going in the right direction. The second world war short story I wrote is sitting still at the moment, I was going to email it to the author of a website where I did a lot of my research to see what he thought of it, but the email bounced back so no luck there. Just got to figure out what to do with it now!

Time for something a little different. I wrote my first ever radio script a few months back and submitted it to BBC Radio 4, for their afternoon plays, but naturally they weren't interested (which is rich considering some of the tat the actually do air! Which is a bit mean, some of it is very good...but some of it is not). I thought I'd put a bit up here so that my adoring fans get a diverse range of my work. I'm not sure the formatting will come out on this, but on my word copy its all underlined and in bold etc so it looks like a real script! Somewhere I've got a poem I wrote about how the BBC stole my crocodile clip...but I can't find it so that will have to be for another day.

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SCENE ONE.

FX: JOYCE'S HOUSE, RADIO MUSIC PLAYING,
CLINKING OF MUGS, POURING WATER, A
KNOCK AT THE DOOR.
JOYCE: Coming!
FX: FOOTSTEPS, RADIO SWITCHING OFF,
FOOTSTEPS, DOOR OPENING.
JOYCE: Hello, Amanda, come in, come in.
FX: DOOR CLOSING, FOOTSTEPS.
JOYCE: How are you?
AMANDA: I'm fine thanks, just fine, though the traffic today was
unbelievable, I really think it would be quicker for me
to walk.
FX: CLINKING OF MUGS.
JOYCE: Here, I've made some tea. Yes, sometimes when I'm
coming to yours I'll just walk through the park, it’s not
that far really, even on these old legs!
FX: LAUGHTER, SLURPING.
AMANDA: Mmm! You do make a good cuppa! So, how’s Roger?
JOYCE: Roger is (PAUSE) well, he's Roger isn't he? Nothing new
as usual. The firms had him working in a posh garden the
other side of town, and he's saving up for some new golf
gadget.
AMANDA: These men and their golf! I was telling my John that he
really should get into it - he's reaching that age, as it were!
FX: LAUGHTER.
AMANDA: But of course he won't have any of it, he's far too content
just walking that rotten dog!
JOYCE: Oh, poor Scruffy!
AMANDA: Poor Scruffy indeed! You wouldn't believe the mess that
dog made this morning … (PAUSE) Oh! Here I am blithering
on about the dog when you said you had something exciting
to tell me. Do go on!
JOYCE: Well (PAUSE) It's less exciting, more sort of...scary I'd say.
AMANDA: Scary? Gosh, tell me all! The suspense is killing me!
JOYCE: I'm being serious, I'm genuinely worried about it.
AMANDA: What's happened?
JOYCE: I suppose this might sound silly (PAUSE) but I think
I'm being stalked
AMANDA: Stalked?
JOYCE: Yes.
AMANDA: How do you mean?
JOYCE: Well, there's this man that's been following me.
AMANDA: Goodness! When was this?
JOYCE: Last week I was doing my big shopping trip when I noticed
him - a distinguishable character so I couldn't really
miss him. Then after I'd put my bags in the car I noticed
him again in the car park. About an hour later I was eating
lunch in that little cafe in the park, and he was there again.
AMANDA: Mightn't it be a coincidence?
JOYCE: But there's more - yesterday I was dusting the ornaments in
the front window, when I happened to glance across the road
and there he was!
FX: AMANDA GASPS.
AMANDA: No! Oh Joyce, how terrifying! What did he look like?
JOYCE: Quite young, mid twenties perhaps, and he wore a long dark
coat, what do they call those things?
AMANDA: Trench coats?
JOYCE: Yes that's it, a trench coat, and he had sort of dark greasy hair,
quite long, one of those goth types I guess. Altogether a quite
frightful appearance.
AMANDA: Goodness me! Have you told Roger?
JOYCE: No, I didn't want to worry him, but now (PAUSE) it's like I
can't leave the house, I constantly feel like I'm being
watched or hounded. What should I do, Amanda?
AMANDA: Now now, there's no need to get silly and emotional. It's
really quite simple, you just need to confront this young
fellow and tell when to back off.
JOYCE: What?
AMANDA: Honestly Joyce, these young hooligans are all talk, all they
need is a bit of discipline. You just march up to this young
man and tell him you're not standing for any of his
nonsense, mention the police, that'll scare him off.
JOYCE: Oh, but I couldn't possibly-
AMANDA: You must! Don't let it become a problem. If you give these
young so-and-so's an inch, they'll take a mile.
JOYCE: But what if he retaliates? Just think of poor Mr. Grainger.
AMANDA: Mr. who?
JOYCE: Mr. Grainger, don't you remember? He lived down the
road from me for years, then last summer there was that
incident where he gave those vandals a telling off and
one waved a knife in his face.
AMANDA: I had no idea! Whatever happened to him?
JOYCE: Well he moved away, Australia I think, said he wouldn't
put up with the lack of respect in kids these days, and I
don't blame him.
AMANDA: It's not all kids mind, just them few that turn out rotten.
JOYCE: Of course. (PAUSE) I'm simply at a loss Amanda, I
haven't a clue what to do. Listen, there's something you
don't know, I haven't told anyone, but I think it could be
important.
AMANDA: Really? What is it?
JOYCE: It’s something that happened a long time ago, not even
Roger knows.
AMANDA: A long time ago? But you said the stalking has only been
Occouring recently.
JOYCE: Yes, I know.
AMANDA: And you said you don’t know this man at all, do you?
JOYCE: No, I don’t.
AMANDA: Well then, I really don’t see how this little thing from your
Past can have anything to do with this. Listen, if I were you,
I’d take my advice and stand up to this chap. Just be brave and
Tell him whose boss, right?
JOYCE: I suppose you’re right

September already?

So what with family weddings, moving house and other exciting stuff, my poor bloggy has been a bit neglected. So has my writing actually. I've been plodding on slowly with the transplant novel, but I haven't written in the kidnap one for months, so I think I'll leave it until I have less projects to deal with. I've polished up a short story called 'Move to America' which is for a young female audience, and also completed the WW2 piece about the combat medic. Not much else to report I'm afraid.

The 'Move to America' is written in a letter style between a young girl and her grandmother. I've tried to emulate the writers age in the language used, which is why the piece comes across as having a simplistic lexis and basic plot. Below is the opening letter extract.

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Dear Gran,
we have been in America for one week today so Mum said I should write and let you know how we are getting on. The house here is very big. My room is on the top floor and has a window seat with lacy cushions. I’ve unpacked all my toys and I have a corner of my room with my craft box and art books. The garden has a swimming pool which I go in every day and there is lots of room for Mum to plant some flowers.
I already miss my friends from home. I am starting my new school in a few weeks so I will meet people there, but until then I will be on my own. I wish I had a brother or sister to play with. Dad is starting his new job tomorrow so we are keeping our fingers crossed that it goes ok.
I hope everything is good back in England. The weather is much hotter over here than it was at home but I hope you are having a good summer too and it is not raining too much. Have you found a new Bingo club to go to since your old one closed down?
Write back to me very soon. Mum said she would give you the address in her letter and our new phone number too so you can call us. Lots of love,
Polly.