Oh questions. Poemy questions.

Okay, so when I decided to go on a Fielding Programme retreat, I thought great. Some time away to work on my collection. I'll have all my poems, and I'll edit all the ones I don't hate, and something will emerge. I do still think this, but it's dawning on me how much work editing actually is - and why I go to such seemingly great lengths to avoid doing it, without even realising until hindsight kicks in. I am more than a little daunted about sitting in a room with Bookbook and 'putting a collection together'. I actually have no idea what this actually, minute-to-minute, involves.

Also, I have questions. Questions that I know don't really have definitive answers. Like, what's the deal with adding new poems? When is it too late to add new ones, which haven't had as much time as the others to settle and mature? Does it run the risk of becoming disjointed, if you keep old ones as well as adding new? Does anyone's voice really change enough for anyone but the author themselves to notice? Should I just save new ones for the next collection? What if I want some of the poems to be gathered together in subject-matter in a pamphlet-length collection? Should I try and get something like this published before a collection? Is it okay to have poems in both?

I'm sure Polly will be able to help with these questions, but for now I feel like I'm about to leap into some sort of poemy abyss of indecision. I guess I'll have to have a good go at discovering my own answers to these questions next week, even if it's just for the sake of getting my money's worth. I am taking my running shoes, and my swimming costume (in case there are any tempting-looking lochs and half-decent weather) for physical, worthwhile thinking-time distraction. And my camera, for non-related creative distraction.

And Teach Yourself Writing Poetry - just in case.

Contemplation.

Hello!

Here I am again, full of apologies again, but this time for a much bigger gap. I have been contemplating what to do with this blog, as it has recently come to my attention that some competitions and publications see previous publication of poems on a personal blog as disqualifying them from consideration. This is a problem, as I'm sure you can imagine, as there's no point in writing a load of poems and then not being able to send them anywhere (not that success and acceptance is usual, but you can't live your life so pessimistically that you don't take these things into consideration!)

So. What to do with a creative blog that I can't really post poems on any more? Yes. Well. This is the question. As you can probably tell, I haven't actually come up with an answer to this dilemma, so here the blog remains.

I am going on a retreat at The Fielding Programme in a week or so, so perhaps I could blog about the process of trying to put a collection together whilst staying in the beautiful surroundings of Cove Park?

Perhaps you would be interested in hearing of my new barefoot running addiction? No? Can't say I blame you. (My new shoes are the coolest though. Really.)

How about I ditch it all and you follow me on Twitter? (@sophiefbaker). Hm, I don't like that idea. 

I think the creative process could be interesting for me to write about - mostly because I struggle with it a lot - and really, that's what this is about, isn't it. Self indulgence. So that's what I'm probably going to descend into, with the occasional poem or notes. I hope that's okay.

It's been wild.

And the aftermath of winning an award has been extremely strange. I've been in Culture Magazine! And I'm in it again! And I've bought a netbook (Bookbook to its friends)! And I'm going on an Arvon course! And I'm going to the Fielding Programme for a week in October!

And yet, and yet.. the writing is still going too. Miraculous, non?

And I know I haven't shared any here, but it's all getting a bit crazy, so I'm not sure what to make of my poems at the moment. Clearly my own opinion of my work is worth virtually.. nothing. I never expected to be in this position... yet here I am. And it is still as embarrassing and marvellous as the minute I found out.

I promise I'll post some soon.

Promise!

Well crikey.

I am humbled, and slightly embarrassed, but this is my writing blog so I guess it's okay to post this here...

Noodley noodley noodley noodley noodley

I have just been reminded of how much fun this is to say. Try it. Go on. No-one's listening, I promise. In fact, keep saying it, over and over, until you get lost in a brain loop cul-de-sac and can't get out. Fun, innit!

More people should do with this poems. In fact, next time you read one you like, make sure you read it aloud to yourself; try a 'poetic' voice, then your normal voice. Try emphasising the line breaks.. then the rhymes (or resonances).. then nothing at all, and just saying it as if it's something you're just saying.

Do you like poems? Try this: Poem-a-Day. Does what it says on the tin. With really good ones. You might find one you want to read to the room on there.

There was an Alice in Cumberland party last Friday. I was dressed as a Momerath. Not that you could tell. Those there are my legs on the left.

Readings readings...

Well May was obviously a quiet month after the splurge that was April, but here I am back after doing a real, actual, live reading at Free as a Bard at the coast (Trojan Rooms, Whitley Bay) last weekend. Needless to say, I survived the experience - it's been a long time since I got up and poemed in front of an audience - and live to write another day.

Ah yes, writing. Well, I don't have anything new to share with you at the moment, as I've been concentrating my creative efforts mostly on redrafting and organising poems which already exist (not least a couple of the worthwhile ones from NaPoWriMo). I have, however, done a little bit of photography here and there (which you can follow in full at my Flickr account). So in the tradition of Catalogue25, when I would quite often share an image with you instead of writing a poem, here is one I made earlier.

On a slightly different note, I do blog a little more regularly over at the Mslexia blog, should you ever be in the need of a few handy writing links, or a glimpse into Mslexia office gossip...

PHEW.

That was a very intense month for poetry! I did enjoy myself, though. There's nothing quite like the pressure of one-a-day to blow cobwebs through the writing muscles. Those metaphors don't work together. Maybe I've worn myself out, imagistically.

Anyway, it did enough to get me thinking about my pamphlet, and I've moved beyond thinking about it into the realms of doing something about it. So... give me a few more months and I might have something to work with! You never know, it might even include one or two of the new ones written in April..

In the meantime, I don't have anything else to share yet. But uh, watch this space? I guess?