Saturday 20 August 2011

Friday 19 August 2011

Television

Is too much tv bad for me?

Yes.

And how do I know when I've been watching too much tv?

I start thinking in an American accent.

We are not talking 'adult American' here. Nothing sophisticated. Not even something out of Friends.

No. More like something out of The Goonies or Home Alone. Original or the sequels, my thoughts still sound like Kevin McAlister sucking on laughing gas.

And so, my conclusions about this are that:

a) It's not conducive to writing anything intellectual.
b) It's not even conducive to writing anything funny.
c) And it definitely doesn't work for poetry.

Sunday 7 August 2011

Catching a breath

The first year of my diploma is done and dusted.

I feel both happy and sad.

Happy that I've got through this year, made friends, learnt heaps and heaps, passed the exam, the assignments and the portfolio.

But also sad that this means I am one year closer to finishing the diploma. And, fearfully, I will have to wean myself off the deadlines and comraderie and return to going-it-alone in my writing.

So I am setting some small challenges for what remains of the summer holidays.

The first is to enter as many poetry competitions as I can with existing poems I've written this past year. I don't have many, but what I have needs to be edited and sent out into the world.

The second is to put together a small collection to send to Happenstance poetry publishers. One of the rewards for having a poem awarded runner up prize in a magazine competition (Writers Forum) is to send Helena Nelson a further five poems (plus my original winner) for critical comments. There is a small chance that she will take on one of the successful poets to produce a poetry pamphlet. Well, a small chance is just that. But in the meantime I need to be writing some bloomin' poetry or I'll have nothing to send but blank sheets of paper.

The third, which kinda ties in with number two, is to get down to writing more poems. Now that I have put the house and garden straight after a year of focused neglect, I shall abandon them both again to put pencil to paper. I WILL write and I WILL NOT feel guilty about it.

btw. If you happen to be poetic it's worth checking out the Happenstance blog for great tips on submitting poetry.