News

News!

Where have I been?

In Autumn 2019 I went on maternity leave and post maternity leave/the arrival of my beautiful baby boy, I’ve been being a mum and getting back to work. I was still writing poetry – mainly as a form of therapy to help me navigate my way through early motherhood. Also as a way of dealing with many a sleepless night! I’m back now, creatively, and back with as much passion for writing as I’ve ever had. I’m currently enjoying how much being a mum is enriching and evolving my writing. 

Competitions

In 2020, my ten-line poem ‘Caked’ was one of twenty six poems out of one hundred and seventy one entries chosen by award winning judge John McCullough to feature in Shoreham Wordfest’s anthology of ten-line poems. To read ‘Caked’, and purchase the anthology – celebrating ten years of words written, spoken and sung – click HERE.

I was so happy that something I wrote during the first few months post birth received recognition. I was worried that lack of sleep had killed off all my brain cells but apparently a number managed to survive! 

Published Work

Most recently, my poem ‘Parliament in session’ was chosen by editors Nikki Dudley and Trini Decombe to feature in Streetcake magazine’s February 2021 issue. To read ‘Parliament in session’ and have a read of the fabulous edition this month click HERE

Streetcake is an online magazine publising diverse and experimental writing that has been in existence since 2008. To be featured on such a fantastic platform with an array of poetry that takes unusual and inspirational approaches to form feels SUPER AWESOME! 

At the end of 2019, three of my poems from my upcoming debut pamphlet The Isolation Hospital were chosen by editors Amanda McLeod and Mela Blust to feature in Animal Heart Press‘ Womxn’s Anthology. This inspiring anthology is available to purchase HERE in paperback and via amazon as an eBook. I mentioned this on social media but never got around to posting about it here. I was, and still am, so excited to be part of such an inclusive collection of poems that tell the stories of the journey, trials, and triumphs of womxn.’

#JanuaryChallenge 2021

I was feeling a bit stagnant after Christmas and decided to sign up to 64 million artists January Challenge. I received a creative challenge straight to my inbox every day for the whole of January, inspiring me to write and think outside the box creatively. I felt like I wanted to prove to myself that I could still be creative on a regular basis despite being busy with work and looking after my little boy. I also really wanted to kickstart my year off in a positive way.

I’m going to do a whole post on this as it was such a fantastic experience. For now though, I’ll share one of my favourite responses below: 

#WeeklyChallenge

I’ve now signed up to 64 million artists Weekly Challenge which runs year round! I want to keep my hand in creatively, so to speak, and this seemed like a great way to continue from the fun I had with The January Challenge. I’ve posted one of the challenges below and will aim to share each week as I go! 

Challenge:
 
Collect words throughout your day or the week.
 
You could tear them from newspapers, magazines, letters or anything else you find. Collect words you hear or see and write them down. Screenshot words on your device, or find them in your imagination.
 
Choose words you find interesting or pick them at random. When you have a collection of words, choose how to arrange them. Or throw them into the air and see how they fall. Find an interesting way to display and share your word cloud!

I formed my word cloud from words given by friends and family, words I found on my daily walk and words provided by an online random word generator! For my first poem I was inspired by the words: scatter and self. For my second poem I was inspired by the words: fragment, approval and leave.

Hope you’ve enjoyed reading my news – watch this space for more! As always, feel free to comment below and share your own poetry as I’d love to have a read. 

L x

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