Fox on a Boat

During Poetry Parnassus here in London, at Southbank, I went to a poetry workshop run by Poems On The Underground. I joined a small group of people led by an older woman, armed with clipboard, paper and pen. Thanks to London's wonderful transport system, (and admittedly, my own slight lateness), I'd missed about 5 minutes of the workshop, so arrived as the group was completing the first task: Write three lies about yourself. I listened as the group all lied in turn, and we moved to the next task, which was to write three fantasies. I slightly misunderstood and wrote three big lies - but what we had to write was three IMPOSSIBLE things. My statements were all possible, but they still did their job, which was to spark a poem idea. One girl wrote about her pet lion called Jeffrey, which was pretty cool. She'd written it from the perspective of a rejected lover, and the mixing of the two 'plots' was nicely done. Another wrote about a pink unicorn, which was slightly...

...I can't write. I have no time. I have nothing to write about. Already I can hear some of you telling me none of these are true. And yes, time has to be made, and there are many things to write about, and if I'm honest with myself, I don't write so badly as to give up writing completely. However I have been finding it rather difficult to write recently, especially with work. One big problem is that I have a deadline, the end of June, to write enough words to fill a small book. Any words. I was going to mix and match non-fiction as well as fiction, but I am very rusty on the fiction. My childish aspirations of becoming a writer fade away more and more with the passing of time. I also tend to have random moments of intense creativity, in the sense that I suddenly want to make 101 things all at once. (So none get finished.) I then have moments where I just want to sleep and do nothing at all, and I have long discussions with myself about why I am useless at art and writi...

Globe to Globe festival timeline I have not been updating this blog as often as I'd like to.. These last few weeks have been crazy busy - new job, exam preparation, writing and sending off coursework.. I sat my first exam today, one down, one to go. I am not sure about how well I did, only time will tell. However this does not mean I have more free time, as I now have to get prepared for the next one, which will be harder and for which I feel much more baffled. As well as college work, I now seem to be living at work, who delight in giving me long night shifts. I fear I shall turn into an owl soon - though this wouldn't be so bad if I had the eyesight to go with it, and I quite like owls - however I now have no more life, social or otherwise. I can't even socialise with myself any longer, something I greatly love doing.. I suppose it will take time before I get used to this change, and find a way of managing it all so I still get my much needed 'alone time'.. ...

Spring Blossom I've not written for too long. It's not necessarily that I have nothing to write about, it's just forming it on the page that can be difficult.. I can sometimes get really excited about certain things, but then I am unsure of how to phrase them , phrase the experience, the feelings that passed through me then.. Writing is perhaps easy, but writing well - Well, I suppose the same can be said for many things! Poetry, for example. Can you write a poem? Sure you can! Can you write a good poem? If not now, you probably will at some point, if you keep trying. That is what I tell myself, when I look at my poetry and feel talentless. In November, I mentioned I was participating in NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month, where the challenge is to write 50,000 words or more during November. I did write those 50,000 words, and hopefully it helped me somehow. This month I learnt about NaPoWriMo - National Poetry Writing Month , where the aim is to wri...

I saw a lovely oil painting of a cat the other day, it inspired me to try and paint some 'blocky cats'. I like them when they look simple. They are both watercolour paintings, but I am working on some acrylic ones, too. :) I plan to paint more often and will be adding paintings to my 'Block Cats' collection in the next weeks or so. :)

A little friend enjoying the pre-Spring sunshine I've been meaning to write a post sooner, but it never seems to quite happen... It's either half-baked ideas or none at all, or I somehow discover it's rather late and I've been occupied with classical music, looking at funny photos and writing to people. (Ok, I'm making it sound serious and excusable.. I may also spend time looking at LOLcats too..) But I also spend a great deal of time talking about how I'm going to write a blog post soon. And paint a picture, write more poetry, write my essays.. Well, you know how it goes, you talk about doing things instead of doing them. Or you actively procrastinate. A deadline coming up and you need to finish writing that essay? Now is a great time to start cleaning the house! A presentation to finish for class tomorrow? Let's sort out the clothes in colour piles. (OK, I don't really do that second one. Alright, maybe not the first one either, not the whole ho...

Coffee for a Concert, Oil on canvas The above picture is of an oil painting of mine, inspired by a lunchtime concert I went to on Friday 2nd March at Charlton House. (It is also my second attempt at oil painting!) In France, it is habitual to have coffee after eating lunch, hence the title. I have already written a post involving classical music , where I tried as best I could to explain, to some extent, how classical music makes me feel. This concert was slightly different in a few ways, though no less enjoyable. In my first blog post, I mentioned wanting to be a writer from a young age. Since then, it's come to my mind that, in a way, I have achieved my dream: I am a writer. I may not be published, I may not be known, but I write. It may not be what I expected as a young child, but it is just as significant. I write because I want to, not to get paid. It isn't always easy, and my unfrequent blog updates are a reflection of this, but I write. This is, as expected, linked to my...