Very nearly there!

For a short book that was meant to take a relatively limited amount of time, my present project has turned into a bit of a marathon! But the finishing line is definitely in sight now and the manuscript will be with the printer tomorrow. I have enjoyed working on it though. Life writing has been a particular interest of mine for many years now. "Writing A Life" offers guidance to people wanting to chronicle a story (their own or someone else's); it's based on the insights I've gained working with individuals and groups in the community and in residential care settings. Attendees at several workshops that I've run have contributed to the book too, and I'm very grateful for their input - it demonstrates beautifully the wide variety of styles and approaches that people can adopt.

As usual at the end of a project, there's a fair amount of catching up to do on the non-literary fronts! Things that have definitely gone on the back burners while writing fills the days. So it's time for a blitz on those before getting back in harness and picking up the pieces on the pilgrimage write-ups. Now the  autumnal weather is limiting the possibilities for the actual walks but at least I have the pleasure of doing again on paper the ones I've already done - as Laurie Lee said about autobiographical writing, that revisiting is "a celebration of living and an attempt to hoard its sensations".

National Poetry Day 2025

Happy National Poetry Day! For some of us every day is a poetry day but for so many people poetry simply doesn't feature on their horizon. Today the national festival, begun by the Forward Arts Foundation in 1994, is bringing it a little more into focus all over the country - in libraries and community centres, on social media and (crucially) in schools. The theme this year is "Play" and there are so many innovative resources available through the website to prompt all of us to have a play with, and to get creative with, words. From early childhood, poetry has been an integral part of my life and I firmly believe that every child has a right to enjoy it and to learn as much from it as I have.

At the moment though I’m focused very much on prose. A deadline that seemed an age away is now looming very large. I’ve got a half-completed manuscript that needs finishing, editing and sending off for printing within the next three weeks. Time pressure always focuses my mind but also panics me; with every publication I think “Next time it’ll be different” but it never is!

A big thank you though to the people who came to my Writing Our Lives workshop in Tintern last Saturday. It was, as always, such a privilege to share people's memories, to hear about their struggles and successes, their hopes and aspirations, and to help them think through ways of getting all those down on paper, both for themselves and for a wider audience. A really enjoyable and worthwhile day.