Stop the world - I want to get off!

Sometimes I think it would be nice if the world could slow down for a couple of days, just to let everyone catch up with themselves. Certainly this past week has been helter-skelter from start to finish, with little time to draw breath - some very enjoyable events but no time to get a real grip on things. The NaNoWriMo challenge doesn't help! That's a full time job in itself.

The evening event in Droitwich, at which a group of us read poems inspired by the recent art exhibition at Hanbury Hall, went very well indeed, despite the venue owner and several attendees getting caught up in the aftermath of an accident and arriving in a rush only minutes before the start! As we had been unaware of which pictures other poets had chosen, a few of us found we had written from the same ones - for example two of us had chosen "Malvern Hills", a landscape by Peter Hawkins. Far from being a problem, this was fascinating; the resulting poems could not have been more different and prompted some discussion on the highly individual perceptions we have of identical situations or experiences. Many thanks to Nina Lewis, the Worcestershire Poet Laureate, for inviting me to take part in the project.

Nina Lewis

Yesterday saw an interesting workshop with Angela France on the unexpectedly poetic topic of shopping - I'm certainly no shopaholic but I can now see the value of a good bit of retail therapy as inspiration! My two favourites of the poems discussed were "The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping" by Grace Nichols and "The Seed-Shop" by Muriel Stuart - if you don't know them, they're certainly worth looking up. The workshop preceded a most enjoyable poetry lunch, hosted by my friend and colleague Kathy Alderman - lovely food and a great chance to catch up with what people are up to.

But the highlight of my week had to be the arrival of the first copies of my book, "Digging Up The Family - A Lesson In Social History". It's being published next Tuesday, November 28th, and I shall be launching it at Writers in the Brewery in Cirencester - if you're in the area, I'd be delighted if you joined us, 7 - 9pm in the New Brewery Arts Centre. The book has had a long and at times eventful gestation, so its final delivery is more than welcome!