Storytime

My friend, and fellow writer / artist, Jenni Ivins  recently launched her book Mind Drawing Children's Stories. I went along to the pre-launch...the launch you have during the day before the official launch that night. Jenni has been focusing on her art these last few years and this book is a collection of her pieces from the mind drawing children's stories project. Mind drawings, Jenni explains, began one day as quirky doodlings as she waited to be inspired.  Since then she has made them her own. Telling stories in her markings. This book features children's stories, and even though none of her pictures have a title, I have discovered Mary Poppins, Anne of Green Gables, Alice in Wonderland and The Very Hungry Caterpillar just to name a few. Jenni's work has been exhibited in numerous locations and galleries, and it was great to see a collection of her work now published in book format. There is no right or wrong way to see a Mind Drawing - just the ...

We've all heard stories of the writer wrestling with his/ her novel, perhaps in a cold dingy attic, or maybe after the family have gone to bed, sitting up at the kitchen table, tap tap tapping away on the computer. Alone.....always alone. Years ago I was lucky enough to meet with a group of writers and over time we formed the Lazy River Writers .  On the weekend we celebrated fifteen years together and I wanted to share fifteen reasons why this group works for me. 1. They make me accountable . I can't imagine turning up at one of our monthly meetings saying  I have written nothing. Not an idea down, not a first draft, not an edit of a haiku. Nothing. I'm positive over these fifteen years there have been times when this has happened, but it would be rare. I like the fact that this makes me do something, even if starting an ideas folder. 2. At the moment there are eight of us (a good number) and we have totally differing view points and opinions. Different lifest...

To the blog. Yep, two years ago this week I decided to put fingers to keyboard and send out into the ether my thoughts. And apparently I'm still thinking. Why did I begin? A friend of mine, Tiggy Johnson  , then editor of Page Seventeen magazine,   author, poet, writer, mother, wife, crafter...had been blogging for a while and I was interested in the process.  My first thought was how on earth could you write something new, hopefully something interesting, each week.... and something that somehow (and sometimes very tenuous) linked to the craft of writing. Surprisingly it has been easy (well up to now it has been). Because life is so varied, I find there are so many opportunities that can be written about. And since I am always struggling along with my writing, I find it good to put it out there. The rejections, the successes, the times I want to hit my head against a wall because nothing is working out like I thought it would. At times it ...