06:30 – 14th May 2022
When yesterday’s working time concluded, I’d managed to get about 25% of the way through the second edit of ‘Reunion’. That has been the major activity of the week and has gone well. As well as some other bits and pieces, again spent a little time on drafting some of the Sonnets collection, so a ‘tick’ there too.
For the evening read-around I chose the opening section of ‘Reunion’ and the poem ‘A York Weekend’. Again the feedback was really positive, and I’m truly grateful for the contributions of my fellow ‘retreaters’.
Sold nine books at the end of the evening, the main take-away for me was that I probably need to limit what I offer for sale at such events to perhaps three or four volumes. Having the majority of the books I’ve written displayed on a single table was, on reflection, a little daunting – including for me! So for Lincoln, I may restrict what I take to sell (or at least display).
More importantly, I think this week has – in various ways – demonstrated that there would be value in creating a ‘Selected Poems’ by skimming the cream from my individual collections to-date. Having tentatively started that process, it is one I will endeavour to see through this year.
In addition to being productive, has this week answered all the questions I arrived here with? Largely; some specifically, others more vaguely. Which can only be a positive step forward.
I look forward to returning to Garsdale in the future, maybe next year – certainly I won’t leave it four-and-a-half years as I did before!
Ian Gouge - Writer 