It's funny how, when reading anthology submissions, they seem to go in 'waves': three or four good, then three or four not so good. That's was how the process seemed to go yesterday as I made my way through the poems beginning 'L' and 'M'. And I can't help but wonder if there is someone … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 8th July →

Having shifted the sequence of a small number of episodes in 'Z', drafting resumed with some vigour yesterday. I've now reached over 26k words (for those of you who like to measure such things), and the projection for the whole is now 100k. If finished, it will be a rambling portmanteau kind of novel with … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 7th July →

I must have been feeling a little more generous during one of my NC:5 submission reviewing sessions yesterday as a higher proportion made it straight to the shortlist. Either that or it was the happy accident of a few good poems that happened to be alphabetically sequential... The overall ratios - 25%, 35%, 40% for … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 6th July →

Given I spent much of yesterday out, there's little surprise in the fact that I only managed a skim-edit of Monday's 'Z' work and the reading of some more NC:5 submissions. For the latter, a little over 20% are making it straight to 'shortlist', and about 35% to 'longlist'. Is that the norm at this … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 5th July →

As anticipated, I began the selection process for New Contexts: 5 yesterday alongside some 'Z' drafting which (I have to say) went very well in that it flowed, I was into the character I was working on etc. I must have spent over an hour in a single session simply adding to the stock of … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 4th July →

A very quiet day yesterday with virtually no work other than a little 'Z' drafting. And I'm afraid the reason is a little feeble... There was sport on the TV. Ever since I was a kid I've devoured most sports when they're on TV - especially live sport. Yesterday it was the Irish Derby (I've … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 3rd July →

Yesterday I finally got round to something I'd been planning to do for about three weeks: namely recording Crash for my podcast. It wasn't the same sitting at the desk reading it of course; I missed the movement and the action - some of which leant character to the 'voices' in the piece. And it … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 2nd July →

It's hard to believe that yesterday saw the end of the first half of 2023 and my 182nd diary post. I don't know about you, but when I get to July I always wonder where March, April and May went... But at least it was a day where I managed to do a little work … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 1st July →

It was our monthly Contextual virtual poetry reading event yesterday, the nineteenth since November 2021. Every time I think about the number of meetings we've had, and the group's longevity, I'm amazed. And I think I can call it a 'group' now given we have a loyal band of poets from which each month at … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 30th June →

That was a bit more like it! I managed a chunk of 'Z' drafting yesterday, plus there was Ripon Writers' Group in the evening. Unfortunately our booked speaker was unable to make the meeting last night so we had an evening of members reading their own work - including a 15-minute play about a bunch … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 29th June →