Poets' Corner, Degas and 'Anonymous'

Morning folks, there is a definite Autumnal nip in the air here in England. I have a stinking cold which I’ve battled all week, but hey, I’ll live. The week has been filled with lots of creative ideas and many have come to fruition.

I started the week by visiting Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey – which thrilled me to think of the great and the good side by side – some interesting neighbours; Charles Dickens lying next to Thomas Hardy (minus the heart, of course). This trip/event was included on my 40^th April Fool list so I was pleased to tick that as completed. Whilst in London, I attended the Degas exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art – a wonderful display of the ballerina work – though the additional movement material wasn’t truly necessary – Degas pictures were enough for one exhibition.


Regards the April Fool list - I also struck off the 'eating a fresh oyster' task - I purchased a dozen from a local supermarket and made a dish of white wine sauce and parmesan cheese - they were gorgeous! 

Wednesday saw me spending the morning editing a short story that I wrote a year or two ago called ‘Every move you make...’ which mentions Poets’ Corner and which I now plan to send to the Ashby Short story competition closing date 30^th November. Having seen Poets’ Corner, I now realised that you couldn’t take pictures and so had to change my short story as the original plot had included a photograph but now, da darr, contains a sketch book.

Wednesday evening, I attended Mad Hatters’ Writers’ Group, where I read the two poems I’d written last Saturday morning, ballet slipper and Mr Fox. Both were received well, and I explained that since writing them I’ve had ideas about a poem for a knitted bootie and a stiletto heel – so a mini collection seems to be appearing. As I got ready for bed that evening, the title ‘Poetry from the shoe rack’ came to mind.

Thursday morning, saw me woke with ‘knitted bootie’ complete in my head, I simply wrote it down. After breakfast, I spent an hour working on a poem for ‘stiletto heel’ - low and behold that was completed too. I shall continue my little line of shoe poetry as I walk the dog and who knows in a month or so may have something to call a new project.

Thursday evening, I attended

Grace Dieu Writing Circle

at Coalville, we are busy arranging a short story evening for 10^th November in celebration of National Short Story week (w/c 31^st Oct). Four local writing groups are attending; Grace Dieu, Ashby writers, Runaway Writers from Burton and Charnwood writers from Loughborough. I shall be reading a short story called ‘Caught in the act’ which I spoke about in last week’s blog.

I read my two poems to the group and received excellent feedback - the group also suggested I create a small collection based about footwear.  Several members expressed surprise that I'd created a poem as I usually focus on prose; short stories or my novel ‘Her’. This started quite a discussion regards us all stepping outside of our comfort zones to see what we could or could not, produce. 

Friday, saw me attend the first showing of the film ‘Anonymous’, I know, busy week hey? The film hinges on the myth that Shakespeare didn’t write the plays/poems but that others did. I wasn’t convinced myself and still truly believe that William Shakespeare did exist and wrote them. I was pleased to see they didn’t use the Christopher Marlowe argument but one I’d never heard of, and without giving the plot away here, it gave centre stage to Ben Jonson – which given his local links pleased me. I’d recommend it for a night out, if only to get the brain ticking regards the central debate.

In between all that I have managed to do some work on ‘Her’, I have set myself a new deadline of 31^st December, given that the proof readers found some errors. I will begin to reread it, searching with a fine tooth comb for any full stop out of place. I promise this book will be finished, it has too, I’ve spent too much time and energy for it not to venture out into the big wide world. 

I return back to school on Monday, which is probably when my cold will disappear. I have a music theory exam on Wednesday evening. Thursday evening, I shall be at The Fizz 10 seeing The Irish Poets in the Tithe Barn of Polesworth from 7:30pm onwards – I know everyone would be welcome to join us. See Mal Dewhirst’s blog ‘Pollyworda’ for further details (left hand panel of this blog).

My plans for today are a hike with the pup, a reading session to finish the 'Twilight' book and a music theory session - all before I settle at my desk to edit 'Her'.

So, all in all a productive and creative week, which could become a little more creative this afternoon as I have dug out my pastels to see if I can produce a picture of a ballet slipper to compliment my poem – I’ll let you know how it goes.

And finally, a big hello to all the overseas visitors to this blog - every week I am delighted to see the worldwide interest. Check out the 'Visitors from afar' section for a full list. Remember you can also follow me on Twitter by searching for Odwyer_author, I am planning to re-start my daily Tweets. Enjoy!