Outted by Twitter, writers galore and a song writing session

Morning folks, I’m back with a weekly round up of my musings. I have to say it has been an interesting week – in numerous ways.

Tuesday – was definitely a strange day. I discovered at lunchtime that a close family friend was now ‘following’ me on Twitter – a life long friend, who may I add, knows nothing of my writing and musings. Several months ago, he’d signed up to follow the surname, but had ‘unfollowed’ within the hour having read the mini bio and quite obviously thought ‘nope that isn’t her’ – hee hee it was! But Tuesday, he knew it was me having cleverly linked my Twitter status ‘supping Starbuck’s at uni’ and my Facebook status ‘A day at uni’ – clever bugger. This might seem frightfully normal to some but, and here’s my point, he is now the only individual apart from my mother and one girlfriend that stand outside of my writing circles. He, and possibly his wife, are literally the first people to know my secret! My face must have been a picture when I saw the email confirmation ‘Jakes???? is following you on Twitter’, a gasp escaped me, followed by a giggle but in some ways I’m delighted, it’s beginning to feel right that others should know what the hell I’ve been doing for near on 16 years!!!!! So, Ian and Emma – welcome, to my secret.

Wednesday saw the Mad Hatters writing meeting in Atherstone – to which I might add, we were all late – every last one of us – which gave me an idea for a story! There was a lot to talk about, ideas and new ventures flying about the place. I hadn’t taken an extract from my novel but a poem instead Mr Fox – which a member had requested, having missed it the time before. But, as so often happens when writers and poets meet, the big and little hand soon surprised us by calling bed time.

Thursday evening was the highlight of my writing week – an evening of short stories at Coalville organised by my other writing group, Grace Dieu Writers Circle – where The Runaway Writers of Burton, Charnwood Writers of Loughborough and Ashby Writers Club of Ashby-De-La-Zouch (I love that name) came together to share our work. There was lots of talk of planning a ‘write off’ between the four groups – which fingers crossed, Tony will set about organising. Each writing group had previously voted three members’ to represent their group – thankfully a piece of my work had been chosen by the Grace Dieu members. I felt quite honoured, especially as I only joined them in the spring, to represent the groups' talent by reading ‘Caught in the act’.

Yesterday, I booked myself onto a song writing workshop happening Monday, 28^th November, from 7:30pm, in Lichfield. The two hour session is being organised and run by Barry Hunt - contact barry@barryhunt.co.uk for further details.  I thought, why not? If I can attend poetry nights purely for pleasure and inspiration, I can attend a song writing session – who knows what creative powers might be released to aid my novel writing. Plus, I can at least sing/play instruments, which is a bonus compared to my struggles with poetry. Though Barry, if you’re reading this ‘no, I’m not singing’.

This morning, having washed the poodle, as cream carpets and garden mud don’t mix well – I composed a poem about a flip flop, as part of my mini poetry project. So far, I have poems for ballet slipper, a knitted bootee, doggy bootee, swimming sock, wellington boot, stiletto heel, plimsoll, and now, a flimsy flip flop. I’ve compiled a list of footwear, twenty in total, so will continue with the project until I’ve exhausted the list. After which, I’ll begin another little idea that has sprung from no where.... more said another time. 

This week I’ve devoured a book ‘Toast’ by Nigel Slater, a British chef – a beautifully written autobiography in which he links every memory to food. It’s been a gastronomic delight to dip into his world, so skilfully written to connect reader and writer, that I’ve shouted aloud a couple of times in recognition of particular sensations and smells.

I am, still plodding along with Middlemarch by Eliot, it’s going to be a long haul to reach the back cover but I am determined to do it by 31^st March 2012 – see April Fool list.

The plan for today, is to tether myself to my writing desk in order to proofread another few chapters of ‘Her’ – hunting for typos and punctuation errors. As always, you can follow me on Twitter by searching for Odwyer_author  - providing daily musings from my creative world.

Next Tuesday, 15th November see the launch of a new poetry evening in Ashby-De-La-Zouch (I love it) at The Giggling Goblin coffee bar, Mill Lane from 8:30pm onwards - promising to be a night of music, song, recitals and readings. The event is planned for the third Tuesday of each month and everyone is welcome. 

And finally, a huge shout out to followers in Latvia – thank you for your support and I hope my blog inspires in some small way.

Follow up - 13.11.11: I've just realised that I'm at university on Tuesday evening so won't be able to attend the Ashby poetry night - I am sure it'll be a fabulous night. I instead, I'll be discussing the reputation of Stalin - if the discussion is anything like art history - I'm walking out (honestily, I am). Or another plan would be to stay listening but begin planning for a short story about our previous art history class! 

Saturday afternoon, I created a 'football boot' poem in honour of the 'friendly' match between England and Spain (Grrrrr, I hate friendlies) and I polished an Armstice Day poem drafted on 11.11.11. Not to mention the two chapters of 'Her' that I proofread - phewwwww.