As it is National Poetry Day I thought I’d share one of my poems. Sky Ballet was first published in Sarasvati Magazine (Indigo Dreams Publishing 2017) and later in my poetry pamphlet Taxus Baccata (The Hedgehog Poetry Press – 2020)
I was inspired to write Sky Ballet after witnessing a huge murmuration over the M40 back in 2015 when my youngest son was studying at Warwick University and my husband and I were on our way for a visit. Unfortunately the photos I took while a passenger in the car were not very good so I can’t take credit for the photograph below. This image was found on Pixabay.
If you like my poem and would like to read more you can purchase a copy of Taxus Baccata at half price by going here.
Happy National Poetry Day everyone. Why not celebrate by writing a poem?
It is a delight today to introduce Julie Stevens, a fellow poet from the wonderful Hedgehog Poetry Press. Julie has come along to chat about her writing and shares her poem, Bird. Without further ado it’s over to Julie.
My Writing
Julie Stevens
I’ve always loved words. For years, I was heavily involved in local theatre, both acting and singing, with a bit of dancing, if you could call it that! Later I became a teacher, encouraging a love of words in children. Being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) over thirty years ago brought this to an end, but it led me into writing, although only in more recent years. Writing poetry is my love now and my poems normally give an insight into my life with MS.
At first, I just wrote for myself, but was soon supported in sharing with everybody. I’d been told my poems were relatable and speak of MS in a way that helps people understand the illness and disability in general. The website was born! Being diagnosed with a progressive illness is devastating. The therapeutic side of writing is well-known, but being able to share my words and know they have such a positive effect on others is a joy.
Being in a quiet, still space is where I start. Ideas will come from what’s inside, quite literally, MS is bursting with them, or from poetry books I’ve read, or the everyday. I’m always looking for that spark. I like to keep writing and spend time editing later. Every day if possible. Sometimes an idea grows into another one and there’s another poem or two!
In September 2020, my first pamphlet Quicksand was published by Dreich, having come second in their chapbook competition. Poems that show the ups and downs of being disabled, how I view the illness, hopes for the future and how I learn to fly amongst other things.
In June 2021, my micro pamphlet of poems, a Stickleback calledBalancing Act, was a joint winner in a competition with Hedgehog Poetry Press. It’s about staying on your feet, keeping going and finding the colour. I’ve had great feedback on both pamphlets and I’m delighted to know my next collection of poems will be published in 2022 by Hedgehog Poetry Press.
It dawned on me that this was a great fundraising opportunity, so I have started selling these books and donating the proceeds to the MS Trust. The MS Trust have helped me so much over the 30 years and counting in which I’ve had MS, in particularly from the MS nurses I’ve had regular contact and advice from and their informative leaflets, magazines that have brought understanding. It was time to give back and say thank you. So far, I have raised over £450 for the MS Trust in such a short time which is brilliant.
Bird – Julie Stevens
I scooped handfuls of pink confetti,
gave it wildly to the sky and watched it
float down to my hair, cheeks, nose, wings
and there I was, perched on my branch of blossom
singing thanks to my velvet landing and
wings of release. My beak looks fine don’t
you think? Playing this rousing tune to all
around, collecting delight in my chocolate opal feathers,
skinny legs, like hers down the road
and royal stretching wings. But I can’t stay.
I need to taste the lift once more, feel the rush
and hover light knowing I’m safe.
I’ll return to the grind when I’m done,
these wings show me what it’s like to soar.
Come now, ride with me, you won’t
stumble in clouds.
~~~
Well done, Julie, on raising money for MS Trust. Good luck with the future fundraising. Thank you for sharing your amazing poem, Bird, with my readers.
About Julie Stevens
Julie Stevens writes poems sometimes reflecting the impact Multiple Sclerosis (MS) has on her life. Her poems have recently been published on Ink Sweat & Tears, in Sarasvati (Indigo Dreams) and on the Honest Ulsterman. Her winning Stickleback pamphlet Balancing Act was recently published by Hedgehog Poetry Press (June 2021) and her debut chapbook Quicksand by Dreich (Sept 2020).
My guest on Patricia’s Pen today is the lovely author, Tania Crosse, who writes the most gorgeous books. Tania’s here today to chat about her writing so without further ado it is over to Tania.
My Writing
Tania Crosse
Hello, everyone! And a huge thank you to Patricia for having me as her guest today!
Let me start by telling you a little about myself. I’d wanted to be an author since I was a child. I’d always written stories, but it wasn’t until my family had grown up that I had time to pursue my dream. On a visit to Morwellham Quay in Devon, once the greatest copper port in Queen Victoria’s Empire, I experienced several flash visions of Victorian characters, so vivid that they inspired what became my debut novel. I then turned my attention to nearby Dartmoor, its wild, savage beauty and fascinating history. Just imagine living in this unforgiving, brutal landscape in days gone by! So I set about writing a series of exciting, dynamic tales to interpret different aspects of local history, all packed full of poignant drama.
Originally published between 2004 and 2014, I’m delighted that the series has recently been re-released by Joffe Books, with two titles reaching Amazon Number One Best-seller! Each book can be read individually, but it’s best to follow them in order if possible.
Let me tell you a little about Book One, THE HARBOUR MASTER’S DAUGHTER. In the late 1860s, Morwellham is facing a devastating era of change that mirrors the troubled coming of age that Rebecca, spirited daughter of the harbour master, must experience. It is both a passionate and, at times, harrowing love story, and a tale of intrigue and deceit among a community already fighting for its survival. As Rebecca struggles to secure her own future, she discovers the port is in jeopardy from the same enemy and she alone can save it.
In Book Two, THE RIVER GIRL, the young heroine, Elizabeth, is brought up on her uncle’s lowly tenant farm on Dartmoor. The subject of jealousy, obsession and revenge, can she ever be in charge of her own destiny or will she remain a hostage of her past? Even the man she comes to love holds a dark secret, and they each have to face their demons in a terrifying climax.
The sagas that followed are based on different aspects of the area’s history, the clues being in the titles! We have THE GUNPOWDER GIRL, THE QUARRY GIRL and THE RAILWAY GIRL, before we move from the Victorian era to WWI with THE WHEELWRIGHT GIRL and THE AMBULANCE GIRL. But there are also two Dartmoor stories set in 1950s, LILY’S JOURNEY and HOPE AT HOLLY COTTAGE, currently published by Allison and Busby.
But it doesn’t end there. I went on to write four 20th Century sagas for Aria Fiction, set in London & the south-east: NOBODY’S GIRL,A PLACE TO CALL HOME, THE CANDLE FACTORY GIRL and major-award winning THE STREET OF BROKEN DREAMS. So, what next? Well, I’m currently writing a saga that starts in Ireland before moving to Plymouth and going through the Blitz and beyond. Quite a marathon task! But do you know what? I just love the challenge!
~~~
About Tania Crosse
Tania Crosse was born in London, but at a young age, moved to Surrey where her love of the countryside took root. She wanted to be an author since childhood, but after obtaining a degree in French Literature, life took over. It wasn’t until her children were older that she began writing seriously. She has now had published nine historical novels set on her beloved Dartmoor, while The Street of Broken Dreams, the last of four Twentieth Century sagas set in London and the south east, won Best Saga in the 2020 awards of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Two of her Devon titles have obtained Best Selling status on Amazon.
It gives me great pleasure today to invite along a fabulous poet, Rachel Deering, who I got to know via Twitter. Rachel has come along to Patricia’s Pen to chat about her writing and she also shares a poem. Without further ado, it’s over to Rachel.
My Writing
Rachel Deering
In January, 2020, just as the pandemic was unfolding, my debut poetry collection Crown of Eggshell was published. I had started writing again after ten years, rejoined the wonderful writers’ site, ABCTales, and tentatively started a Twitter account with the thought that I ought to be on social media of some description in order to promote my collection. I had no idea what I was doing. However, I gradually met some of the loveliest people in the poetry community on Twitter, including participating in #TopTweetTuesday most weeks, courtesy of @blackboughpoems.
I regularly share my poetry on Twitter via links to ABCTales. I write as ‘onemorething’ on the site. I can fully recommend the site to any writer – another kind and supportive community. I started writing when I was very young as a medium for expressing my feelings (badly) and continued into adulthood. I only began sharing my poetry though in my early thirties and was published in a number of anthologies. I have always used and been drawn to writing poetry as an outlet for self-expression, but through the editing process for my collection, I feel that I have become a more confident writer.
Crown of Eggshell is a collection of poems that I intended to be a journey of recovery – of movement from darkness to light. I love birds so there are regular references and also to my love of mythology and folklore. My inspiration comes from a personal connection I feel to something I have seen, heard or read – whether it’s on a walk, a painting, a radio programme, or a book about wildlife.
Nightingales – Rachel Deering
These plain nightingales are monks who chant in secret, hymns of constellations, cloistered in brown robes, to hide and stalk the refectories of their woodland floors, blended to this umbered domain. All the brightness is in the notes that ring out; we could hear the magic of it, as if the sepia of their plumage had drawn the colour out and thrown it into the air as new quavers that voice our more modest hopes and wishes. They sing their nocturnal prayers for Spring and love, a dance of fantails and nests of dark emeralds.
~~~
About Rachel Deering
Rachel Deering was born in Devon, but has lived in lots of different places around the UK. She is now settled in Bath. Rachel has worked in education for over 25 years. Rachel loves long walks, wildlife, art, literature, history, mythology, folklore, fairy tales, music and her garden. She is completely devoted to her cat ‘The Bear’. Her most treasured books are The Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, The Complete Poems and Plays of T S Eliot and The Golden Bough. She is very passionate about the environment and how we treat one another in society.
It gives me the greatest pleasure to announce, hot off the press, my poetry pamphlet Sherry & Sparkly co-authored with the most talented writer, Maureen Cullen. Thank you to our wonderful editor, Mark Davidson, at The Hedgehog Poetry Press for this publishing opportunity. Mark publishes the most gorgeous books.
Sherry & Sparkly – A Poetry Conversation
Maureen and Patricia grew up hundreds of miles from each other in different countries of the UK but share common experiences of childhood in the fifties and sixties when ice laced the inside of bedroom windows and corporal punishment was common in schools. They survived to become brides, mothers, career women and technophobes. Sometimes joyous, sometimes painful, these poems are a conversation about love, hope and identity.
And look what has just landed!
Watch this space to find out how to get your pre-ordered copy.
All proceeds from signed copies will go to Cancer Research.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce Poet, Paul Brookes, to Patricia’s Pen.
My Writing
Paul Brookes
Prelude
In school something in me wrote of Morko Ryanne
Space Captain whose ship spirals
into a black hole of my parents arguments
as if it knew something was not right.
In school something in me wrote
of peeling white paint on worm ridden window sills
of my parents screams as I sat on the stairs
as if it knew something was not right
The hand that propelled the pen.
If a poem is meant to be a short, encapsulation of an experience then “prelude” neatly sums up why I began to write. Also, the genres through which I began to explore writing, sci-fi and gritty realism. Then from a quiet village school I moved to a comprehensive in Barnsley. A culture shock. I stand against bullying because I was bullied relentlessly. My parents were headmaster and teacher so lower middle class. I was “coddled”. I was the “other”. They were the “other” to me. I needed to walk in their shoes. While the sensible ones played football I sat on the sidelines scribbling in a big green book.
One Room
to myself during playtime, or lunchtime, as I pass through the school years. Teacher tells me to “stay in here.”, he points to dark lines of desks, ” if you can’t stand the cold. Purple
skin.” He closes the door on my silent nod. I recall crouching on our Rugby field, ice cracking my palms as I am bent double in pain, becoming a ruby.
I wait patrol teachers quizzical look through these classroom windows, their burst into the room, “What are you doing in here? Buck your ideas up and get outside. Who?”
I hand them a scribbled Headmaster’s note. “Never heard such nonsense!” leaves and emotes.
My first pamphlet 1993 was called The Fabulous Invention of Barnsley, came from a need to belong. It contains some Yorkshire dialect poems, too. I tried to do what Steve Ely has done with far more depth in his first collection, “Oswald’s Book of Hours”, portraying a whole community and landscape through history and language.
About Paul Brookes
Paul Brookes is a shop asst. Lives in a cat house full of teddy bears. First play performed at The Gulbenkian Theatre, Hull. His chapbooks include The Fabulous Invention Of Barnsley, (Dearne Community Arts, 1993). A World Where and She Needs That Edge (Nixes Mate Press, 2017, 2018) The Spermbot Blues (OpPRESS, 2017), Port Of Souls (Alien Buddha Press, 2018), Please Take Change (Cyberwit.net, 2018), As Folk Over Yonder ( Afterworld Books, 2019). Forthcoming Khoshhali with Hiva Moazed (artist). He is a contributing writer of Literati Magazine and Editor of Wombwell Rainbow Interviews. Had work broadcast on BBC Radio 3 The Verb and videos of his Self Isolation sonnet sequence featured by Barnsley Museums and Hear My Voice Barnsley. He also does photography commissions.
Today is a special blog to announce the release of Lynette Creswell’s first children’s picture book Hoglets’ Christmas Magic. Lynette joins me today to tell you all about it.Without further ado, it’s over to Lynette.
Hoglets’ Christmas Magic
Lynette Creswell
Hi, I’m Lynette and I’ve been writing for over thirty years. Having suffered a dysfunctional childhood, I was compelled from an early age to write stories which took me to another place. I created mythical realms and magical creatures influenced by stories such as TheFaraway Tree and The Wishing Chair, written by Enid Blyton.
Since moving to Lincolnshire in 2000 I’ve written six novels and a compilation of short stories. I’ve published four fantasy books and two romance novels although Hoglets’ Christmas Magic is my first ever children’s story.
I’ve always enjoyed writing for children. I used to write for my own children when they were small. It gave me such a buzz to see their eyes light up when they realised they were one of my characters. My husband could see how much joy writing gave me and bought me a laptop.
I didn’t write the story about the hoglets with the intention of turning them into a book. I wrote Hoglets’ Christmas Magic as a free read a couple of years ago for my blog. I uploaded the Christmas freebie and the response was phenomenal. I received a mountain of messages and emails from parents and grandparents asking when the hoglets were due to be published. Overwhelmed by the response, (and a hard push from a dear friend) I took the plunge. It’s been no easy feat to publish Hoglets’ Christmas Magic. It’s taken blood, sweat and a pandemic to turn the hoglets into a beautifully illustrated paperback.
What can readers enjoy from the book?
Hoglets’ Christmas Magic is a heart-warming tale about two adorable hedgehogs who save Christmas for a little girl. It’s a book to read on Christmas Eve or when you’d like ‘special quality time’ with your little ones.
The book’s been a huge hit with my BETA readers. A primary school teacher who read the story tweeted…
Gather your children, curl up by the fire, sip hot chocolate and enjoy a story that will make your heart glow.
A headmistress of another school emailed and said…
I wish my children were little again so I could read them such a delightful and uplifting story.
Prickles and Primrose are excited. That is until… As they decorate the Christmas tree they discover the star for the top has shattered. Not to be defeated – the brave hoglets set out into the wood to seek a substitute star but stumble across Santa instead.
What adventure will they encounter?
AND… what about the star?
If you love Winnie the Pooh you’ll fall in love with the hoglets, Prickles and Primrose, from Briar Wood
Lynette Creswell was born in London, but raised in Burnley, Lancashire. From the tender age of five she lived with her grandmother who gave her books to keep her quiet. Lynette found she had a passion for reading and started writing once she began school.
Lynette’s inspiration came from childhood books written by Enid Blyton. The Enchanted Wood and The Faraway Tree were her first taste of fantasy. In adulthood, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Series captured her own vivid imagination.
Lynette has written fantasy and romance novels but Hoglets’ Christmas Magic is her first published children’s book.
She lives in North East Lincolnshire with her husband. All her grandchildren are the apple of her eye.
To find out more about Lynette’s writing and her published books pop over to her website.
~~~
Wishing Lynette Creswell and The Hoglets’ Christmas Magic the best of luck. Don’t forget you can order your copy from HERE
It gives me great pleasure to introduce author David John Griffin. David has come along to Patricia’s Pen to chat about his writing in the form of an interview. Enjoy.
My Writing
David John Griffin
About my Books
My first book is The Unusual Possession of Alastair Stubb. The genre is gothic with supernatural elements. It is set in an English village at the turn of the last century, populated by quirky characters. The story is full of mystery, suspense and intrigue.
The second novel, Infinite Rooms, is literary and psychological. It is quietly experimental in nature. It involves a young man called Donald Clement whose fragile mind is tortured by unrequited love.
The novella is a magical realism/paranormal story, based on emails between two women who work for an animal rescue centre, interspersed with journal entries from a fictional science fiction writer. The twelve short stories range from magical realism to sci-fi.
My fourth book is a science fiction adventure, Abbie and the Portal. “Help me, I’m trapped” is the plea from a young woman named Abbie Concordia, written as a mysterious note found inside a Victorian book. Terry Bridge, a reporter for The Charington Echo, takes up the challenge to save her…from the past.
My fifth book, Turquoise Traveller, is an urban fantasy novel. It is a strange tale of a young man who wakes up on a bus and doesn’t know where he is going or where he has been. He comes to realise that reality has been overlaid with dream elements.
Where do I find inspiration?
A lot of my ideas just pop into my head, although I also gain inspiration from my dreams. Sometimes, I press the Random button on Wikipedia and that can lead me to surprising places, offering inspiration.
Tips for anyone wanting to write their first book.
I’d recommend that if you’re going to delve right into writing without any planning, at least know how you’re going to start, a rough idea of the middle, and definitely know how the novel is going to finish.
Write your first draft from start to finish without going back to edit/amend/add anything. This all happens in your second and subsequent drafts.
Who is my favourite author?
I don’t think I have a favourite – I like and admire so many – but to mention three of them would be Mervyn Peake, Angela Carter and Haruki Murakami.
My favourite book/s
I still love Mervyn Peake’s The Gormenghast trilogy, as well as Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus, One by Colin Kapp, The Moustache by Emmanuel Carrere, Twilight Journey by LP Davies, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami.
My Favourite Place to write
I have a writing desk in my shed at the bottom of the garden – I love to write there but only when the weather is warm.
Otherwise I write on the computer in a spare bedroom which we call the studio. This harks back to the day in the 90s when I actually did have a small recording studio.
What am I working on now?
I am busy writing my sixth book, another novel, called Hotel Pseudo.
~~~
About David John Griffin
David John Griffin is a writer, graphic designer, music composer and app designer. His first three books were published by Urbane Publications: a gothic novel called The Unusual Possession of Alastair Stubb, a literary/psychological novel, entitled Infinite Rooms, and a magical realism/paranormal novella with stories called Two Dogs At The One Dog Inn And Other Stories. He has stories published in four anthologies, one of those stories shortlisted for The HG Wells Short Story Competition 2012. In 2018, he self-published a science fiction adventure called Abbie and the Portal, and has a fourth novel called Turquoise Traveller published in 2019.
Patricia M Osborne 