THE BLOG TOUR

What am I am working on?
At the moment I’m working on promoting my book The Moth Box which was published last October. Although it is available from Amazon and from the Parthian website I’m trying to get it put in local bookshops and art galleries . I’m having some success and it was in the window at Bookworm and is stocked in the Aberystwyth Arts Centre bookshop and in Leafed Through in Cardigan. Poetry books don’t sell in large numbers and so I’m doing signings and readings to help promote it while waiting for my reviews, which again will bring attention to the book.
How does my work differ from others in the genre?
Poetry is a vast genre . I write mainly in free verse. I do occasionally write in form: couplets, sonnets, villanelle and haiku are my favourite. I’ve written sestina and mirror poems too. I like to think my poetry has its own distinctive voice, but as long as I’ve achieved the best words in the best order I’m satisfied
Why do I write?
I write because I’m obsessed with letters and words, and moving them about the page in order to say something original, or something I think is original. It is a need inside me to make patterns out of letters.
How does my writing process work?
Sometimes it is inspiration or a visual image. This morning it was the magpies again . I look out on them from the office window. I store the image until I have time to note it down. Often my inspiration comes from the natural world: the turn of the seasons, the colour of the sky in the morning. sometimes these images go no further, but sometimes they lift off the ground like the magpies into a verse .

Next week The Blog Tour takes us to poets Martin Locock-http://martinlocock.blogspot.com/ and
Jackie Biggs-http://jackie-news.blogspot

THE MOTH BOX

After a long break from my blog,I'm back with my new collection of poetry The Moth Box which is available from bookshops and from Amazon. I am giving readings and book signings to promote it.

Honno's Poem of the Month

Delighted to have Honno's first poem in their new Poem of the Month slot in this their celebratory 25th anniversary year. http://www.honno.co.uk/potmjuly12.php Zig Zag For Mary MacGregor There are no stars tonight as we walk into the dark from the light of the bookshop talking about words and time. 'I love the Welsh word for time, amser' you say breaking it down into am and ser, translating it around stars. You talk about Dylan Thomas: 'And time has ticked a heaven round the stars' writing amser in the margin of his poem. You are a face at poetry readings, a lover of words, you tell me another favourite: igam-ogam, Welsh for zig-zag. Time parts us in the car park, you make for Rhayader, and I for Aberaeron, I take with me words like stars to light my zig-zag way. Sue Moules has had work in two Honno anthologies: • Exchanges, poems by women in Wales, edited by Jude Brigley (1990) • On My Life, edited by Leigh Verrill-Rhys (1989) She has been widely published in literary magazines including Poetry Wales, New Welsh Review, Planet, Ambit, The North, Orbis, Acumen and Roundyhouse. Her work has appeared in many anthologies including The Whispering Room (Kingfisher), Poetry Wales 25 years (Seren), The Ground Beneath Her Feet (Cinnamon), The Voice of Women in Wales(Wales Women's Coalition), Of Cake and Words (Cledlyn), A Star Fell From Orion (Peter, Bridge and Stephen).

Hay Festival

Well, I'm back on the blog,after a 9 month break. A wet and stormy Hay celebrating its 25th birthday. Honno,the Welsh Women's Press, were also celebrating 25 years,and I am a proud owner of one of the original shares.

October

October - a long time since my last blog, but nothing writerly has happened. When I don't commit to writing then I drift. Anyway, a photo of the fantastic Virginia Creeper in the garden which is lifting my spirits at the moment, as I think about an elegy I want to write for a friend.

YOU WRITE LIKE

So I think I'll give it a go and type in a piece of fiction.It's analysed as like James Joyce. Wow,I admire Joyce, although I still have't finished Ulysees,and have no intention of reading Finnegan's Wake,but I love Portrait of the Artist and Dubliners.

Then I type in a poem, and again it's analsed as James Joyce style. I'm feeling really smug.Then I think perhaps it's fixed so I type in my shopping list and that is not in James Joyce style! This has me thinking about my voice and my style-the aim of every writer is to have their own style, their own voice, so I need to keep writing until I've found it.

After 3 months not blogging I'm back-thank you Rachel America for telling me you'd read my blog. I thought only two of my friends read this! I wish more people would follow me if they read it, as it seemed crazy writing it for two friends I see weekly and talk about the events I blog about.

A writing course in North Wales and I'm inspired again! But back to the kick and hurt of reality,and a car that worked well last week tells me with its computer tickertape that it has "engine failure" and a red light comes on.Back to the garage again.

Still last week was brilliant. Time to relax and write,talk poetry,read poetry,swim in the sea and eat fantastic flavoured ice cream.