No cooking or washing up.Bliss!
Monday, 16 February 2015
Writers' HolidayWeekend
No cooking or washing up.Bliss!
Monday, 5 January 2015
New Year
A new year is like an empty sheet of paper.It waits for inspiration. Most people try to start the year with resolutions.
Some people succeed, but I usually don't.
The sun over the sea on a morning walk, but those walks have already disappeared, and we are only five days into a new year!
So, I shall make affirmations instead:to increase the readers of my blog, to do more readings from The Moth Box (Parthian) and The Wish Dog (Honno).
To learn to see the world from the perspective of a bird,like the fabulous heron I saw on a frosty January morning.
Friday, 14 November 2014
RE-BRANDING
As you can see my blog has had a make-over!
It now looks very exciting now and is ready for me to update with my news. My re-brand was done by Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy www.carabendon.com.and I'm delighted with the result
It now looks very exciting now and is ready for me to update with my news. My re-brand was done by Cara Bendon Brand Consultancy www.carabendon.com.and I'm delighted with the result
The Wish Dog
Last week I was involved with a book launch for The Wish Dog ,a book of ghost stories recently published by Honno,in which I have a story . I also read from The Moth Box.
Friday, 4 July 2014
Dylan 100
The Dylan exhibition at the NLW is interesting, but so many recordings going at once means nothing is heard! (In the PeterBlake/Dylan in Cardiff they had headphones). Also, the poetry pub seems to demean the quality of literature, but I suppose it's a fun way to hear poetry, that is if you can hear it over the other recordings.
Getting there is difficult as there are about 6 sets of traffic lights on the Aberystwyth road-cars go through at 6 at a time, and there are long , long tailbacks. Still the roses outside are wonderful, and you can see the notebooks (on loan from University of Buffalo). Why didn't a Welsh University buy his notebooks when he was an aspiring poet and struggling financially? It seems we still only honour dead poets who can't defend the legacy we give them.
Getting there is difficult as there are about 6 sets of traffic lights on the Aberystwyth road-cars go through at 6 at a time, and there are long , long tailbacks. Still the roses outside are wonderful, and you can see the notebooks (on loan from University of Buffalo). Why didn't a Welsh University buy his notebooks when he was an aspiring poet and struggling financially? It seems we still only honour dead poets who can't defend the legacy we give them.
Friday, 20 June 2014
MY FIRST WEEK AS A WRITER
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Now my day job has ended I have become a full time writer, and am busy promoting my book in bookshops with the offer of a reading or signing. I've contacted my publisher about an e-book, but they haven't made e-books of poetry - yet.
My book is also available on Amazon. Please leave a review when you've read it.
Friday, 25 April 2014
A Busy Week
It has been a busy week : a Red Heron meeting to plan our Summer tour of events.
Red Heron, redheronlampeter.weebly.com/ is a poetry performance group I'm part of,
which was founded two years' ago to promote our poetry. We have read at
The Carmarthen Old Town Festival,The Kings Fest,Strata Florida and the Lampeter
Food Festival, and are available for bookings.
See our website for details: redheronlampeter.weebly.com/.
A friend's book launch in Cardigan,and a chance to see the new Parthian Books catalogue,
where The Moth Box has its own publicity page .
Tuesday, 15 April 2014
Author's Notes
The Moth Box started as two collections. One was a series of poems about having lived in Wales all my adult life .The other was a collection of nature poems inspired by a course where I first encountered a moth box.
A moth box is a light box to attract moths, so that the species can be counted and identified .
It is filled with torn up egg boxes and twigs so the moths settle and sleep when the light is turned off .
In the morning the box is opened and the insects can be examined under a hand lens , identified, and then released by putting onto branches where they blend into the trees. It was exciting. I had never held a moth on my hand before.I could see the scales of pattern on its wings.
I grow Evening Primrose as it attracts insects, but the moths had just been shapes attracted to the scent of the flowers.Now, I discovered the wonderful names of moths: Scorched Wing, Tussock, White Ermine, Marbled Coronet, Phoenix. It was poetry.Both moths and butterflies belong to the insect species Lepidoptera.There are more moths than butterflies, yet we are more aware of the latter.
There are at least 160,000 species of moth.Being night time creatures they are more elusive and drab.
I tend to think of poets as the moths of the literary scene.
People can usually name a novelist, but have to struggle to think of a poem or a poet. I hope that will change this year with the celebration of the centenary of Dylan Thomas’ birth, Dylan100.
I have always written poetry.Maybe this is because poems are small on the page. However, my favourite poem as a child was the long poem Hiawatha .I didn’t encounter précis, the art of reducing a long piece of writing to a concise distillation of meaning, until I was 13.At first I preferred comprehension, but then developed a love of précis, taking words out of a piece to make it more succinct.This is a skill a poet needs, and working with an editor helps this process to take the poems from the rough diamond to the polished gem.
I was fortunate to have the poet Alan Kellermann as my editor; he shuffled the two small collections together.He also sourced the amazing cover photo of a Polyphemus moth.
The collection I sent to him had a different title. I had once called one of the collections The Moth Box and other poems . Seredipidity. I didn’t know then that mine was the first book he’d edited, and he says that makes it special.For me it’s special as it’s my first book with Parthian.
A moth box is a light box to attract moths, so that the species can be counted and identified .
It is filled with torn up egg boxes and twigs so the moths settle and sleep when the light is turned off .
In the morning the box is opened and the insects can be examined under a hand lens , identified, and then released by putting onto branches where they blend into the trees. It was exciting. I had never held a moth on my hand before.I could see the scales of pattern on its wings.
I grow Evening Primrose as it attracts insects, but the moths had just been shapes attracted to the scent of the flowers.Now, I discovered the wonderful names of moths: Scorched Wing, Tussock, White Ermine, Marbled Coronet, Phoenix. It was poetry.Both moths and butterflies belong to the insect species Lepidoptera.There are more moths than butterflies, yet we are more aware of the latter.
There are at least 160,000 species of moth.Being night time creatures they are more elusive and drab.
I tend to think of poets as the moths of the literary scene.
People can usually name a novelist, but have to struggle to think of a poem or a poet. I hope that will change this year with the celebration of the centenary of Dylan Thomas’ birth, Dylan100.
I have always written poetry.Maybe this is because poems are small on the page. However, my favourite poem as a child was the long poem Hiawatha .I didn’t encounter précis, the art of reducing a long piece of writing to a concise distillation of meaning, until I was 13.At first I preferred comprehension, but then developed a love of précis, taking words out of a piece to make it more succinct.This is a skill a poet needs, and working with an editor helps this process to take the poems from the rough diamond to the polished gem.
I was fortunate to have the poet Alan Kellermann as my editor; he shuffled the two small collections together.He also sourced the amazing cover photo of a Polyphemus moth.
The collection I sent to him had a different title. I had once called one of the collections The Moth Box and other poems . Seredipidity. I didn’t know then that mine was the first book he’d edited, and he says that makes it special.For me it’s special as it’s my first book with Parthian.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
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
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 .
Monday, 18 November 2013
THE MOTH BOX
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
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).
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
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.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
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.
Friday, 9 September 2011
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.
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.
Monday, 5 September 2011
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.
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Hay Festival
Been to the Hay Festival.Had a great time.The atmosphere is wonderful even though the place is frentic with people, talk, ideas, coffee, cake, wild flowers.I love the festival, and love being in Hay.
Monday, 16 May 2011
ENTRIES
The first entries for the Cwrtnewydd Scribblers short story competition have arrived,which is exciting. There are still six weeks to go before the closing date of 30th of June,still plenty of time to write your summer themed story. Cash prizes and publication-all very tempting-so download your entry form and get writing.
Monday, 28 March 2011
GRACE IN LITERATURE
On Saturday I attended the lecture given by the Rowan Williams,Archbishop of Canterbury, on Grace in Literature. I knew Rowan Williams was a poet and a theologian, but he is also an academic and a fine lecturer and linguist, reading Welsh cynhanedd and Italian from Dante.
Rowan Williams is an unassuming and erudite man. A gracious man.He wore a suit and dog collar with a wooden cross around his neck, while the college officials dressed in academic regalia. Afterwards he turned up at the drinks reception to talk to people, and he had to be called in for the official dinner.
Rowan Williams is an unassuming and erudite man. A gracious man.He wore a suit and dog collar with a wooden cross around his neck, while the college officials dressed in academic regalia. Afterwards he turned up at the drinks reception to talk to people, and he had to be called in for the official dinner.
Friday, 4 March 2011
World Book Night
Today I am giving away copies of Seamus Heaney's New Selected Poems.I have 48 copies to set free.Each one has a number.If you receive a World Book Day book register this number with the World Book Night website.They can then monitor the book's journey-for these books are to read and share. Last year people were asked to apply to be book givers;to choose from the list a book they felt passionately about and to give it to others. Today my box of books are being liberated-sending poetry out to a wider readership.Read and pass the book on.
Monday, 28 February 2011
Short Story Competition
Today the Cwrtnewydd Scribblers have launched their first short story competition-Summer Sun, Summer Fun - for stories up to 1,500 words.
Entry is £5 for the first story,and £3 for subsequent entries.
Prizes are £40,£20,£10 and publication in our anthology.
For more details check out the Cwrtnewydd Scriblers' website.
Entry is £5 for the first story,and £3 for subsequent entries.
Prizes are £40,£20,£10 and publication in our anthology.
For more details check out the Cwrtnewydd Scriblers' website.
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