Ian Gouge's Blog, page 47

Yesterday & Today: 10th February

It was great to see some new faces at yesterday evening’s ‘Write-on Ripon’ Open Mic. We had seventeen people in attendance, and were once again treated to a wide variety of poetry and prose, styles and abilities. I read three poems “First-term Crush”, “The Hit-count” (both as yet unpublished) and “Railway Vignettes” from my (2022 … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 10th February →

Yesterday & Today: 9th February

I wasn’t sure what to expect at the Ripon Writer’s Group meeting yesterday evening when we were reading members’ five-minute ‘playlets’. As it turned out it was a lot of fun! Before that, the majority of my writing effort went on final reviews of Not the Sonnets and Once Significant Others. I feel a big … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 9th February →

“The Dominant Animal”

Kathryn Scanlan’s collection of short stories, The Dominant Animal, is unusual on a number of levels – if not actually surreal. The really nicely produced book (from Daunt Books Originals) weighs in at just 118 pages, yet it contains forty stories. That’s right, at an average of just under 3 pages per story. Some of … Continue reading “The Dominant Animal” →

Yesterday & Today: 8th February

There can only be one highlight from yesterday, and that is the news that I will be performing Crash at the Ripon Theatre Festival on the afternoon of Saturday 10th June (precise time and location to be confirmed). My performance will be directed by Andrew Bates. Can’t wait to get started rehearsing! The other major … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 8th February →

Editing: how much is too much?

Currently preoccupied with ‘final’ reviews of two of my projects, I find myself assailed by a question relating to editing work – namely, when is enough, enough? It is, perhaps, easier to define what is insufficient – especially when, in the first instance, no editing at all is unacceptable! So what happens when you first … Continue reading Editing: how much is too much? →

Yesterday & Today: 7th February

The infinite variety of poetic style, themes for poems, and opinions about poetry – what’s good, bad, indifferent (and why) – never ceases to amaze me. Yesterday‘s Stanza meeting was another case in point when we were treated to such splendid diversity. And at the end of the day, liking a piece or not is … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 7th February →

Yesterday & Today: 6th February

Some days it’s not how much you work but what you work on – or is it like that most days? In any event, yesterday was such a day. Tilt drafting done and now put away for a month or two; and the final review started on Not the Sonnets and Once Significant Others. Plus … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 6th February →

Yesterday & Today: 5th February

Saturday tends to be a rather modest day when it comes to volume of writing activity, and so it was yesterday. The most significant effort was spent on completing a first-cut of that missing section from Tilt (enough, at this stage, to take it to a book of c. 180 pages). Apart from that, a … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 5th February →

Yesterday & Today: 4th February

Nothing really turned out as planned yesterday – either in terms of ‘Life’ or writing… But I did manage to draft a little more of Tilt, and it’s entirely possible that the ‘missing’ section will be complete by the end of tomorrow. Then we’ll see. I also spent a chunk of time continuing to prepare … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 4th February →

Yesterday & Today: 3rd February

I think the 1-2-1 mentoring went okay yesterday. It’s always difficult trying to strike the right balance between honest critique and encouragement. Writing is such a personal thing, and our words can be so precious to us, that any questioning of them can feel like vicious betrayal. I know, because I’ve been there! Haven’t we … Continue reading Yesterday & Today: 3rd February →