Spring Update 2: My Own Writing

So, as you can see by Blog Update 1: Work & Stuff my writing and performing has taken a bit of a back seat for the first 1/4 of the year - I even cancelled a couple of gigs in the name of other jobs. On top of this I've had a number of ongoing (still being slowly resolved) minorish health issues that have meant that outside of all the work, my usual crazy levels of energy have been zapped, and then there was the sadness of losing two dear creative people from the world in quick succession too.

But, as the sun comes out, and the flowers too, I find myself with more time on my hands, time off even... and a holiday abroad to look forward to, and so my thoughts have returned to my own writing. The notebooks full of ideas scribbled on trains to and from jobs are spread open on my desk / the coffee table / any available surface and the half poems and the stories awaiting editing have been dusted off and pulled out of draws or down from shelves and performances are being gently scheduled in.

I've carved a writing day back into my working week.

My dream of setting up a very select Poetry Group for sharing and workshopping new work is perhaps to be realised this year with the help of some enthusiastic and talented friends.

& so the next books edge closer towards completion.

Catch me airing a mix of new and old poems at The Back of the Pub Poetry Club in The Fountain Inn on the Friday Night of the Dylan Poetry Weekend (2-4 May 2014) in Laugharne, along with Mab Jones and pals. My dearest friend Rhian Edwards is on at 7pm that very same night. Loads of other great people doing proper turns on the rest of the bill, and some brilliant theatre bits and bobs too. I will also read a couple of poems at the Bare Fiction event on the 30th of April at Gwdihw in Cardiff.

The Arabic translation of my short story 'Aquatic Life' appeared in Albataka Review: Brush with Fate - Voices From Wales along with other stories in translation by Rachel Trezise, lloyd robson, Nigel Jarrett, Jon Gower, Tristan Hughes and Lewis Davies.

Carole Burns has asked me to write a blog on my writing process for the Writing Process Blog Tour, joining a chain in which both she and Ivy Alvarez have contributed. It is a kind of whistle-stop tour of writers exploring their writing process -- they answer four questions about their work, then send you on to the next writer. My entry will be up on Monday the 21st April.

Hopefully you'll see some more words in print soon too. I post them out, like little wishes, and wait and see if they come true.