WoPoWriMo – World Poetry Writing Month (by sarah)

I am organising and taking part in WoPoWriMo which means that I have been setting up the web-site and facebook group and newsletter sign up and what have you.

Why am I doing this? Because I was asked too! And it sounds like a fun project:)

What will I be doing and expecting others to do?

Write a poem a day for the whole of February!

There is a Pledge to sign too 🙂

So you going to join in? I've even go Alaric pledged and excited - yes you heard me Alaric writing poetry!

Poetry Cafe – Adam Horovitz (by sarah)

Last night at Poetry Cafe one of the main poetry thingys I have been attending we had a blinding headline poet called Adam Horovitz. During his reading I got the chill and the tingle and so actually parted with cash for a pamphlet containing a poem that made me want to cry.

The Great Unlearning.

Know if you know me - you also know that I basically don't buy poetry - unless there is a contributors copy where I don't have to pay postage and packaging I don't even have copies of my own poems - I don't buy the journals or anything. I am basically a culture thicky, the scientist ingressing and yes I don't read much poetry - this is because I will only bother reading something where I have heard some of the poems and have had the tingle.

Anyway I am digressing as I always do!

Basically I really liked this guys poems and I got to read too 🙂 In the open mic! I read Alphabet Soup and Summer Sale - though I felt very fatigued yesturday and had trouble not shaking which sucked big time and I felt it reflected in how well I read 🙁

I also got to announce WoPoWriMo (World Poetry Writing Month) which I need to do a whole post about but basically - February is the month of poetry and the month of poetry is February.

It's a writing challenge - if your intrested do click through to have a butchers 🙂

Also next month I am going to be doing a mini showcase at Poetry Cafe of my work. I am of course excited about this and hope that some peeps might actually want to come and see me 🙂

The Art of Knowledge Unconference (by sarah)

This weekend 12-13 Dec 2009 in Bristol there is an Unconference part of the uncraftivism weekend and I am going to be reading some of my poems that I think appropriate! Like The Programmer's Lament and A Picture of Words.

Me and Alaric are hoping some of you will join us in Bristol 🙂

It looks like a really interesting event so I'm looking forward to it - lots!

BKU2009 on twitter and I think there's some online jabbery stuff occuring. There is also like a talk/culture cafe thing and a lot of free form stuff hence the Un- bit of conference!

Nano-Completion! (by sarah)

I have been sort of missing to everyone in November this is becuase I have been taking part in the NaNoWriMo challenge and today I have finished 3 days early too!

I have written over 50, 000 words on my Punk In Pink novel and I have broken my normal getting stuck with research at 30, 000 word barrier and I'm still full of enthusiasm for the story - of course I am only 1/3 of the way through the Punk In Pink which becuase I am writing it turns out to be part of some great big long and complecated series.

Also though it started as a throw away idea that was supposed to be easy and fun and all big guns and fast rides and cute outfits it has turned into something else.

It has turned into something that shows the cyclic nature of history, that extends trends I see around me, that shows how intolerance of others leads to destruction of those who are full of hatred and on and on and on and I never realised I was so full of all these ideas and concepts.

There is stuff in there about Ocean currents being upset and use of natural resources and... look you can read the raw chapters here. I haven't actually read them yet myself - the work has all its mistakes in it - the spelling, grammar, typos and continuaty errors.

I got too into the story to worry about keeping track of names and stuff and in fact half the writing stuff sees the Punk refered to only as She and the as Harry (don't as long story). There is even a dark forecast of the police and the protester being taken out by the same Corporate terrorist act.

Obviously it needs alot of work yet but there it is the first third - It is A Beginning.

Turquoise and Orange (by sarah)

Ok this is a follow on from why I've decided to not worry about my first publishing rights. I have expanded this to my poetry first off - this is now going up on Turquoise Monster this renders the poems I post useless for most anthologies and competitions but I'm sick of sending off all the poems wasting all that paper and enverlopes to get like £20 $6 etc... of course I still have a few poems that can't go up yet due to them being published in newspapers and stuff.

I decided it would be better to produce a book of my own - of poetry - I'll still send stuff off to the charity anthologies as I feel thats important but I feel that this sending off to have the poem appear once in something read by like 150 people is really starting to stunt my growth as a poet.

I have observed that most sales come from doing slams and talks and conferences and even those poets published the traditional way have ended up having to wave their books around saying 'please buy'.

I am also a 'niche' poet so finding someone willing to publish a poetry collection would be difficult. I plan to illustrate the poems for the actual 'books' and have infact been producing a visual poetry journal for sale in Ammerica.

I origonally decided I had to have a poetry website as people have been asking me where they can get my poems to read - and [A Picture of Words}(http://turquoise.monsters.wigglypets.co.uk/?p=12) has been taken by two seperate teachers to use as a classroom aid which made me very happy - they did ask first 🙂

I think obsqurity is more of a danger to my poetry career than piracy to be quiet honest - plus poetry really isn't a big earner - the top poetry books still sell minute numbers compared to say fiction books.

So that is why I am doing this with the poetry - [Orange Monster}(http://orange.monsters.wigglypets.co.uk/) on the other hand is where I am putting out my Children's books ideas.

There is a slightly different reasoning behind this one and it has nothing to do with the publishing industry and everything to do with Jean.

I came across a picture book alternative to NaNoWriMo called Picture Book Idea Month or PiBoIdMo the idea is you produce 30 picture book ideas in 30 days - I thought why not.

And I thought this becuase I've got lots of picture book ideas rattling about and none of them have been brought to completion and Jean is actually starting to get a bit old - at least for the board book ideas. After having made her the Little Book of Spoogy Poetry I thought I can use PiBoIdMo to give her all these stories - most of which she has inspired.

This way they might actually get written and enjoyed by her before she's too old. Weather I will go on to publish any of these I do not know but I plan to make the little books like I did at Halloween and one of the ideas you might all be getting for a christmas presant so you have been warned!

Right I suppose I should actually get on and do some work now!