I love to blog!
I'm loving this blogging malarky! Sipping coffee and writing till my heart's content! It is so therapeutic. You write for personal reasons. You are your own audience and your own critic. My lovely friend Vicky who pushed me to do this (in a nice way) has said some lovely comments about my writing which have fair warmed my cockles. I really hope that isn't a rude saying! To say I have an English degree, I get all my common sayings and idioms mixed up. I know what I mean in my own head! In fact, I'm not your typical English graduate/ teacher. Other then I wear attire that would suit a professor who cares more about the contents of her bookshelf than her wardrobe. I keep saying I'm going to write my misquoted idioms down and write a book one day!
I also love writing modern angst ridden, non rhyming poetry. This stemmed from my degree days when the likes of Carol Ann Duffy and Wendy Cope set off a fire in me. I'd write on the train, bus, tram, platform, waiting room and so on. My fave poem was titled, Under the influence of Baileys. Loved it. Not so fond of Baileys though. However, it is good as an alternative to milk in coffee on a Winter's evening.
My Modern poetry tutor was Peter Sansom and he held his tutorials at The Poetry Business in Huddersfield. He knew his stuff. His best comment to me was my poetry reminded him of Sophie Hannah's writing. I'll take that thanks. Love her books. She has been able to rewrite and put a spin on some of Agatha Christie's thrillers and that's no mean fate. Did I get that saying correct? They say reading broadens your vocabulary. True and I am an avid reader but my brain works on overdrive, mixing up vocab, sayings and plot in the process. I've even started reading books again and reaching chapter 5 or watching reruns of Midsomer Murders before realising I know who dunnit. That doesn't take many grey cells though!
The poetry sessions were my fave and I'd write and write till it went out of fashion. I loved Carol Ann Duffy's The Other Woman and wrote The boy who fancies you, in the style of Duffy. We were given writing tasks such as:
Pick a colour. Choose a poem with this colour in the title. Write a poem based on this poem.
I chose Greensleaves and remember starting my poem as such:
Greensleaves is my delight,
Drinking vodka and lime on a Friday night.
I always wanted to move onto a MA in modern poetry taught by Peter Sansom but my student bank account, and my desire to teach, of course, were calling me on to do my PGCE. Two of the mature students who would now be known as The glam housewives of Huddersfield were doing it. To this day, I'm still waiting on doing my MA and becoming a glamorous housewife! More likely a desperate housewife! U want to revisit sitting on that train, sipping vending machine coffee and reading, writing poetry to the be at of the chugging train as the landscape rolls by me.
I didn't write anything over the years but since leaving teaching, my angst filled hours have proven very fruitful and writing has been very therapeutic. I still love reading modern poetry too. I love Eliot, Heaney, Simon Armitage and our own Barnsley bard, Ian McMillan. I love his poem, Sunset ovver Barnsley. He is such a passionate poet and so down to earth. I've enjoyed numerous workshops and talks, My favourite being an audience with Ian McMillan type night at The Civic, looking back on his childhood. I bought his book and he signed it. Must admit, I was rather star struck! I can see why he was very aptly named the bard. He could doing a tale and hook his audience.
Photos are from Pinterest. What did I do pre Pinterest? Love it!
I'm loving this blogging malarky! Sipping coffee and writing till my heart's content! It is so therapeutic. You write for personal reasons. You are your own audience and your own critic. My lovely friend Vicky who pushed me to do this (in a nice way) has said some lovely comments about my writing which have fair warmed my cockles. I really hope that isn't a rude saying! To say I have an English degree, I get all my common sayings and idioms mixed up. I know what I mean in my own head! In fact, I'm not your typical English graduate/ teacher. Other then I wear attire that would suit a professor who cares more about the contents of her bookshelf than her wardrobe. I keep saying I'm going to write my misquoted idioms down and write a book one day!
I also love writing modern angst ridden, non rhyming poetry. This stemmed from my degree days when the likes of Carol Ann Duffy and Wendy Cope set off a fire in me. I'd write on the train, bus, tram, platform, waiting room and so on. My fave poem was titled, Under the influence of Baileys. Loved it. Not so fond of Baileys though. However, it is good as an alternative to milk in coffee on a Winter's evening.
My Modern poetry tutor was Peter Sansom and he held his tutorials at The Poetry Business in Huddersfield. He knew his stuff. His best comment to me was my poetry reminded him of Sophie Hannah's writing. I'll take that thanks. Love her books. She has been able to rewrite and put a spin on some of Agatha Christie's thrillers and that's no mean fate. Did I get that saying correct? They say reading broadens your vocabulary. True and I am an avid reader but my brain works on overdrive, mixing up vocab, sayings and plot in the process. I've even started reading books again and reaching chapter 5 or watching reruns of Midsomer Murders before realising I know who dunnit. That doesn't take many grey cells though!
The poetry sessions were my fave and I'd write and write till it went out of fashion. I loved Carol Ann Duffy's The Other Woman and wrote The boy who fancies you, in the style of Duffy. We were given writing tasks such as:
Pick a colour. Choose a poem with this colour in the title. Write a poem based on this poem.
I chose Greensleaves and remember starting my poem as such:
Greensleaves is my delight,
Drinking vodka and lime on a Friday night.
I always wanted to move onto a MA in modern poetry taught by Peter Sansom but my student bank account, and my desire to teach, of course, were calling me on to do my PGCE. Two of the mature students who would now be known as The glam housewives of Huddersfield were doing it. To this day, I'm still waiting on doing my MA and becoming a glamorous housewife! More likely a desperate housewife! U want to revisit sitting on that train, sipping vending machine coffee and reading, writing poetry to the be at of the chugging train as the landscape rolls by me.
I didn't write anything over the years but since leaving teaching, my angst filled hours have proven very fruitful and writing has been very therapeutic. I still love reading modern poetry too. I love Eliot, Heaney, Simon Armitage and our own Barnsley bard, Ian McMillan. I love his poem, Sunset ovver Barnsley. He is such a passionate poet and so down to earth. I've enjoyed numerous workshops and talks, My favourite being an audience with Ian McMillan type night at The Civic, looking back on his childhood. I bought his book and he signed it. Must admit, I was rather star struck! I can see why he was very aptly named the bard. He could doing a tale and hook his audience.
Photos are from Pinterest. What did I do pre Pinterest? Love it!
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