River of Stones - 13th Jan 2011

Here's day 13:

Driving into the night,
Talking about everything and nothing,
Cars whizzing past as we pace our way,
Me sleeping, you driving.

River of Stones - Jan 12th 2011

Day 12:

Grinning, you place your hat
Upon my head,
I tilt my face up to you,
Seated as you stand
Over me, snapping a photo -
A small moment of our married life.

River of Stones - Jan 11th 2011

Day 11:

Too early, you wake,
Turn slowly to me,
As I also wake.
We half-doze, foreheads touching,
Before blinking into the morning,
Ready to face the new day.

River of Stones - Jan 10th 2011

Day 10:

Red sky in the morning,
Rich and wild,
Welcoming the new week.
We eat breakfast in front of the window,
Wondering if the saying is true -
Shepherd's warning?

River of Stones - Jan 9th 2011

Day 9:

Like film in reverse
We pluck decorations from green, plastic branches,
Bright baubles, bells, wooden stars.
Coils of tinsel and lights lay
Unravelled on the floor,
At ease after standing guard for twelve long days.
Fake leaves and twigs are tucked away for another year,
Stored to sleep throughout the summer,
Until Christmas creeps in once again.

River of Stones - 8th Jan 2011

And here we are at day 8 :)

Travelling by train,
Watching the sunshine creep out
From wintery,grey clouds
As we head away from the sea
For a day in the capital.
Whizzing past trees, into cityscape,
Rumbling a solid rhythm along steel tracks,
Until we reach the blue-green Thames.

River of Stones - Jan 7th 2011

Day 7 - a week already, and the stones are falling thick and fast!

7th Jan, 12th Night,
Christmas trees abandoned
Old and tired on the pavement,
Their job done for another year.

River of Stones - Jan 6th 2011

Welcome all, to day 6th of the river of stones!

Today's stone:

Thrumming helicopter overhead,
Sharp black against January grey -
Brief distraction from an average day

River of Stones - Jan 5th 2011

River of Stones Day 5!!

A single glove keeps the pavement warm,
Its partner several yards down the road.
Somewhere a woman with naked hands
Is enjoying the January morning chill.

River of Stones - Jan 4th 2011

Day 4 of the ever-growing River of Stones:

We search for missing papers,
Over thirty minutes spent.
Finally holding files like found treasure,
With the smells of victory and dust in the air.

2010

So, I guess I should post the standard end of year round up now we're well and truly into 2011. The holiday season is just about over and the work-day routine is upon us again.

2010 wasn't the most productive year for me, creative-writing speaking, but it had some highlights. Aside from the writing part of life, I got married, so it's fair to say that a lot of time went on arranging that! We had the most wonderful day and enjoyed every minute. It was quite a job organising everything, even with a lot of help from the hotel we had our ceremony and reception in. Fun, though. Talking of fun, we then went on an Alaskan cruise for our honeymoon, which was absolutely amazing. To tie back in with the more poetic side of this blog, I did keep a blog about the lead-up to our wedding, and also a sort of travel journal while we were away. These can be found at http://lauraajk.blogspot.com.

So, a big year personally speaking!

And creatively speaking:

• I set up this blog and managed to complete 30 poems in 30 days for the April Poem a Day challenge.
• I took part in NaNoWriMo, for the fourth time. Sadly, for the fourth time, I didn't complete it, but I always feel the taking part is the important thing. I aired some new ideas, fiction-wise, and had some fun getting back into writing fiction after being on honeymoon.
• I wrote and edited a few poems.
• I wrote and submitted a couple of short stories to journals and live literature nights.
• I submitted three stories to local regular live literature event 'Are You Sitting Comfortably', and had the third one, on the subject of Wonder, accepted to be read out at at the October event. Whilst the story I submitted for 'Wonder' wasn't a new piece for this event, the other two were, so a plan to work on these further.
• I attended a fun and inspiring workshop entitled 'Not for the Faint-Hearted', this was a series of workshops designed to inspire writers to produce something from visual prompts in a short space of time. Sadly, I only managed to attend the one session. I really wanted to attend more workshops and live literature / poetry events this year but time, weather and other things got in the way and sadly I wasn't able to.
• I had the same short story which was read out at 'Are You Sitting Comfortably' accepted for publication in a literature journal. This was supposed to be published this month, but sadly, due to lack of funding, the publication has had to fold. Still, it was lovely to be accepted there.
• I have continued to write articles for www.powderroomgraffiti.com

So, that was 2010. Not a great one, creatively speaking, but not too bad, I feel.

Here's to a poetic and creative 2011!

River of Stones - Jan 3rd 2011

January 3rd: third small stone in the fast growing River of Stones (http://ariverofstones.blogspot.com):

The Mulled Wine tea tin
Opens with a puff of smoke,
Spicy aroma drifts up into the kitchen.
For a second,
Christmas isn't over.

River of Stones - Jan 2nd 2011

A Gosport boat-yard inspired small stone for January 2nd:

Small boats stacked like toys on shelves,
Dry docking while the winter rain holds off.
Nearby the 'Dreampedlar' awaits passengers to set sail.

River of Stones

Writer Fiona Robyn is beginning 2011 with the idea of 'A River of Stones', inviting people to notice and note one small thing every day for the month of January. She describes it on the River of Stones website as "our challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to pay attention to one thing every day during the month of January and write it down. We call these pieces of writing small stones. We're especially interested in both 'writers' and 'non-writers' taking part - it's not about the finished product, it's about the process."

The website can be found at http://ariverofstones.blogspot.com

You don't have to be a writer to take part, but this appeals to the poetic part of me, and I aim to take part, perhaps finding small stones that will lead to somewhat larger poems. Perhaps not. But it's a lovely idea for taking a moment, noticing the world around me and trying to capture the feeling, sight, sound, smell, touch or taste in some small way. And, as Fiona suggests, from one small stone, great rivers can flow.

So, here is my small stone for January 1st, 2011:

Small black cat
Plays tag with a red feathered stick.
Mischief in her eyes, love in ours.