Thursday, 1st July

Update

Life is hectic at the present time that I have been forced to neglect this blog. However, here are just a few points of information.  Firstly, the 'One Million Stories' anthology for the 'Best of 2009' is now available on line via Amazon. (I have my copy so please support this project and purchase yours.) The anthology includes my short story 'On Walking Carne Brae'. 

Secondly, 'Ink, Sweat & Tears' have accepted my poem 'Ensign' which was inspired by and is dedicated to the very wonderful David Rowland. (Thank you, David, just for breathing in and out.) 

Thirdly, 'Creature Comforts', a quarterly journal that publishes poetry and prose connected with the animal world, has taken four poems and a photoraph (to appear in the next issue).  'Creature Features' is published in Cyprus and circulated world-wide.  My thanks go to Les Merton of  Palores Press for providing the lead.
 
Finally, I am in the early stages of preparing copy for my collection of poems, 'Moths in a Jar'.  It is expected that this will be available around October at a cost of £4 for 40 pages.  I will, of course, be very happy to take advance orders.  Don't miss this wonderful opportunity to sneak a peek at the 'real' Abigail Wyatt. As  a certain Sunday rag used to promise, 'all human life is there'!

P.S. I have just remembered that 'Words With Jam' have accepted my poem 'A Year Ago' for inclusion in their 2010 Christmas Book.  I think that is about all for now.  Back soon, I hope.

 Here is the Amazon link referred to  in my previous post. :0)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1445735806/ref=sib_rdr_dp

Sunday, 6th June, 2010

At last, a return to blogging.  Assignments completed and 'Massacre at St Hilda's' concluded, I have time to think and write  - though not, of course, necessarily in that order.  My latest news is that the 'One Million Stories' Anthology for 2009 - which includes my story 'On Walking Carne Brae' - is now available on Amazon price £7.99.  (I will add a link for this shortly.) Also, my poem, 'On a Beach in Winter' will appear in the October edition of 'Poetry Cornwall'. I have been foolhardy enough to sign up for Write a Damned Novel in June and I am currently roughly 2,000 words behind.  I am not, in fact, writing a novel but rather a number of short stories.  This is permitted so long as the target of 50,000 words is reached.

Thursday 1st April, 2010

The April edition of 'Word with JAM' is out NOW.  It contains a small collection of my poems which have been most attractively presented.  If you have not seen it, you are missing a treat; this is an excellent magazine for anyone with an interest in writing.  It is available FREE online if you complete the subscription form.  Just google 'Words with JAM'.
      Also, today I have signed up for NaPoWriMo, an event that is linked to the Open University and that runs throughout April.  The idea is to write a poem a day every day for a month.  I have set up a blog page especially for this purpose and have added a link. That said, I had better be off - to do some writing...

Monday, 29th March, 2010.

The One Million Stories Creative Writing Project is thrilled and delighted to announce the launch of its first publication:

Good news today.  I received this e mail very late last night. (It was reassuring to know that I am not the only one who sits at my desk until three or four in the morning.) The story in this anthology is not the one that is currently on line at One Million Stories but another published right at the end of last year.  It is called 'On Walking Carne Brae' and, while it is not autobiographical, I would like to dedicate this piece to the indelibly painful memory of Jonathan Paul Anthony Wyatt - wherever he is and whatever name he is using at this time.. Bitter? Moi?  How could you think it?  :0)

"The One Million Stories Creative Writing Project 2009 Anthology"!

Congratulations to all our fabulous contributors:

JF Chavoor, Claire Snook, Vivienne McCulloch, Lilit Hotham, Linda Davies, M King, Bryan McGuiness, Simon Kellow-Bingham, Joe Miller, Peter Forester, Clare Glennon, Cecelia McSweeney, M Johnson, Jaume Munoz, Vivian McInerny, Maureen Simpkin, Dark Alley, Alan Hutcheson, and Abi Wyatt.

The book looks fantastic and the stories are all terrific reads! This really is a very strong collection! We have to thank all the writers who contributed and all the readers who gave their time in order to polish the final draft.

Friday, 26h March, 2010

I have just popped in this morning to add a new link to 'Rumble'.  The current issue, out today, contains my 'micro piece' 'Outline'.  If you have a minute to spare, you could do worse than have a look.  Even if you don't like my piece, 'Rumble' is a great magazine.  :0)

Thursday, 25th March

Here we go again.  Far too much to do and not enough time to do any of it properly.  Why do I keep inflicting this kind of panic on myself?  I have two short weeks in which to work out the structure of a screenplay - I am still fannying around re-defining the action-idea - and then write enough of it to demonstrate that it's utterly brilliant.  At the same time, I have lines to learn for the new murder mystery - which was penned by my good friend, David Carlisle, and is utterly brilliant - and in which I play - titter ye not! -  the part of Twiggy St Clair, super model.  Now, I have lost twelve pounds since January but I will need to lose another twelve to make even  a passable Twiggy.  Fortunately, it's a comedy - and I will be wearing a wig and a hat.  By the way, my thanks go to the talented and tireless Barbara Laffin for her 'Garage Entertainment' fundraiser which took place last Saturday.  This proved to be a show that was truly fun for all the family.  I enjoyed it so much that, in a moment of weakness, I agreed to do a'turn' next time.  See what I mean?  Maybe I should deliver my rendition of 'I'm Jest A Gal Who Can't Say No'...  Back to the screenplay!

Sunday, 7th March, 2010

Today the weather is bright but very cold and I am torn between the desire to be out in the sunshine and the need to stay warm.  Two bouts of flu over the past three months have left me with a persistent cough and the fact that my heating sytem is broken beyond repair is not helping matters.  However, the March issue of 'A Long Story Short' is now available and includes my sonnet 'Dead Letters'.  Do have a look if you can spare the time.  Meanwhile, I must return to the business of preparing new submissions, a process which I quite enjoy but which can be very time-consuming.  Sometimes, though, when one is not feeling terribly creative, it is a useful displacement activity...

Thursay, 4th March, 2010

Today is my father's birthday.  This is both a sad and a happy occasion because he died on the16th June last year.  My mother and I have placed a bouquet of white flowers next to his photograph and we will be thinking of him throughought the day. We will remember him as he was when he was still strong and healthy. He was a good man, a man who loved to cherish things and to watch them grow. May he have found lasting peace and a release from constant pain.

Today, too, I have heard that Words with JAM are to publish four of my poems as a small collection at the end of this month.  This is a new outlet for me which is always exciting.  As soon as the poems become availabe, I will add a link.

I have also heard from 'One Million Stories' that my story 'On Walking Carne Brae' is to be included in their annual 'best of' anthology so my thanks go to the editors there. 

All this is helping me to 'come back to life' following the tragic loss of my sister-in-law and very best friend, the lovely Estefania Maria Garcia Poole who lost her ten year battle with breast cancer on the 5th February this year.  Among my photographs are those taken at last summer's 'Race for Life'.  She leaves two sons, Samuel and Miguel, and the husband to whom she was devoted.  She will be missed by many and always in the hearts of those who loved her dearly.

New Link to Ink, Sweat & Tears

My poem 'After the Deluge' came out in 'Ink, Sweat & Tears' yesterday so I have added a link as promised. Life has been rather difficult and fraught of late and, quite apart from these problems, I am currently struggling to formulate a proposal for my ECA (which is a major assessment piece) and  attend almost nightly rehearsals for 'Dick Whittington' in which lavish theatrical spectacle I take the part of King Rat.  I hope to get back to making regular submissions as soon as all this is over.  Onwards and upwards. 

6th January, 2010

Good news, good news! Yesterday brought my first acceptance of 2010. Ink, Sweat & Tears have accepted a short poem, 'After the Deluge', something I actually wrote some time ago but 'tweaked' just ecently.  The editors have not yet advised me of the edition in which the poem will appear so I will add a link in due course.  MT New Year Resolution is to be both more organised and more disciplined in the business of submitting work. In the past, it has been something I have done too sporadically.  Time to pull myself together!