Double Slam in the Brighton Fringe

Hendrick's Horseless Carriage of Curiosities parked up in Jubilee Square last Friday and is leaving on Monday, so there's still a chance to get a free shot of gin. And if you write a very short story or a short poem you'll get a free gin cocktail in the bar, but you have to read it out to the barmen and barmaids!

Last weekend I took part in two slams in the above mentioned carriage as part of Brighton Fringe Festival. On the Saturday Damian Barr hosted a flash fiction slam, and me and 13 other people entered the stage to read or perform a story in less than three minutes. Not everyone agreed with the judges (Stuart Evers, Vanessa Gebbie & Niven Govinden) but it was good fun, even though the theme was somewhat depressing: "The End." My story was about a woman who wanted a divorce from her doormat husband, but the divorce couldn't go through unless the doormat exploded, and therefore my story had no end ... (Thanks to everyone on Facebook who took part in the debate whether such an expression as "exploding doormat" exists or not ...)

On the Sunday Chris Parkinson hosted a lively poetry slam. The poets had five minutes to convince the judges (Damian Barr, James Burt & Kate Shields)that their poem or poems were the best. Alison Brunette (?) became the champion after having performed a parody of the "When I'm an old woman I shall wear purple"- poem and another one about preferring sex to chocolate. At other poetry slams I've been to the audience are often asked to be the judges, so it was a bit different to have a panel of judges that kept their scores secret. I did my poem dedicated to an ex-landlord which went down well. I'm happy with both my performances and really enjoyed being on stage in Hendrick's Horseless Carriage of Curiosities!

The Cosmos, The Cosmetics

The reason I went to see The Cosmos, The Cosmetics show in the Brighton Fringe was that the subtitle said "a spoken word play". I'm always interested in seeing how poetry can be used to create a narrative, and have my own secret (or now not so secret) dreams of one day putting together a one-woman-show, using my poems and other writings. In a way I've done a bit of that when I do author talks at schools and libraries, but I haven't created something that feels like a finished shape or a whole piece.

Through poetic language Nick Field told his coming-of-age story, drifting from one subculture to another, and eventually coming out and finding himself for real. I loved how the very simple stage set worked ... With the help of different tubs of cosmetics Nick illustrated his experience of being a raver and being a goth. From fluorescent lips to black lips ...

A couple of times I got a bit lost or confused when Nick jumped in time and between different episodes in his life, but he always managed to capture me again with his very calm but catchy way of speaking. I was trying to work out if there were any "complete poems" in his play ... I'm not sure and it doesn't matter anyway. The narrative flowed without any awkward pauses.

Most of the time it felt like Nick was speaking to me personally. So many things I could relate to ... The difficulty to fit in within a certain scene (he was too chatty and positive for the goths, I've always found myself being too "rock 'n' roll" for the goths*) and the worry about spots (Nick found that covering his face in thick foundation (?) or powder (?) helped and I used rouge (!) to conceal my spots as a teenager ...) I found it particularly funny the way Nick had to sneak out of his house to avoid being seen in his various outfits and hair-dos by his parents ... I remember times when I ran out of the house before my mum noticed that I was wearing my Dr Martens with a neat dress for a school graduation ... Not to mention the small-town mentality, and all the neighbours knowing what you're up to ...

There were also some very touching moments in the show when Nick spoke about bike accidents he had and how his skin was damaged and he got this "skin paste" to use to cover up the scars, but in the end chose to leave them be. I hope to see/hear more of Nick Field's stuff in the future!

Here's a quote that kind of summarises the show: "There were so many stitch and dye initiations. So many cut and rip, fix together, plagiarise and innovate, mix and match, daub and dab paint rituals."


*My Swedish debut novel "Punk industrial hard rocker with attitude" is all about not being able to fit into a particular box

Lil' Red Ridin' Hoodie & The Big Bad Wolf

A very unusual take on the traditional tale of the Little Red Riding Hood ... Pyratrix Circus treated Brighton to a free multimedia fire show at the Level (as part of the Fringe Festival) a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed the performance as I think there's something magical about both fire and things that are performed outdoors.

However waiting for over an hour in the chilly May air didn't help. It was also a shame that there were technical difficulties and the spoken words got lost in the wind ... But hey it was FREE and it was a good atmosphere. I just wished that I wasn't a vegetarian that night. The fluorescent vodka jelly shots that were going for a pound were very tempting!

Checking Pyratrix Circus Facebook page it says "Our main character Lil Red is a keen young dynamic activist who wants to rescue her beloved grandma from the big bad wolf. Grandma is a representation of the earth, dying due to the corporate greed of the big bad wolf." And I pretty much got this message despite the sound being crap ... I loved the political messages scattered around the "stage" such as a sign in the McDonald's colours saying "Mc Junk". Proud to be veggie after all!

Pyratrix is touring other festival in the UK and Europe this summer so check them out!

P.S. The fire display in the picture says FEAR MAKES THE WOLF LOOK BIGGER

And the Birds Fell from the Sky

I'm exhausted (on the brink of seeing clowns!) after weeks of going to Brighton Fringe & Brighton Festival events. I hope to blog about them all at some point. At least I should have the time this week as I'm broke until payday ... Usually when the festival programmes first come out I feel a bit overwhelmed. There's too much on, and it's hard to pick what shows are worth seeing, and it still feels like I've missed stuff ...

One of the very first events I went to was "And the Birds Fell from the Sky" and that's definitely a show to check out. (There are tickets left for next weekend.)

"An immersive video goggle performance for two people, combining cinema and instruction based theatre to cast the audience as main character in a wild journey to the world of the Faruk Clown. Anarchic, dreamy and dangerous, ‘And The Birds Fell From the Sky’ takes you on a joyride inside your head all the way to the edge of civilisation."

I pretty much agree with the above statement. I went to the show with my friend Kristen and afterwards she asked what I thought was the point of the performance/event/show. And I couldn't really give her an answer ...I told her I felt sick in a good way, which is true. It felt like being inside one of James Burt's clown stories. Basically you get physically kidnapped by clowns ... and somewhere along the journey I got reminded of life: there's no real point, at least not one that we know of ... The only thing negative thing I have to say is that the show felt a bit short - just like life itself.

Creative Writing Summer School

Wendy Ann Greenhalgh is running a Creative Writing Summer School, but don't be put off by the word school ... Wendy is known to have a playful approach to writing, so do sign up if you want to get in touch with your inner writer.

Creative Writing Summer School
4 Wednesdays 8th - 29th June 7-9pm

These inspiring and experimental creative writing sessions, will encourage you to play with language and explore new ways of writing. Each week we’ll focus on the techniques developed by famous writers or creative movements to generate lots of ideas for poems and stories.

WEEK ONE

We’ll be taking a trip into Surrealism, collaging words and pictures to generate narratives and poetic imagery.

WEEK TWO
We’ll be emulating the assemblage artists and trawling the streets for found objects or bringing some from home – putting them in a box and creating story and poem treasure chests, where each object tells its own tale.

WEEK THREE
We’ll be following in the footsteps of the Beat generation, and cutting up and folding out old books, magazines and flyers to create new and unexpected combinations.

WEEK FOUR

With a nod to the Situationists we’ll be going on a ‘drift’ around Brighton, taking photographs of places, people and things that we’ll turn into a lyrical or narrative group snapshot of the city.

The cost of the 4 sessions is £45 and you can book online with Eventbrite or send Wendy a cheque. Get in touch at storyscavenger@gmail.com - if you want more information.

Chinglish

Yesterday I went to see a performance art show in the Brighton House Festival called The Customer is Always Wrong.

Bill Aitchison spent three months as artist in resident in the small Chinese town of Xiamen. He started to create a show based on his time in China, writing it in English, but realising it didn't ring true, so he wrote it in very simple English, and then asked someone to translate it into Chinese. He then learnt the Chinese script by heart, and studied the meaning of every single word and developed it into a very physical performance piece, speaking only in Mandarin. However he had a Chinese girl reading the English translation after each spoken line.

The translation wasn't a professional translation though, it was done in a translation programme similar to Google translate (Bill found the Google version to be "to good", not producing the word by word translation that he was after.) One purpose of the performance was to play with the idea of "Chinglish", refering to the badly translated English that exists in China, and also the bad Mandarin spoken by visitors to China.

Watching and listening to the show gave me the same kind of confusion you experience in a foreign country where you don't speak much of the native language. You could follow the English translation, but you had to concentrate to be able to understand what Bill was trying to communicate. He talked about his experience in China, how he felt "wrong" because he was taller than everyone else and there was so little space. He kind of liked this feeling though, knowing things were "wrong" or "weird" because he was foreign. If you feel "wrong" or "weird" in your own country you don't have an excuse ...

What I found most fascinating was that the Chinese word for tourist is "walking guest" which explains Bill's marching movement when he was talking about tourists. What I found most surprising was Bill standing on the table/till of the Spiral Charity Shop (unusual venue I know!) and dancing to Backstreet Boys (big in China)!

I could relate very much to Bill's performance as English is my second language. He also transported me back, making me remember the five months I spent in Thailand. How weird it is to be looked up to because the local people think you are very rich ... And you are rich compared to them, but not in your own country ...

I love performance art! If you get a chance, check out Bill's stuff on his website and here you can watch a preview video (which doesn't make the performance justice, but you get an idea).

Writing Wisdoms from Tania Hershman

Let it lie, put it away, for at least a week

Write what I want to write

Don't worry about being published

Distraction helps me stay in the zone, don't feel guilty about needing that

Don't worry about the market

Give myself time and space to evolve

READ FULL BLOG POST HERE

John Cage - Inspired Performance

Next Thursday I'm doing a performance with the band 4thirtythree ...

The gig is a tribute to John Cage.

If you like experimental, improvised, avant-garde stuff ... please come along! We promise not to do 4'33" - which is John Cage's "silent piece", although there might be a lot of silence between the words ...

GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON, 7.30pm THURSDAY 19 MAY

Solitary Confinement

"I don't have the time." That's the most common excuse I hear among people who want to write but don't do it.

Quite often I fall into that trap myself. It's Friday night ... Well, most likely it's now early Saturday morning. I don't have a clock or a watch and I don't care. (The only time measurer that I've got is my turned off mobile phone.) When I finished work I fell into the Friday trap "It's-Friday-wow-it's-the-end-of-the-week-wow-now-it-all-begins-I-should-have-so-much-fun-go-out-and-get-pissed-or-go-to-the-best-party-ever-or-at-least-go-over-to-a-friend's-place-for-dinner." I didn't do any of those things. (On Facebook I have invitations to an anti- Brighton festival event and an opening of the Brighton festival (fringe?) event and I feel torn.)

Believe it or not my biggest inspiration is BOREDOM. When I get bored enough and there's nothing else to do I create. I feel creative. Tonight I've written stuff. Nothing amazing. But I've put words on paper. I've listened to P.J. Harvey's Is this desire? album, and I've written something that could be the opening paragraph of my new novel.

There's a difference between boredom and boredom. There's one kind of boredom when you feel depressed and miserable. Then there's the kind of boredom that kicks your creative arse ... For fuck sake do something! And that's what happened to me tonight. I didn't even have to force myself. I just felt inspired ... With the help of ...



&



Red wine. Dark chocolate. The only drugs I use.




The Members were bored ... They created some great songs!

Your Life in 5 Min and 29 Sec ?

The Hallway from The Hallway on Vimeo.

Art Work by Miranda July (everything she does inspires me)

Promoting Yourself & Others

As I don't have a new book to promote yet I might as well promote some other people ...

Click here to read my poet friend Chris's blog The Daily Whale. Now the interesting thing about this blog is that I didn't know that it existed until I happened to see a post on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. In his latest blog post Chris confesses that he's not very good at self-promotion, hence me being oblivious of his blog. He had my blog on his link list though which made me very happy.

Most people find self-promotion very hard. Publishers and agents do their bit, but you also have to do your own bit ... If you don't have a publisher and/or an agent yet it's even more important.

One author who's very, very good at self-promotion is Isabel Ashdown. She's written a blog post called Twitter Confessions, and she says "for every shameless plug I make, I do two more tweets to others/about others." That's very fair I think.

What goes around comes around. I sometimes blog about other peoples' blogs or books and I believe this is indirectly a way of promoting myself. It's great to discover a link to your own blog on somebody else's blog!

The Middle of the Hunger Trace

A while ago I went to the launch party for Edward Hogan's second novel, The Hunger Trace and was very lucky to get a copy of the book. There's something quite majestic about holding a fresh hardback in your hands, more exciting to me than holding a new born baby ...

To the point. Even if I no longer bring this hardback baby to bed it's still with me.
What I liked best about The Hunger Trace was the middle. It's not that the beginning and the end were bad, it's just that I liked to be inside the novel, following the characters' daily life. I wasn't that bothered about a beginning or an end, it felt like the story had gone on forever and had no end, like real life. And I mean this in a positive way. Unless someone is dead or not yet born you don't really think of their lives as beginning or ending, and that's what I felt about Louisa, Christopher and Maggie in the Hunger Trace. I had the privilege of spending a few months with them and liked it best when I was in the middle of the book. I must admit that the first page didn't grab me, mainly because I didn't know what an ibex was, but as soon as Louisa entered on page two I started to feel connected.

I really like Louisa. Not because her name is similar to mine, but because she's a flawed unusual character. A falconer. A woman still in love with a guy from her childhood whom she could never have. The guy is called David - owner of a wildlife park - and David is dead. He's outside the novel, but we get to know him not only through Louisa but also through his widow Maggie (much younger and a bit tarty), and his son Christopher from another marriage(portrayed very well as an odd teenager who is into internet dating and family values).

I love the Louisa-Christopher-Maggie drama, and when the novel ended it didn't end for me (to be honest I can't even remember the exact end), it carried on in my mind, and I still sometimes wonder what Louisa, Christopher and Maggie (in that order) are up to.

All over the place or in one place?

If you focus on something for five years and really believe in it you're going to be successful in one way or other. That's what my ex (who gets paid to travel to tropical countries to fix computers) told me while I was working on my debut novel. And almost exactly five years after I started writing seriously I had a novel published. I did focus on my novel writing and I really believed in it. But it's not always this simple ...

What is success anyway? Are you less of a novelist if you spend five years perfecting a novel, focusing on it and really believing in it and still not getting it published ...? The optimist in me wants to believe that those people don't exist, that they didn't try hard enough .... The realist in me doesn't want to wake up because I am a dreamer ...

Another person(in his early thirties)who is a poet, MC, songwriter and musician told me that he would've been successful by now if he had focused on one thing only. I'm not sure whether to agree or disagree. Surely these areas all feed into each other, but if you're pre-occupied by making a living and having a very rich social life it's tricky. It's also matter of how much you're willing to focus, how much you're willing to offer in terms of time and money.

I've been writing seriously in English since 2007, so according to the five year focus and belief I should be published by next year. But at the moment I'm all over the place ... I'm waiting for my agent to find a publisher for UNDER THE LIP (former REPLACING ANGEL). Waiting is not a very active space to be in so in the meantime ...

*I'm making notes on a new novel, note: making notes, not actually writing

*I'm writing random poetry

*I'm working with improvising jazz musicians

*I performing poetry

*I'm reading/performing short stories

*I'm taking voice classes

*I'm going to drop-in acting classes

*I'm going to drop-in 5Rhythms dance classes

*I'm lying down in the Alexander Technique semi-supine position

*I'm reading all sorts of stuff, fact and fiction

*I'm taking more photographs than my harddrive can handle

*I'm making collages (see picture)

But above all I'm working on getting to know my body. Hence the voice classes, acting classes, dance classes and the Alexander Technique. (I can't afford to do these things every week even if I wanted to do, but I try to do at least one physical thing every week).

All my life I've lived in my head, intellectualising all my actions. Now it's time for me to get in touch with my body, and I believe this will make me a better and more confident performer. Indirectly it will also help me with my novel work as a part of "the job" is to promote your novel, do readings etc.

I took out a book from the Children's Library simply titled The Inside & Outside Guide to Your Body. I'm fascinated by the fact that under my skin there is a skeleton. It's not like I didn't know before, but I finally understand that I've got a skeleton. I'm learning to breathe.

I could skip all this body work and just plunge into working on my new novel and ignore all the other parts of me. But at the moment it's more important for me to become a whole human being.

Tuned in Stories at Story Studio, Komedia Brighton

Short Fuse has changed their name to Story Studio and the night on Sunday was a great success. The theme for the night was "Tunes" and apart from traditional story readings the audience was treated to visual art by Lee Thacker, singing by Pam Hewitt and performance art by Amanda Evans.

I performed my story I'm from Further North than You that was inspired by the Wedding Present song with the same title. Last time I read this story was at the Edge of the Sea festival in august so it was less nerve-wracking this time ... It was great to have Lee Thacker's illustrations of the story behind me, and I felt very honoured to have David from the Wedding Present at my table. I found out that the song was originally titled Edinburgh. I didn't know this, but had subconsciously set the story in the Scottish capital anyway.

Next up was Brian Bell reading Shite Ole' Deep Purple Records. What I particularly liked about this story is that it dealt with the snobbishness of some music fans ... e.g. that you can't be a punk and also listen to Deep Purple. (Swedish rock band Backyard Babies once kicked a band member because they found a Suzanne Vega record in his collection ... And my Swedish debut novel "Punk industrial hard rocker with attitude" deals with being bullied for liking both Guns N'Roses and punk stuff ....)

Jeff Noon was probably the most famous name on the bill. I've never read any of his novels although I've seen them lying about in my friends houses. My first ever flatmates kept going on about Needle in the groove and it's still on the list of books I want to read ... Jeff didn't get up on stage himself, instead Alistair Lock did a brilliant job reading Jeff's story The Queen is Dead inspired by the Smith's song.

Amanda Evans in full action, telling her tale from Jamaica called The Third Drawer. She was accompanied by soft drumming which made the story very hypnotic.

The duo Felstead and Waddell seem to be the act in residence at Story Studio and they always amuse me. Their stories are only about a 100 words long, but each story is a complete sketch with props. The stories they read on the night were all inspired by song titles, e.g. River Deep - Mountain high and Living la vida loca. How they manage to keep their faces straight I don't know ...

This Genesis guy was not at Story Studio. But Tara Gould had written an amazing rhythmic story about losing your virginity titled The Guaranteed Eternal Sanctuary Man, and it was performed by Wendy Quelch. I got so into the story that I forgot to get my camera out hence the substitute picture ...

Another highlight was Louise Hume's story Porquoi Es-Tue Devenue Si Raisonnable? performed by Simon Drake and Louise herself. The french title is English for the Wedding Present Song Why are you being so reasonable now?
Apparently it was a huge hit in France ...

Last up was Lee Thacker. Well last up was a graphic short story of his, read by Wendy Quelch & Holly Dawson. Unfortunately the ending of this story Nickles and Dimes was missing, but maybe it was an intentional trick to get everybody to buy the forthcoming anthology with The Wedding Present-inspired stories ... I don't know exactly when it will be out, but I'll keep you posted.

Next Story Studio happens in June and the theme then is Sport & Leisure. Maybe the above picture from post Brighton Marathon will inspire you ... (I took this photo on my way home feeling inspired by writer & photographer Erika Szostak who also has a story in the above mentioned anthology.) More info about Story Studio and submission guidelines here.


Thanks to Lee Thacker for the photo of me.

Reaping my Shorts

I dedicated last year to short stories. And now I'm reaping what I sow ..

*On Sunday I'm reading at Story Studio (former Short Fuse) at Komedia. The theme for this night is Tunes so I re-submitted the story I read at the Edge of the Sea Festival in August. The story is called Further North than You and is inspired by the Wedding Present song with the same title. This story will also be included in an anthology with other stories inspired by the Wedding Present titles or lyrics.

*This week I received a copy of Spilling Ink in the post - an excellent anthology of fiction, nonfiction and prose poetry/flash fiction. My short story Lovers of the Planet is one of the featured pieces.

*My short story The Party is Over made it to the shortlist for the annual Mslexia Short Story Competition. Although shortlist in this case doesn't mean it will be one of the published pieces, just that it came close.

This year I haven't written a single short story. Here you can read about my change of scene last year, but now I'm think I'm back to poetry again ... What I learnt from dedicating a year to short stories is that every word and semicolon matters. I've become better at writing in general, yet I don't think of myself as a short story writer. I write novels for a living (well, for a tiny tiny part of my living), I write poetry for fun and for performing (and therefore am not too bothered about semi-colons and perfecting them for the page), but short stories ... They are still beyond me.

Dating Myself in London - Inspiration & Nostalgia

Julia Cameron - the woman behind The Artist's Way - writes about the importance of Artist's Dates. And sometimes we need Artist's Days. Days when we take ourselves out to gain new inspiration and energy. Yesterday I took myself to London.


I started off at the British Library. Little did I know that it was like boarding an aeroplane. You had to check that your bag was the right size, and to go inside any of the reading rooms you needed a pass. The book I wanted to read (a John Cage one) was in Yorkshire which didn't make any sense. A member of staff said "it says DSC in the entry" as if an idiot would know that DSC meant Yorkshire. I didn't let myself get put off though.

Instead I had a look at one of the exhibitions and saw original manuscripts/notebooks from authors like Virginia Woolf and Oscar Wilde. I also put on headphones and listened to Help! by the Beatles while looking at the original piece of paper that John Lennon wrote down the lyrics on ... After all entering a library is like boarding an aeroplane: you are travelling to another place.


The British Library cafe was too full of laptops, books and conversations so I moved to a cafe across the road and spent two hours with myself, my notebook and a gigantic mug of green tea. I found my words flowing in all sorts of directions without forcing myself to writing anything good.


To feed my tummy I had an over-priced sandwich. But my mind was hungry for something else, so I decided to treat myself to Camden. (And am very proud that I found my way there without looking at the map in my bag.) Camden still feels magic to me. Camden changed my life when I was eighteen. And again when I was nineteen. It would take a whole novel to explain why, but basically it was a shock for a small town girl. Like moving from grey to neon. Like moving from safe to dangerous. Like moving from innocence to experience.

Note the punk with the placard in the middle to the right. I bet he's the same guy who stood there when I first came up from the tube all those years ago ... (The next tube could take you to another world was the slogan on the walls then.)


After only five minutes in Camden I was exploding with memories mixed with new impressions and I just had to sit down and write again. At a crossroads someone asked "Where's the rainbow?" because at that very moment it started to rain at the same time as the sun was shining ... I didn't find any rainwbows but I found Spiral (a cafe by the canal) and that was colourful enough with hippies in green trousers and orange tops. I had Spirulina. Not something I would've done ten years ago ... It wouldn't have been "punk" enough ...


Nostalgia hit me really bad so I just had to carry on to Angel ... To Islington Green where me and a friend once sat in October, drinking before going to legendary goth club Slimelight ... This was ten years ago and I couldn't help thinking of the line from the above mentioned Help!: When I was younger, so much younger than today ...


And this is what my novel is about. Someone with a glamorous name who is not glamorous. (REPLACING ANGEL is no longer the title, but Angel is still very much the subject or perhaps the object of my novel.)


This is the real reason I went to London: I was invited to perform at Beat - a diverse but dynamic monthly poetry event at Charlie Wright's Bar hosted by ...


Andreas Grant. Who is a fellow Swede. (Some of the best Swedes have left their native country to grow elsewhere)

So ... This is one of the longest blog post I've ever written. I feel inspired and overtired, but I want to see myself again. After another couple of dates I might even fall in love ...

And if I get bored with myself I have filled half a notebook with thoughts notes hopes dreams fragments of poems and other ideas. It's funny how I had the intention of gaining new inspiration, but got this craving for nostalgia. Sometimes you have to travel to the future to find your past (path.) Oh dear ... I must be in love to write this rubbish. Lust for life la la la ... Bedtime or beertime? "Me!" my pillow calls, like London was calling yesterday ...

Dressing Up for my Hometown

CLICK HERE TO READ A NEW POEM OF MINE

Rattling Stories

From top left: Edward Rowe, Katherine Doggrell, Louise Halvardsson, Jo Dillon, Linda Baker, Lonny Pop, Alice Cunighame, Erinna Mettler, Mike Liardet.

There are several short story nights in Brighton, each with its own flavour. Or should I say noise? The audience at Rattle Tales were given rattles to make their voices heard. Because the unique thing with this event is that anyone can ask the authors questions after they've read or just give their opinion. I think this worked very well and I find myself remembering all stories this morning. For me it worked because it made me listen more carefully and it was also fascinating to find out where ideas came from or what the authors struggled with in their stories.

There were stories about spears, anorexics, pillow fights, facebook suicide, unopened letters, more death, cannibals, homelessness and winning the lottery. All in one evening ... For only £3.

Yes I am trying to sell this ... The next Rattle Tales is happening in June and they welcome submissions. More info at www.rattletales.org

Rattle Tales - New Short Story Night in Brighton

I'm very honoured to be a special guest at Rattle Tales opening night! Come and hear me read my story Playing Horse.

I could've been a banker - Poetry Video by Alison Boston

It seems to get more and more popular to make poetry videos. Why not? Videos are not only for musicians.

Here's a great example of a video made by multi-disciplinary artist Alison Boston whom I worked with at the improv gig.

Minding Peas and Cucumbers in a Windmill

Kay Sexton is an amazing woman. I first got to know her as a person writing literary novels with an erotic touch. Little did I know that she's as passionate about words as she are about seeds. This passion resulted in a book called Minding my Peas and Cucumbers. The subtitle reads "Quirky tales of allotment life."

I'm only on chapter two, but I'd be happy to call it Quirky tales of Life. I have no interest in growing anything. In fact I'm very nervous about the courgette and sunflower seeds that came in the goodie flower pot that everybody at the launch received. Nevertheless I've laughed out loud already. You don't have to be a grower to enjoy Kay's writing and witty comments about the other allotment holders ...

The most quirky (a word I learnt late in life) thing about Kay's launch was that it was set in a windmill! (West Blatchington Windmill in Hove.) Apart from signing books and doing a short reading Kay invited the audience to write limericks on an allotment theme or if you preferred draw a portrait of a famous person based on a fruit or vegetable. There were also a chance to generously sample different homemade chutneys. A book launch in my taste!



And if you missed the launch you can buy your own copy of Minding my Peas and Cucumbers here.

Improvising?

I woke up this morning and thought what the hell did I do last night? Don't worry I remember it all clearly, I wasn't very drunk or anything ... I was improvising! Something I'm not very used to. I've previously blogged about doing improvised workshops with the band 4thirtythree. But last night wasn't a workshop; it was a gig. People came to the Red Roaster and paid to watch and listen to us improvise.

Luckily the band 4thirtythree improvise all the time so they are used to it and they held the night together beautifully. And somewhere between the music there were words. Some of them fitted some of them didn't. I'm surprised how we managed to make the performance flow without any particular plan. Well some of us poets had brought material (either on paper or in our heads) so it wasn't totally improvised, but we did some collaborate pieces that were happening there and then and won't ever happen again.

Talking to a guy in the audience he said that he enjoyed some bits and found other bits painful. He thought our collaborate pieces worked best, when we only spoke for about 30 seconds each and then moved on to another person, creating a stream of words. Quite a fair comment I think.

I'm mostly happy what I did/said, but I also felt that I missed the "freshness" from the workshop where I felt more free as I had not brought any material at all. I'm still questioning what the hell I was doing last night, but I feel happy for the experience. A big thank you to Tom Cunliffe for putting it all together!

It has been great working with all those talented people: 4thirtythree, Annie, Yaz, Bernie, Alison and Tom.

750 words a day

I first heard about 750 words from Chris Limb. 750 words is a website where you are encouraged to write 750 words about anything. (All privately). The advantage is that there's no spell- or grammar checker. Nothing to distract you. Just a screen where you type.

I'm not using this tool to write "just anything". I'm using it to write just anything that relates to my new novel idea/project/embyro. Could be anything from thoughts about the the theme or monologues written from the point of view of the different characters. I can't start writing about what I had for breakfast. If I find myself doing that I have to switch and write about what my characters had for breakfast ...

So far I've only done two days, but it has made me very happy. 750 words a day is so much better than 0 words a day. I'm aiming to keep it up for a month and by then I should have a big chunk of text to work with.

Rip/Cut/Torn

Wednesday 16th March

eg poetry presents.......’Rip/Cut/Torn’
The result of numerous workshops......a collaborative evening of poetry, improvised spoken word and improvised music

6 Brighton based poets meet ‘4.33’, Brighton’s most inventive music improvisation trio.
With Bernie Cremin, Lou Ice, Annie Kerr, Tom Cunliffe, Alison Boston and Yassin Zelestine

‘4.33’ (Stuart Revill, Tim Woods, Chris Parfitt).....”free of cliché... a fine enigma” Don Spicer. Jazz World/Guardian.

......sometimes you have to go to the edge.........and leap

Not to be missed.
Red Roaster Coffee House, St James St, Brighton. £5/£4 8pm Ko