To Castlecomer ...and beyond!!

On Saturday, I drove down to Castlecomer for part of the Black Diamond Writers Festival there. Normally my wife would have accompanied me but she was going to see some glorified wedding singer in the Aviva Stadium that evening, so I went alone. Michael Massey, one of the WOW award winners last year coordinated the festival and they had the presentation of certificates and prizes in the morning. Adjudicator Grace Wells said a bit about each of the 14 listed poems before we read our pieces.
I've realised that in my stammer, I have a particular problem with double-consonant words ie words that begin with pr-, gl-, tr- etc. The end word of one of the lines of my sestina was "glow" and on the first verse, it took me ages to say it. All the while, I was thinking 'Crap, I have to say this word another six times!!'
Spoke to local writer Kevin Connelly afterwards and also the very wonderful Nuala ni Chonchuir
Between the prize-giving and the workshop in the afternoon I went for a walk around the Castlecomer Discovery Park, sat on a picnic table by the lake and wrote what can only be described as the best poem anyone has ever written in a little under 45 minutes.
The afternoon workshop was given by Grace Wells and very infornative it was too. Nuala attended, as did the multi-talented Niamh Boyce who impressed us all by writing a complete Sunday Miscellancy piece in the length of time most of us had done one sentence.
Lots of interesting tips from the workshop - exercises to do when you can't think of anything to write, the importance of trying to write every day, the danger of too much blogging....