I'm delighted to have a poem in Issue 5 of the First Cut, the organ of the Listowel Writers Group. This delightful online magazine has a nice mixture of poetry, prose and interviews and features lovely pieces by Tom Moloney and LA Speedwing (a member of our local writers group) as well as Kate Dempsey's interview with the u and coming and in fact already arrived Eleanor Hooker.Other pieces of good news - my poem 'Sweat' was longlisted in the Plough Short Poetry competition, in fact beating Richard Halperin by one place on alphabetical order. This is the first and only time I will ever beat Richard.
I also have one poem shortlisted (out of 12) in the Plough Poems for Children category. The poems are sent to local schools and the children vote on their winner. Result expected soon. I made the shortlist last year and finished unofficial fourth (though I wonder if all the non-top three are told they narrowly missed out on that third spot!)
Also in the Flash 500 Humorous Verse competition, I was gobsmacked that all three of my submissions were longlisted and now two of them have made the shortlist of ten.
Despite all this, I'm still struggling to write. I did one humorous bit on Sunday but that was only for the company newsletter. Not sure why I'm disinterested in writing at the moment - maybe because I'm playing a lot of guitar, running and minding grandchildren and preparing for a ten day holiday on Saturday week. Oh well, it'll come...
Well done again, Peter!
ReplyDeleteYou're doing really well Peter! At the moment I'm the opposite, plenty of writing but not much publication... Still, it'll come, as you say.
ReplyDeleteThat's all brilliant - congratulations. Good look in all the shortlists!
ReplyDeleteWell woot - that's great! I'm not writing much to speak of lately either. I just stare out the window a lot. And I'm doing a lot of novel reading. And Words with Friends :)
ReplyDeleteMichael,many thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Brian - oh there have been plenty of rejections here too!
David - many thanks. You going over for the Cafe Writers?
Bug - reading is good. Not sure about the staring out the windowe bit!!
Congratulations on all your bits of good news, Peter. And don't worry about taking a break from writing for a while--God knows, you produce more poems in a week than the rest of us put together do in a year! Listen to your brain--it's telling you to put down the pen till after your 10-day holiday. You'll be a new (writing) man once you recharge the old batteries. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou're on the crest of a wave Peter! Well done!
ReplyDeleteCongrats there Peter, not only are you gifted but also persistent. Please also note a name on the longlist Plough for a short poem is my Dad, John Prior. I'm so proud. He'll be in the next Poetry Bus I think too.
ReplyDeleteHi Connie, that's sound advice, makes me feel much better!
ReplyDeleteHi Peadar, more like the crest of a toothpaste
Woo-hoo Kate's dad! God, what a talented family! Are there any more of ye?