26 Treasures update

December 3rd 2011

launch reading at

The National Museum of Scotland,

Edinburgh

Great day, readings, podcasts, chapbooks,

apps, wine and chatter

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October 2011

26 Treasures update

My second blog is posted at

http://www.26treasures.com/scotland/blog/490

in which I imagine the first meeting of the serf and his owner...

Getting closer to the open afternoon at The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh

Saturday December 3rd at which it's hoped that all 26 writers will attend, read and answer questions from the public

and all the new work will be on display beside the objects that inspired them

April 2012 updates

May 16th was National Flash Fiction Day

Lots of us sent our stories here

http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.co.uk/

mine - After Aesop -  was posted around 7.00 am that day

World Book Night 2012

Powfoot Writers ready to read

We had a wonderful night in the Powfoot Golf Hotel with both of the writing groups I'm involved with - Crichton Writers and Powfoot Writers -reading their own work beside the two giveaway titles that Carolyn Yates and I had chosen -

'I Capture the Castle' (Dodie Smith) and 'Rebecca'

(Daphne du Maurier) There were over 40 in the audience and they nearly all stayed to chat long after the last book had been given away.

Crichton Writers readers at WBN 2012

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Latest publications - a piece chosen for www.poetsonline.org in response to their 'ars poetica' prompt - a great website this for providing monthly prompts to poets, then displaying the responses.  Also two pieces in www.poetandgeek.com - a bright, lively e-zine from the Borders (Scotland) and another two in  http://glasgowtosaturn.com which is the website for Glasgow University's Creative Writing students and alumni (that's me)

I have a very small advert poem in Split Screen -poems inspired by film and television - from Red Squirrel Press which had its launch event at StAnza this year - a very witty and intelligent collection...

and a story in the Seven Stops project for Clockworks in Glasgow - Having a Nice Day - which will be part of an anthology of stories graded by the number of stops on the Underground your journey will take - mine is a six-stop story. 

New work in 'Abridged' from Ireland. New work soon to be published in 'Pushing Out the Boat' and 'The Eildon Tree' and 'The Waterhouse Review'

Various readings and performances under discussion including at the Edinburgh Fringe. Details to follow...

December 2011 and January update

We didn't win but had the warmest letter of congratulation for our new project.

I learn today that 'Shorelines' - the book that grew out of a writing project I led here in Powfoot this summer, is one of six projects in Scotland short-listed for an Epic Award for community arts projects. Final decision in January 2012 but in the meantime, I'm so pleased for this recognition of a fine effort that was a pleasure to be part of.

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My poem ' Naiad' (from 'Writing Ground') has been chosen as the September Poem of the Month in the Scotsman by staff at the Scottish Poetry Library. It will be published on the 24th September.

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Unbound Press Flash Fiction Prize

Good news this August - my flash fiction piece

'Sorting Office' has won this award.

www.unboundpress.com

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z-NZ-kY4J4 The son of my Pewter Rose publisher, Matthew McDonnell, has made a film of one of my stories from 'Perfect 10' -it's the internet romance called 'Net Babe'. He and I would love to know what you think - you can comment on this You Tube link. 

Summer 2011

Come to fruition - a six month community writing project in the village where I live. 'Shorelines' was published in early August and contains writing, drawings & photographs reflecting life here,

created by people who live in Powfoot.

One week after the launch all the first 100 books were sold and we had to re-print to meet demand.

cover design by Ian Burdett of Powfoot

 October 2010 News    

Creative Scotland (formerly The Scottish Arts Council) has awarded me a Writer's Bursary for my next major writing project - a collection of monologues and short fiction on the theme of women amongst warriors - to be completed within the coming year. This work will be drawn from anecdotal material from my parents (both in the Royal Navy) my own history in various protest movements and material from various war diaries written by women.             

  August 2010 

I have won the 2010 Poetry London Prize. I read the winning poem - 'My Mother's Literature' at the launch of the magazine on October 13th at Foyles,Charing Cross Road, where I will also receiveed the cheque for £1000 from the judge, Michael Longley. Very encouraging to see piles of my poetry collection 'About Time, Too' on sale in this top book shop.

I have lived and worked in Scotland for forty five years, working in alternative education until the closure of a school put a temporary stop on my career as a teacher. I was a mature student at the Crichton Campus of the University of Glasgow in Dumfries where I took a Creative Writing course (part of my MA Hons degree) under the direction of Tom Pow. In the last ten years I have been writing in all the genres that I once taught to others. I am also a founding member of the renaissance music group, The Galloway Consort. 

I am a writer of prose, drama and poetry, which I also perform in readings and collaborative events with musicians. I have a particular interest in renaissance themes which have formed the basis of several performance events including site-specific dramas in historic locations. My prose work is in the form of short stories which explore the small rebellions in everyday life that sustain a sense of individuality, particularly in the lives of women. The themes of my poetry are domestic; rituals of family life, the association of food and nurture, the experience of making and hearing music, and latterly, work on environmental themes.

Richard and I played music for

 'Not A Muse' launch reading in Newcastle,

 November 2009

Events and projects

I have a strong interest in presenting the written word to live audiences and have created collaborative events with musicians that have seen successful public performances including a performance event in 2007,‘Making Waves’, with all the texts printed into a chapbook, which featured new writing on watery themes with music inspired by texts written by Jackie Galley and me. The same group, friends as well as writers and musicians, has developed a new programme,’Tree’, which has had performances at the Wigtown and Sedbergh Books Festivals in 2009.  In 2008 I worked with three other writers and two artists to create Soundscapes, an exhibition and reading sequence that was staged twice in the GaelForce Festival of the Arts and which also produced an illustrated chapbook. In 2009 the same group have produced a similar event in association with The Great Wild Goose Chase, also with a chapbook. I am always willing to discuss new collaborative projects with other writers and artists.I am available to do readings and creative writing workshops, especially for those new to the writing process.

Comments from organisations or audiences

‘ Her humorous, almost misleadingly gentle performance was obviously appreciated by the audience, who were then provoked to laughter by unexpected mischievousness –“gorse is a feast, a binge/ a prick of a shrub' Jean Atkin. DGAA reviewing 2007 Poetry Double performance.

I have been extremely fortunate in the last six years to have the support and companionship of the writing group we started at the Crichton Campus of the University of Glasgow - Crichton Writers - which is an energetic,creative and completely unpretentious group, extremely diverse with many talents. We have produced five anthologies of new work and performed several readings with artists in other disciplines in our regional Arts Festival.

   also new for September 2010.....

international anthology 2010

Harvard Square Edition

In 2008 I was part of a writing group working on memoirs - not the dusty old colonel kind or the misery kind - one of the group had a chest full of family papers that she was working through. We were talking one day and she said perhaps some of the material might make a drama or a story - would I like to try ? The piece I wrote - 'Marion Terry, who might have been a singer...' is included, with her permission, in this book - all proceeds to 'Medecins Sans Frontieres'.

Contact me if you'd like a copy. 

as of 2011, in the Kindle Bookshop 

and in the I-Book store

In the last two years I've also worked in collaboration with three other Dumfries & Galloway writers - Jean Atkin, Jackie Galley and Fiona Russell - on two performance projects. The first of these was called Soundscapes for which the writers created new work in resp onse to  th e sculptures of Elizabeth Waugh and the paintings of William Spurway. The second was a commission from various organisations celebrating the fabulous Wild Goose Chase all along the Solway. for which we produced a chapbook of the texts called Goosechase. Contact me if you'd like a copy.

'Goosechase' has been warmly reviewd in the May 2010 issue of 'Markings' by renowned Scottish poet, Hugh McMillan, after a reading in Thomas Tosh, Cafe and Art Gallery in Thornhill.

                     Axa, our Moorish beauty

Otherwise .... I live with my husand, Richard, and spectacular black cat, Axa (above) in Powfoot, a village on the north Solway shore in Scotland. When I'm not writing I'm a keen wholefood cook - I love bread making - and I'm an early musician with our performing group The Galloway Consort which plays renaissance music in historic locations all over Scotland and the north of England.  Richard makes renaissance viols for which he has a healthy waiting list - his workshop is at the bottom of our garden and he hangs his viols on our washing line to absorb ultra violet light from the sun (see Gallery) Sometimes my writing co-incides with our music-making - I have written site-specific historic plays which have been performed with appropriate music in some wonderful locations - Whithorn Priory and Comlongan Castle and we have played often in Alnwick Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Falkland Palace, Stirling Castle and many others.

Non-writing activities which tend to spill over and be spilled over.......

 The Galloway Consort 2009