Every week during school term times, our local Writing Group gets together to discuss the work each of us has submitted for consideration. It’s a lot of fun to compare notes with other writers, and over the past two plus years I’d like to think I’ve developed more of a disciplined craft myself. The pieces we submit could be poems or prose, and sometimes we’re stimulated by news of a competition. Sometimes, rarely, one of my pieces is recognised in a larger arena.
This archive is a sample of some of my work, smaller pieces, that have been honed by careful and honest critique from my fellow writers, for which I am very grateful.
Wild Bill, [Chillingham Castle, Northumberland] for a Historic Houses short story competition, autumn 2020
Keyhole Light [in memory of Derek Mahon] used in Allendale parish church pew leaflet, summer 2021
Ferrovia Circumetnea [Highly Commended Travel Writing] in the 2021 Members Competition organised by the National Association of Writing Groups UK.
Keep Me in Your Heart Longlist: New Writers: First Novel — [first page + synopsis] competition September, 2021, AdventuresInFiction.co.uk
The end of innocence, [in memory of my prairie grandmother] prose in VisualVerse.org‘s November, 2021 issue
Winteresque [in memory of my father] for the Longbenton Metro poster poetry competition, 2021
Bar service, poem in VisualVerse.org‘s January 2022 issue
Hanging out the blessings, a ‘Reasons to be cheerful’ poem for the East Riding Festival of Words competition, 2021
HarryCarrieAndMe.wordpress.com [travels in a vintage Hymermobile, documented in an ongoing blog]
RoadsToJoy.blog . . . an ongoing celebration of life and feelings with a particular emphasis on a deeply rural community in the North Pennines, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and more recently a down=sized cottage in the village of New Galloway, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
Flutter-by, a classic Shakespearean sonnet in VisualVerse.org’s February 2022 issue
Defiant to the End, a prose poem in VisualVerse.org’s April 2022 issue [In Memoriam: Nigel Geoffrey Baynes]
The Constant Gardeners, a memoir piece in VisualVerse.org’s May 2022 issue.
Rose-Tinted Glasses, environmental poetry in VisualVerse.org’s July 2022 issue
ALclub.uk, an ongoing social history blog documenting the past twenty years of the life of Allendale Lions Club, over the next 20 months from July, 2022.
Fire and Smoke, It’s the blizzard I want, and Presentiment of Fright, three poems (text and audio) published in Wildfire-Words.com’s Summer ’22 submission window
Risk Aversion, memoir/fiction in VisualVerse.org’s August 2022 issue.
Dream of Life, dream poem in VisualVerse.org’s September 2022 issue.
Yet, To, Ekphrastic poetic response to VisualVerse.org’s Autumn (October) 2022 Writing Prize competition, among the short-list of 20 pieces.
The Wedge, Ekphrastic poetic response, exalting the flexibility of sheds, in VisualVerse.org’s December 2022 stimulus.
Faltering. Ekphrastic poetic response, describing the sense of purposelessness that may beset a writer, in VisualVerse.org’s February 2023 stimulus.
What? Who? Why? How? When?: Ekphrastic poetic response attempting to grapple with the capacity of ChatGPT in the context of a still-life, in VisualVerse.org’ March 2023 stimulus.
The Three Graces: in Wildfire-Words.com’s One Year On submission window, March 2023.
Biome NE47 