New Year

This time last year I was getting ready for my trip to New Zealand and now I'm off to Australia to see family. I'm not looking forward to the unusually high temperatures they're having at the moment, but I'm longing to return there again. I wish it wasn't quite so far away. 

I'm not happy at my lapse in blogging but I'm working hard on my poetry portfolio and the tutorials come round very fast. I know I shall miss it all when it finishes in July. I then have until September 1st to submit. I'm aware that the time will pass very quickly and am trying not to panic. I would love to learn how to add all sorts of wonderful pictures and links to a blog and that is something else I plan to work on after my course has finished.

I'm still in a poetry wonderland, reading lots of poetry books and trying to keep up with the new writers emerging daily. I've also started to submit poems to competitions which is exciting and then humbling! I look enviously at the winners and am always astonished at the high standards. I'm also amazed by the unusual slants people take when there is a theme. I will never get published unless I try, so I think it's the route to take. After September I'll concentrate much more on submitting poems.

I did a fabulous online course with The Poetry School on the poetic line and learnt a lot. There just doesn't seem to be time to put it all into practise. I will certainly continue with The Poetry School once my MA has finished.

I have a poetry workshop tomorrow and the group is working very well together. We've been going for 18 months and have moved out of the Church in Estoril to a local coffee bar, or rather 'Tea Room'. It's very elegant with a tantalizing choice in hot chocolate.

I leave in two days so I'm off to pack. I hope to get back to my blog on my return, meanwhile a Happy 2013 to everyone.