Saturday 16 July 2016

Filling in the Gaps

I have been even more remiss than usual in writing blogposts since April, in part due to May being incredibly busy with the market residency and also because I was launching my poetry collection into the world. Then as soon as the residency was over I went straight into a month of hospital appointments and eye operations - none of which is very good for the soul. It has also meant that my ability to read has been somewhat curtailed and this has had a knock on effect on my writing. I have noticed this link before - if I am not reading then I tend to write a lot less. Julia Cameron calls it filling your artistic well. I am still not reading much as my eyes are not back to normal yet, and I never thought I would say this, but I am looking forward to being able to have an eye test and get new glasses.

I have, however, started writing again. I didn't think that I would write anything about the whole hospital/eye operation experience but suddenly found myself writing about it a few weeks ago. The hospital environment is like an alien world too and looking at things aslant is what we like to do in poetry so it would be hard NOT to write about it, and the jargon of the hospital and of hospital letters and literature is so weird and specific that it was just inviting me to use it in some way. I think there may be more to come on this subject...