First half of December going already.

I haven't done much writing recently. Mainly reading. I have been much toying with the idea of writing a crossover novel for young teen women and as such have been devouring any Siobhan Dowd or Meg Rosoff I can get my hands on. I have a long list of others, there are so many after all, and it's just as well they are quick reads. I haven't yet decided on my story, I just know it's an idea I have been thinking about for a long time. Long before I started writing, before poetry, before evening classes, before MA.

I did however start a poem last week at a conference. It started after a few drinks in the company of strangers, and grew on my phone as I had no paper to hand. When I looked at it the next day (sober) I wasn't sure if it would work but I may revisit and see if there is anything salvageable.

It's the end of the MA term now and I need to start writing again for next year, it's all about time really, of which I seem to have none. I also need to write about 500 words on a winter theme for a gathering on wednesday. Isn't christmas hard to write about without being cliched or like Scrooge? I have an idea but no idea how to execute it.

I read The Road last week by Cormac McCarthy (very dark and stark and compelling) and have just started A prayer for Own Meany by John Irving after being inspired by Radio 4's Bookclub.

I feel bereft as the loss of Borders Deepdale in Preston. It was my constant source of poetry journals and books you can't get from Waterstones. Because as much as I like Amazon I like to feel a book first. It also had a paperchase. I will miss it terribly. Just please don't shut down Foyles. It's the reason I still go to London.

Cost-Benefit Analysis on poetry?

(Copywrite R. Allen 09)

Throwing the obscure and redrafted poem into the bear pit this morning was pretty useful. I had been convinced everyone would prefer the latter as it went a lot further in addressing the narrative problem of the first attempt. But in the end, there were those who preferred the more obscure version. It was decided that by redrafting, the new poem has lost some of its lyricism and flow, despite having more clarity in the meaning. I had also taken out some imagery and they wanted this back in, the answer to this being I'll save it for another poem. It seems that in trying to meet the reader half-way I had sacrificed some of what makes my writing appealing, yet in return I'd delivered accessibility and gained readers that struggled with the original. In truth, the first version was more 'me' but it was refreshing to see people openly understand my writing for a change and I think I prefer that feeling than the feeling that I've successfully scratched my own head.

I will redraft (version 12) at some point, to try and get it to flow again like the original and to perhaps take out the words that were hang-overs from trying to tie up the narrative. Maybe I'll write every poem with a CBA in mind - what am I losing but what am I gaining? Is something lost, lost forever. If I hadn't redrafted I wouldn't have seen the possibility of getting a second poem out of it - pouring all of my arsenal in to one was perhaps a waste of resources.

This was a new method of writing and drafting that I have not tried before. I usually try and be a bit more organic (hate that word) but for those of us who tend to the obscure then I think it's a good idea to find a method for making sure the story is there and not clogged with ideas.