I'm Back

I am just beginning to relax into the warm bath of summer. Finally free of exam stress and worries, and my creativity is blooming again at long last. Last Friday I threw out (by that I mean recycled) three years' worth of copies and pages and school-related things I no longer require. It was wonderfully liberating. Best of all, I found amongst them so many scribbled pages of words and ideas I had long forgotten. It was a little sad to see how much I used to write, how often I used to just let the ideas flow and forget about making sense and having a plot. But then, now I have so much free time to fill with writing.
Slovenia was absolutely amazing. I only spent about two days there (one full day and two halves), but we did so much, I had such a great time. I cannot express how brilliant it was. Well, I suppose I could try. We ate at a farmhouse and the food was the best I had ever had, and home-made apple juice and meat reared there and lettuce grown there and tomatoes that tasted of sun. And the caves we visited in the only other karst region of the world besides Ireland. And flying over the Adriatic so clear, even from 30,000 feet, and the Alps dappled in snow and wind farms in the Channel and English farmhouses and stepping out into London sunshine (sort of). And driving through Italy and weather so warm while storms raged at home and sitting out under a balcony draped in vines sipping cold water. And the music festival where they played traditional songs and even the teenagers waltzed. Wow. I cannot wait until we go back (sometime...)

Wonderful News

Cuisle is a word I mention a lot on this blog. The Limerick Poetry Competition in which I won first prize in October 2010. One of my favourite competitions to enter, because I love the award ceremony venue, the illusion of intimacy while still being aware it is high-profile.
Well, just guess what I found out last night. I am going to be reading my poem again next weekend (Saturday I think). In Slovenia!

Now I don't know all the details just yet, but we (MM and I) will likely be flying into Italy and then crossing the border to Slovenia. I will post pictures when I return. I've only been to three countries in my life, two I've lived in and the third, Canada, I walked across the border to (through the relevant security). So this is a wonderful experience that I'm really excited about.

Me and my poetry in Slovenia...

Blog Changes

As you'll have noticed, I have been making some changes to the blog. I felt it was getting stale and out-dated, and so I gave it a bit of a facelift, hoping to refresh and revive it. The biggest change is the background colour of course, it was black and is now white. I used to be quite enamoured with dark backgrounds but I now feel simpler is better as it is clearer and easier to read.
I also changed the header photo and shuffled the sidebar around a little. There will be some more small changes soon, but I couldn't say what they'll be.

As of late I have been listening to Pagan chants and melodies, something that I have been interested in for a long time. When I was around eleven I had friend who was a Pagan, and Ireland being the way it is, full of Neolithic sites, it makes sense. Of the many worships I have touched the surface of, the worship of nature and her bounty has always felt the most true and natural for me. Not to say that that is Paganism, or that it isn't, just that Pagan music is nice, and I like it.

Don't you sometimes wish there was a hotline to the muse?

Do you ever notice that sometimes you wait for inspiration and it strikes you at exactly the wrong moment? Sometimes though, it is the perfect moment.
I often find that when I am writing for a competition, I cannot think of anything until right before the deadline. Occasionally this occurs directly after the deadline. I don't have a lot of stories to choose from to enter into competitions so I normally have to write something new.
Lately I have been waiting for inspiration for a certain competition. I had known about it for months and it has three themes. I eventually chose one and brainstormed. After a few weeks, I knew exactly what I wanted to say. I just couldn't see how to frame it. Then suddenly last week as I rode home on the bus in the scorching heat with no ventilation, it hit me. I knew exactly how I would begin it.
On Thursday I wrote the first 300 words. I stopped at a point I knew I could continue from. This morning I finished it. I am very proud of it. It is the first time I have written this way, with a plan and an idea of how things would go already set down. It was an interesting experience, and one that I liked.
Now I have just over 30 hours to edit it. :)

Incidentally I entered the competition last year also and my entry then was absolutely horrid. At the time I liked it but now I can see that it was nothing to be proud of. I directly contradicted myself in it. I think, or at least hope, that this one is different. The winner gets a net-book, second place a kindle e-reader, third place an MP3 player. Not bad, eh?
It's actually an article, not a short story, that you have to write but it's open globally to all ages so if you are interested, here is the link.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I went to the Parade in Galway today with my friends. If you were watching it in Eyre Square and were one of the many people who weren't cheering, shame on you. If you heard a few girls screaming and cheering for every bit of the parade, that was probably us.
This was the first time I was actually in town on St Paddy's Day. It was very festive and there were lots of Italian, French, and American people. Good fun but exhausting.

Cavan Crystal Competition and Google Calendar

I've been trying to keep track of upcoming competitions etcetera for my writing, and this week I have managed to send out a piece or two.
I decided to use Google calendar to keep tack of all the deadlines as I don't have a calendar in my room any more. Only today I found out that it emails you on the day of the deadline (which I have in the calendar as events). Quite cool and useful. I like it a lot so far as it is easy to scroll through the months as opposed to a physical calendar that you would have to flip through. It is also much less hassle when seeing a competition online to just click over to Google calendar as opposed to running into the other room, finding a pen...
It will soon be time for the Cavan Crystal/Windows Publications 19th National Student Poetry Competition. What a mouthful. Last year I was short-listed or long-listed or something; it was all very confusing. (Edit: June 20 2011) This year I was highly commended (again, I suppose). There were over 1400 entries and I came in the top 80, which means about the top six percent.
The link is there is you are living in Ireland and under eighteen. Last year there was an adult competition but I guess that isn't on this year. The deadline is March 31st (put in 32nd there for a minute).

English, Mid-Term, and Kate Bush

I started a post more than a week ago but never got around to finishing it. Last week I was doing mock exams which were stupidly stressful considering they are mocks for an exam that is comparatively unimportant in itself. English was our first exam and we had two and a half hours for paper one (which took me two hours twenty-five minutes) and two hours for paper two.
It was long but not particularly difficult. Despite the fact that I am good at English, I don't really like it. It's mostly the structure of the classes and the material we are forced to ingest that is unfavourable but luckily (to the best of my knowledge) the teacher feels similarly. Irish secondary school teachers have to teach us for the exams, not for the sake of education.

Last time I was at the library the librarian (who is extremely nice) offered me this biography of Kate Bush, which I ended up getting. Seeing the futility of reading it if I had never heard her music, I have been listening to her songs this weekend. MM likes her and has one of her CDs which is cool for me. I like 'Wuthering Heights' and 'Army Dreamers' but she has sung lots of songs. I get the impression I'm still only skimming the surface.



Although I'm only in the first chapter of the book so far her life sounds really interesting and her childhood home - a 350 year old farmhouse in London - the stuff of dreams. Another interesting thing was that her childhood friends were surprised that she grew into such a phenomenon as they really didn't see it coming at all, which seems almost unbelievable but I do often wonder what my friends will become and with most I am uncertain.



The sound of her songs does sort of remind me of the film Sweeney Todd though.