Anzac Day and Anzac research

 Such a long time between posts but I have been super busy, writing wise.

A long held desire to write an Anzac story- a verse novel- has been achieved in its draft form.  The absolute thrill was to follow along my own grandfather's Anzac journey.  a grandfather I never knew.

The research was exhaustive until I found an out of print edition of 'My Corps Calvary' A history of the 13th Australian Light Horse regiment 1915-1918.'  And so began an eight month journey through Trove many text books, personal letters until I began a way into my novel.

And here is my grandfather H.W Chambers 141 MM

It was exhausting reacting to photographs, accounts, letters, understanding the world war and also its consequences down to me, a grand daughter.

But I pay homage to the men who willingly enlisted for mother country, to see the world, to show their mettle, to develop mate ship and I also pay homage to the families left behind and who latter dealt with death and the damaged men who came home.  I now have a much better understanding of the war, but there is so much more to be explored.  But for now,  I begin the edits and have acknowledged all my sources and where facts could not be found I put myself into my characters' shoes, in this case Irene a 12 year old and put her on a 1914 farm in central Victoria.   The verse novels uses three voices- that was a juggling act to keep each voice distinct- but enabled me to cover a depth of the war through home, overseas and community views.  

A long time...

 I have let this blog slip, not intentionally, our 'unprecedented living times'- yes a cliche has put me a bit off kilter, but rest assured I am still writing and submitting, but success at publications are indeed hard.

But I continue to write poetry and here the 'School Magazine' NSW has created a little you- tube of my largest poem to be published in School Magazine November Touchdown edition.

I will always write a poem when I wish to teach one of my strategies and this is a short poem but every word counts.

https://youtu.be/BjfZxAdZmWw

Spring Walk

Also a little brag, 'Footprints on the Moon' 

 published in February by UQP made the shortlist of this award, very happy that a verse novel can recreate history!

And finally another happy creative place- a little snapshot of part of my garden.

At long last a reveal of the cover of my new verse novel due 2nd February 2021

 But who's counting...

It's been a big journey but the destination is so worth it- with input from great editors to rewrite, delete, reorganise and now the novel is back in the very original version of poems with titles.  A new format for a verse novel from me.  And a new setting- a high school, a new era 1969 and world shattering events.

Man on the moon and Australia's involvement with the Vietnam War.

I had mementos I'd kept from the 1960's... yes ancient I know.  This moon landing event has always fascinated me.  I was able to use some amazing facts that Lewis, Sharnie's cousin uses.

And on the Vietnam war front, first hand feedback and the privilege of having been young in the era of protest and our involvement.

So here is the cover.... drum roll... fireworks... Hurray!!!

Ah the year is racing away

I've gotten out of the habit of posting here.  I am writing slowly, but writing poetry and stories.

And sewing!

This poem is published in the May edition of School Magazine, New South Wales.

 I have been looking at older poems I've written and re-vamping, changing, tightening the words and images.  It is very satisfying to be revising older material that didn't quite make the grade.  I have begun doing this with picture book texts also and even turning one into a play!

It is satisfying on another level also in that I realise that over time I have written a lot of material!

Some stories or poems cannot be redeemed but the writing journey all adds to the skill and content of any new material written.

And I want to write more consistently in this blog.

Let's see what the writing year brings.

Writing by the river

What a great request from Meg Doller to take poetry workshops across the age ranges to inspire an affinity an appreciation of the Campaspe river at Elmore!

So I took three age groups- prep to year 1 and even two four year olds through a rhythmic two word poem looking at different sensory surrounds of the river itself.  When I talked about the title for the poem one girl said 'Done!' and that became the title- very creative!

It was a windy day but perfect for writing.  Along the banks are the evidence of a wet winter and spring with plenty of grasses and plenty of seed heads for the children to really look at.

I liked to think of our writing as a slow savouring of all the nature around us- something we don't stop to appreciate enough and poetry is the perfect vehicle for this.

Well done to Meg for organising and to everyone who came and wrote!

Fruits of Children's Poetry Workshops

Well - poetry inspiration and poems written are the true outcomes
of poetry workshops.

In May I had a week visiting Ipswich and outlying schools with poetry workshops to create and inspire entries for the Ipswich Poetry festival.

Wow!  It was amazing to reach so many children- in different age groups to show them how easy and how satisfying it is to write a poem.


Thanks to Carol Moore at the Ipswich library and her dedicated committee for sending me this article.

Local newspaper report of photos of one of the sessions.



I love encouraging children and adults to write and in doing so to discover a bit more about themselves and the world around them.

So it's a 'Finish' word for this year...

I've seen a few blog posts at the start of the New Year all about focusing on one word and for me when I reviewed where I am with my writing and other creative passions, I realised that my word is to 'Finish'.  To actually cross that finishing line and say I completed that story, that sewing project, pushed that idea to its final conclusion...

So the tally so far is an historical novel completed and yesterday submitted to my publisher, working on a fantasy novel I started um... three or four years ago, but this is a hard slog.  As a poet my work is mainly short and succinct, so turning to a work that requires 30,000 and 40,000 words is a major test.
Wish me well.

As well my first Aussie Nibble has been translated into Chinese and I am beginning the publicity for my new book.

Here is a link to a post I wrote about the back story to 'Celebrating Australia, a year in poetry.'
Always good to reflect on the journey and know that through many twists, turns, roadworks and detours a finish line is acheivable.

Celebrating a poetry picture book with Janeen Brian

I love these guest posts.  there's nothing more magical than enjoying and helping to spread the word about children's poetry and today I have Janeen Brian with her new picture book of poems called:
'Our Village in the Sky', illustrated by Anne Spudvilas, published by Allen and Unwin.

So I posed some questions for Janeen after reading her book.  What ground breaking work- a picture book in poems exploring the everyday world of children in another country.

Were the poems based on real life observation?

They certainly were. I lived with a family for a month in a remote village situated in the region of Spiti. It lies in a valley within the rugged, Indian Himalayan mountains with its scree slopes and astonishingly deep gorges and adjoins Tibet. With language being a barrier, I spent a lot of time observing the local children and their lives.

How important is it to give action and details in your poetry?

 When I first began writing poetry, I was like every other ‘newbie’ where I thought a generalisation or a bland, all-encompassing comment was sufficient or even good. After all, I was just learning to express myself, and attempting to feel comfortable writing poetry, which had never really been a big part of my school or home life.  It took years before I discovered that poems only resonate when readers or listeners can picture an image or relate to a mood or emotion. You can’t picture or relate to a generalisation. And a poem needs to move, either with active events, or words that suggest movement and energy.

Why did you choose this location in the world to write about?

It was part of a writing trip I was on, travelling with an artist friend.

There’s an audio link to the book inside. Is this innovative or intrinsically tied with the nature of poetry?

What a great question! Firstly, it was an innovative suggestion from the wonderful publisher at Allen & Unwin, and I was thrilled about it. By clicking onto the website or accessing the QR code, anyone can listen to the poems being read by two child narrators, a boy and a girl. It’s a great way for children to read along with the narration. Or for children who simply want to look at the pictures or the words, and listen to the poems. I think it could also help reluctant readers, because they can both hear and see the words at the same time.

The second great reason is, of course, that poetry is meant to be read aloud. It’s word music. It’s wonderful to hear words and language coming together in poetry form, in a concentrated, pared-down style that often shortcuts to the emotions. Often a feeling, image, memory or phrase stays with you long after the book is closed and the words are hushed. 

Janeen, you have always written poetry, so how did the idea for this picture book of specific poems come about?

My poetry writing varies from free verse to humorous verse, often done in rhyme. I’ve written, and had hundreds of individual poems in both genres published in anthologies, children’s magazines or they’ve been the basis of picture books. I spent a lot of time in the village, observing, photographing and jotting down notes. At the time I had no firm idea what I would do with such material, but later I decided I wanted to compile a set of poems depicting the play and the responsibilities of village children living in a remote village, which was so different to our Western style of life. Several publishers were keen, but it was only when the illustrator, Anne Spudvilas took some sketches and my poems to Allen & Unwin, that it was accepted. It was a long wait, but well worth it.

What do you hope will be the outcome in terms of readership and ideas/pictures conveyed in your book?

The poems are simple, easy to read and can be read independently of the wonderful, evocative illustrations, but I believe, in this instance, they help support each other. They are deliberately understated but they are honest observations, with my own imagination thrown in. I hope the readers or listeners will enjoy the language and anecdotal imagery that hopefully highlights the lives of children of another culture. Perhaps they might like to try writing poems based on observations themselves.

Thanks Lorraine, for these interesting questions!

And thanks Janeen for providing that inside information about writing a book that we eagerly seek.

If you'd like to purchase a copy for yourself here's the link.

And I wish 'Our Village in the Sky' great success.

Benefits of tidying files and a book fair

Over Easter I have been tackling a huge mound of papers and files- kept from many years of sending poetry out to literary journals, teaching notes and ideas…

It's been huge and dusty, tiring and sometimes exciting few days.  But one idea came to me as I looked at snippets of poems typed from my farming years.  They had an essence which could be distilled and made anew.  A type of poetry refashioning.

I simply cut out the poem, pasted into my writing book, took what were the key words to me and the idea and re-wrote.  I've done this with several poems now and have an idea of where to submit them.

Other treasure has been an editor's comments on a rejection slip- enough to inspire me to find that manuscript and re-work.

And the books found at my annual trek to the Bendigo book fair as part of the Easter festival… well I didn't have much success in the children's section, but found some great books I can use for my workshops and always a bit of nostalgia.

Who can resist the second in the series of the Magic Eye?  Not me and the wonderful book whose author is remembered in the Eve Pownall category of the CBCA wards.

Treasure indeed.

side tracked

It's April and all over the www there are poetry posts.  Yah, although lately I've tried to move away from poetry to try prose more and to that end I have a novel reworked for the third time into a setting and character base that I enjoy. 

But I'd ordered a second hand book of poetry from the UK- it arrived this week and what have I been doing?  Writing poetry, immersing myself in another verse novel.

I'm excited, frantic to write- can I deny my poetic streak??

Here's a little taste in honour of poetry month:

Lemon
on skin
shins, legs
rubs to
bronze tan.
Cas
does lemon
squeeze legs
tangerine
smooth.
Eyes flick
heads follow
Cas 
on her 
citrus mornings.

Poetry workshops

Last week I took poetry workshops; performed a couple of poems first then moved into strategies like Images for the older classes, conversation poetry, funny poems, falling down poems.  All techniques I've developed over a number of years and fine tuned as I teach them a number of times- the results are amazing, great fun and the children achieve a written poem- often two in the 55 minutes session.   I love encouraging children to write- and they can write!

How to write a poem

Drop Tail Lizard


Drop tail lizard
on the grey leaves
and grey bark
garden mulch,
swimming like a sardine
like a tadpole
silver pin with a jeweled eye.
Tells me the day is warmer,
summer that much closer

until that white cat running
running with a small under belly and back legs
of lizard humming
from its hunter's throat.

Drop
it
cat.

© Lorraine Marwood


Idea for writing a poem

Using a poem as a format or starting point for writing a class poem or an individual poem is a great idea.

'Drop tail Lizard' is just such a starting point.

A poem is often a simple observation of life, a detailed observation. A poet looks and mulls and captures such a detail in a word picture.

So grab a word camera and observe.
Look outside.
Watch a car, a neighbour, a tree, a bird, the clouds, the way the dog chases a squeaky toy.
Now you have your subject matter – here's a simple format.

Line 1 Name the object of the poem- use my poem as a template

Line 2 and 3 Bring in location or setting ' on the grey leaves/grey bark/garden mulch'

Line 4 and 5 action that the object is doing

Line 6 and 7 Tells us something about the world around me

Line 8 and 9 now for the conflict- what happens to upset this slice of life?

Line 10 and 11- make the last words of resolution have more impact by sitting one word on one line, like stepping stones.

(c) Lorraine Marwood

finished at last

Well that poetry strategy, I've finished it. It makes small poems easy to generate- here's a small sample.

Look

at the way balloons

shrivel like grapes

after a party

all bouncy happy birthday

softly fizzing/hissing away.

© Lorraine Marwood