Well I saw the new year in with some of my favourite people…poets! And what better way to celebrate than with a chilled glass of wine (or three) and yummy food under a canopy of vine leaves in a beautiful home in the Adelaide Hills. Perfect.

And sticking with tradition, we were each asked to share achievements from the old year and aspirations for the new, which got me thinking…

2015

So looking back at the last 12 months, one major success stands out – the publication of my first collection – yay me! I must admit I’m rather proud of it and love catching a glimpse of it in our bookcase.

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Being guest poet at Hills Poets is another memorable experience, aswell as reading at Lee Marvin alongside the greats (fingers crossed I get invited back!).

This blog has also proved it’s worth, with views from here, the UK and US – all 2,300 of them (is that any good?) – with the most popular post being my launch in pictures peaking at 95 views.

So going back to publishing, with acceptances inevitably come rejections, and looking at the stats I think I’ve had more than my fair share:

  • 23 rejections across journals, magazines and anthologies
  • 7 acceptances predominantly in journals and magazines both in print and online

There’s a ratio in there somewhere – and I don’t think it would look too good!

2016

So looking forwards, what’s on my agenda for this year?

I have a couple of ideas for further collections – one full length and the other possibly another chapbook, we’ll see.

And among the rejections are a few poetry journals and magazines I really want to appear in, namely RABBIT, Cordite and Mslexia, so plan to keep on improving and just keep on trying.

A longer term ambition is to get a room of my own for writing. Having stayed last night at a fellow poet’s house complete with study and writer’s cottage, it would be absolutely wonderful to have a space just for poetry – with books lining the walls, my writing journals piled on the desk, a view, inspirational photos, snippets, notes, etc…alas still a dream for the time being. One day šŸ™‚