Although I’ll never get used to a hot Christmas, I do prefer January here than in the UK, but regardless of where I am it’s still a good time to review what’s important and declutter.

One of the first things I did was unsubscribe to a myriad of poetry/books/writing newsletters. I figure if I want something, I’ll look for it, rather than trawling through emails to the point where I just hit delete. I also want to explore my creative side more, hence my plain writer’s diary that I decorated with stickers above (loved doing this!) and learning to play the piano, something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve also started burlesque classes for something a little different as I do like to dance.

But back to writing. So my year kicked off attending Clare Shaw’s and Kim Moore’s January Writing Hours where over the course of an hour via Zoom, we look at different poems and are given prompts to get us writing. I signed up for a week and it’s a fine way to generate words, until I realised my problem is not not being able to write but not having the time and/or head space to write, which is where some fabulous news comes in…

Image courtesy of Varuna

I’ve won a fellowship to develop my next collection! Through Writers SA, the week-long residency is at Varuna National Writers’ House in the Blue Mountains, a place completely dedicated to writers, their writing and everything in between to support them. I’ve booked to go in May and plan to take some time either side to get organised and come back down to earth, as I know my head will be buzzing when I return.

Image courtesy of the Poetry School

I’ve also signed up to do another online course through the Poetry School – Darkness into Light: Poetry for the Waxing Year with Jessica Traynor – to draft further poems for my new collection that’s slowly taking shape. Targeting where I submit my work is another approach I’m taking, speaking of which I’ve got two submissions due in the next couple of days, so best get on with these and finish this post!