One Night Stanzas

While I was home for Christmas, I stayed in my sister’s room. Her interior decor is super cool!

My parents always decorate the house in a sweet, traditional way. The decorations are a big part of Christmas for me!

Colours!

My mum is a teddy bear collector — they’re perfect if you need a cuddle!

Happy New Year from One Night Stanzas!

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You can also visit Read This Press for more poetry (and typewriter paraphernalia!). Alternatively, check out Edinburgh Vintage, our sister site. If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!

An earlier version of this post appeared at One Night Stanzas in December 2008.

OK, as regular readers might have noticed, I am an obsessive list-maker. I make time for a Love List and a Link Love List every week, and New Year is my favourite time — it’s all about wishing and hoping, planning and dreaming, as Dusty would’ve said (or rather, mimed hideously!). I’ve been reading a lot of articles recently rubbishing this kind of thing, but forget it — I am a typical dreamy Pisces, and I need to organise myself well in advance. So I will still be making New Year’s Resolutions (though only ones I know I can keep!), and I’ll also be writing a 2013 To Do List.

Why should I write a To Do List for the whole year?

Well, everyone writes To Do Lists from time to time, no matter how well organised they are… usually when they have a lot on, and it’s important that they get everything done. Well, apply that kind of thinking to a whole year — how much stuff will you have to deal with between now and December 31st next year? Surely it’s a good idea to have a bit of a plan before you start, in order to hit the ground running. You can never be too organised.
Also, a year might seem like a long time but as we all know, you get to Christmas every year and inevitably find yourself commenting on how it only seems like five minutes since it was January. This is why it’s not only important to write down all the achievements of the past year, but also to get ready for the next one, to make sure that the 365 fleeting days are well-spent. Here’s a fact for you: if you write down your goals, you are more likely to achieve them, so To Do Lists are NOT a waste of time. If there’s something you really want to achieve in the next 12 months, write it down now… it could make the difference between success and failure.

How should I do it?

Prioritise: Maybe you have some goals that you’re desperate to achieve — getting really good exam results, for example. Maybe there are others that aren’t so vital — you’d really like to get your poetry published in a certain place, for example, but if it doesn’t happen you won’t be totally devasted. And maybe you just have some odd little whims that you can take or leave but might try out at some point…
A good idea might be to write three separate lists, or divide your list into three ’sections’ according to your priorities. Don’t sweat the small stuff — but at the same time, don’t forget it either. Put the biggest want for 2013 at the very top of the list in big letters, and keep the airy whims for the end.

Be realistic: Don’t clutter up your To Do List with things that you know aren’t achieveable in the next year. If you start too big you’ll end up disappointed with yourself at the end of the year when you find you haven’t reached you goal — remember, as I said, a year isn’t as long as it seems! If you have a big goal like saving up for a house or writing and publishing an epic six-part novel, you might want to make a separate list for the next five years, ten years or whatever. You can also put slightly silly goals like “note to self: win the lottery” on a fantasy To Do List if you like… just keep them off the serious list!

Expand: If you have a goal but aren’t sure how you’re going to achieve it, you can turn your list into more of a plan. If your goal is to travel for six months, for example, you can note down the steps you think you’ll need to take to get there… “get job / open savings account / save up and stop buying notebooks obsessively (confession!) / book flights in advance” etc. A great big goal can seem a bit scary and unrealistic, but break it down into smaller steps and it will seem less intimidating and easier to achieve.

Share: You might not want to let other people in on your cunning plan for world domination, but showing your To Do List to someone else can make you more likely to get where you want to be. Proving to someone else that you can do it gives you added incentive, and having someone to talk to if the going gets rough is always useful. If you’re feeling shy, just show your best friend or a family member who won’t snigger at the fact that your ambition for the year is to become a professional Cliff Richard impersonator or whatever… or if you’re more confident, get thee to your blog, or better still, spread the To Do List idea around your friends. If they also draw one up you can compare notes and keep one another going!

Display: Once you’ve written your To Do List, don’t just stuff it in a drawer or squirrel it away in a dusty old file on your computer desktop. Put it somewhere you’ll see it often, and make sure you check back every so often to see how you’re doing. It may sound daft, but crossing another thing off your list brings a real sense of achievement, AND if you get to the end of the year with everything crossed off, how awesome is it going to feel?? If your To Do List is out in the open you can also update it as more ideas and ambitions hit you during the year… and this humble piece of paper will serve as a cool memento of the fabulous 12 months you’ve finally put behind you once you get to New Year 2010!

What should I put on my To Do List?

Anything you want. The important thing is that, if you think you can achieve it in a year, you should put it down, regardless of how daft it might seem. If you’re worried about other people thinking you’re nuts, you don’t have to show the list to anyone… and if you end up not achieving the big goal for the year, you can transfer it to next year’s list instead. Nothing is too small for the list, and nothing is too vague. “Finish reading the last Harry Potter” is just as acceptable as “Conquer Finnegan’s Wake,” and “be more confident,” might seem very general, but putting it down on paper is the first step towards getting it done.

Note! The To Do List you make is there to be scribbled all over, torn to bits and stuck together again or chucked on the fire if you so wish. Don’t write it and then assume it’s set in stone. You can add things at a later date, remove things if you change your mind, and tear it up and start again in August if you find your priorities shifting massively. You’re not writing a personal Bible or anything, you’re just visualising goals, which is the first step on the road to achieving them. If, halfway down that road, those goals don’t seem as appealing anymore, no worries. The whole point of the To Do List is that it can — and probably should — evolve. Happy listing!

What’s on YOUR To Do List for 2013?

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You can also visit Read This Press for more poetry (and typewriter paraphernalia!). Alternatively, check out Edinburgh Vintage, our sister site. If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!

(Photo credit)

You may remember my admission here, in January, that 2011 had not been a very good year. I wrote here — and in my paper journal — that I wanted to reclaim my life from work-related stress and insomnia. I also wrote in my paper journal that I wanted to extricate myself from the politics and cliques of the poetry community (locally and online), and just write. It took a while — nearly all year, with the latter — but I feel like I can now say I managed to do those things. 2012 was a good year, all told. Here’s some of the stuff that happened.

In 2012, I…

* worked as a reader for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the fourth year running.

* won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, and am about to begin — quite belatedly, which was my choice — my programme of creative mentoring.

* spent two great weekends in York early in the year, and remembered how much I loved it. Going back soon!

* moved from a 0.7PTE contract at work to a 0.5PTE contract, as part of my “reclaim my life!” challenge. Less teaching hours, less office politics, more free time, less stress (also less money, obv, but that’s OK).

* moved into the third year of studying for my PhD in Creative Writing. Switched to a brand new thesis topic for the third time. Probably drove my supervisor crazy.

* delivered a lecture, “Making Poems, Writing Histories, Excavating Myths”, to the Melrose Literary Society.

* went vegan, and I love it.

* scored an amazing haul of SEVENTEEN antique typewriters on Freegle! (Still haven’t got round to starting restoration/reclamation work on most of them…)

* organised an all-female poetry slam to celebrate International Women’s Day 2012. It went really well!

* celebrated my 26th birthday with not one but TWO birthday parties: one a nom-tastic vegan dinner at Zeffirelli’s with my family, the other a fabulous few rounds of cocktails at The Dome with friends. Yay!

* attended the Scottish Women’s Aid Feminist Day School at the University of Edinburgh, and was inspired.

* was shortlisted for an Eric Gregory Award for a second time (first time was 2010. I forgot to enter in 2011).

* competed in Literary Death Match (Edinburgh, ep 4) AND FREAKING WELL WON!

* spent a week in beautiful Barcelona, and totally fell in love with the place.

* spent a weekend training to become a Scottish Women’s Aid Community Champion. Possibly the most empowering weekend of my life so far!

* performed in “Dear Glasgow,” directed by David Grieg, at the Traverse Theatre.

* read poems in a magical launderette in Durham!

* spent a long weekend in gorgeous Whitby — surely the most literary seaside resort there is? — with Lovely Boyfriend.

* was introduced to The West Wing, fell in love, and watched all seven series in the space of a few weeks.

* spent ten days in Greece while One Night Stanzas was on hiatus. Visited Athens, and spent a week in a one-room cold-water whitewashed cottage on the tiny island of Hydra. Here’s the view from our room! We went swimming at daybreak, befriended donkeys, made lots of delicious vegan food, and spent tons of time writing, writing, writing. It was great.

* taught Creative Writing at the Scottish Universities International Summer School for the third consecutive year. My wonderful students were Dan, Linda, Sarah, Joanna, Daniel and Jill. You guys were fab!

* had a poem shortlisted in the Mslexia Women’s Poetry Contest.

* went to see George Watsky on the London leg of his Nothing Like The First Time tour. Also spent a fabby weekend hanging out in London!

* organised and hosted One Night Stanzas presents Watskyx2 — definitely my biggest and scariest moment as a poetry promoter! But it went SO WELL, yay!

* went to a ton of great stuff at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, including Louise Welsh, Andrew Keen, Alice Oswald’s Memorial event (OMG!), Daniel Franklin launching Megachange, Billy Letford & Sean Borodale and Marina Warner (who I also saw at the International Festival, ’cause I’m a fangirl).

* read poems at Blackwells: Writers at the Fringe.

* attended a discussion that included the amazing Jean Kilbourne, personal superheroine of mine, and met her afterwards! Swoon!

* was employed as a creative facilitator with a local women’s community support group (details redacted!), and I am loving working with these amazing women as they read poems, share stories and unlock their creativity!

* joined the Shore Poets committee and became their blogging/tweeting/Facebooking person, among other things!

* survived root canal surgery!

* got tattooed (again).

* went to beautiful Paris for the weekend with Lovely Boyfriend to celebrate our two-year anniversary!

* helped run Scottish Women’s Aid’s I GET IT campaign, spreading positive messages about healthy relationships to young people aged between 16 and 25.

* wrote articles and reviews for The Skinny, xoJane (two, in fact), the Edinburgh Review (again, two! One’s online here) and The Scottish Review of Books.

* had three poems included in Where Rockets Burn Through: Contemporary Science Fiction Poetry from the UK

* spent an amazing day at the Maryhill Integration Network in Glasgow, meeting incredible, inspiring women, and being treated to a crash-course in filmmaking, a fashion show, a dance recital and a ton of delicious food!

Favourite photos from this year:

Just one of the many millions of photos I took of delicious vegan breakfast/brunch food. I obtained this book upon becoming vegan and it changed my world!

Lovely Boyfriend being lovely.

I will remember summer 2012 as the summer of hooping in the park with my sister!

I love living in Tollcross — and my top floor, bay-window view! — so, so much.

My fantabulous SUISS Class of 2012!

All the lovely performers from One Night Stanzas presents Watskyx2! Such talent!

Just when I’m feeling down and crap, along come my amazing students to make me feel inspired again.

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A loopy family portrait.

Visiting the jaw-droppingly gorgeous GiftED sculptures.

& Christmas comes to ONS Towers!

It’s been a great year. I feel I am a million miles away from the place I was in this time last year — phew! I am also extremely excited about 2013 and all that it holds for me. I plan to finish my PhD, put together my first full-length poetry collection (at last!), get more tattoos (yeah!), and start work on a ton of exciting new projects. Wish me luck!

If you want to see what I got up to in 2008, 2009, 2010 or 2011, just click on each year!

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You can also visit Read This Press for poetry and typewriter paraphernalia! Alternatively, check out Edinburgh Vintage, our sister site. If you want to get in touch you can follow OneNightStanzas on Twitter, or email claire[at]onenightstanzas.com. I reply as swiftly as I can!

Happy New Year, ONS readers!  Are there any of you left, I wonder?  2011 was a quiet year for One Night Stanzas; a bit of a muddled year.  2012 will be a better one.

As the long-time readers among you will know, ONS started life as a kind of informal how-to Q&A blog for young, inexperienced writers. At the time, I was running Read This Magazine and receiving endless emails from folk asking about all aspects of writing and publishing poetry. I got so tired of being an unpaid email-answering advice service that I stuck it all online instead. For those of you who’ve arrived since then, you can check out the best of ONS: Year One here.

It’s weird looking back at that Year One post and seeing how productive and organised I used to be. A post a day, every day? That seems like insanity, looking back. At around that time I finished my English Literature undergrad degree and went straight into a Creative Writing MSc — I was also working as a private tutor of English, Creative Writing and Drama and living in a tiny attic bedsit (I miss that flat — can I just say, roofgarden! — so much, even now!). I was still running a magazine, and started a small press soon after. I made jewellery and ran a vintage shop. And still had time to go to the pub. Where did that life go?

Fast-forward to 2011 and One Night Stanzas is a barely-updated wasteland. I pop up every so often to talk about the books I’m reading — usually only the ones that have made me feel strongly about something — and to post the odd Procrastination Station. My vintage shop has been “on hiatus” for months, Read This is no more now the editors have all graduated and scattered to the four winds. I gave up on the jewellery thing because I couldn’t handle breaking up typewriters, however broken beyond repair, any more. I have irate poets emailing me constantly, asking to be considered for the Featured Poet posts that haven’t existed for ages, and then sending me snotty call-back emails when I don’t reply. I still don’t reply. I’m reading for a PhD in Creative Writing but I’m barely putting pen to paper. I’m burned out doing a challenging, tiring, rewarding job that I used to love but have come to resent. My friends have all moved away — to different cities, countries, continents — and most of them don’t return my sporadic Facebook messages or texts any more. By the end of the year, I’ve been diagnosed with stress and insomnia: my body is in survival mode, shutting down bits of itself to try and keep the rest going. 2011 has felt like walking along a mineshaft: it’s got increasingly dark and narrow as I’ve gone along; I lost the coal seam but just kept wandering.

Thankfully, I haven’t wandered far enough that I can’t find a way to climb back out again. I feel like I’ve woken up, and looking in the mirror I’m pretty shocked to find that I’ve turned into one of those people who lives to work, who has become their job and can’t find the energy to even think about anything else. A person who gets up at 6am, goes to work, gets home by 6pm and collapses in front of the TV, then goes to sleep… and I never even noticed it happening.

So no more. I don’t care what everyone else thinks of New Year’s Resolutions: I make them. Usually in a kind of sneaky, abstract way. This year I am only making one:

IN 2012, I AM GOING TO RECLAIM MY LIFE.

One Night Stanzas is coming back, with a vengeance. It’s not going to be a writing advice blog again, nor is it going to continue to be the Serious Poetry and Writing blog I tried to turn it into more recently. It’s just going to be MY blog, and I’m going to fill it with whatever I fancy. So I’m guessing you should brace yourself for owls, tea, typewriters, tattoos, cute animals, cool Youtube videos… and some poetry. If you want serious ruminations on the latest petty poetry squabbles (e.g. OMG your anthology sucks and you’re clearly STOOPID!), or if you want your collection to be reviewed by someone who definitely won’t use excessive CAPSLOCK and the word “awesome,” then you should probably go elsewhere. But if you fancy sticking around and watching while I try to re-inject some positive, fun, POETIC energy into my life, while I remember what it means to get properly excited and inspired again, then fantastic. You rock. Watch this space.

One Night Stanzas loves mail. Say hello via claire@onenightstanzas.com. NB: I am physically unable to reply to non-urgent stuff unless I have a free afternoon and a cup of tea in my hand. Please be patient!

(Photo credit)

Happy New Year! Here’s a celebratory mixed bag of link love for your enjoyment!

Meant to post this ages ago: Tom Waits + poetry = WANT.

I’d already recognised Lawrence Ferlinghetti as a genius, buy hey.

Edinburgh folk! How cool is this Cameo Cinema flickr set?

I love Hark! A Vagrant!

Ampersands rock.

Don’t you just want to know what James Franco’s favourite poems are? What do you mean, ‘not really’?

Amazing vintage Japanese tattoo art

In typewriter-related news… want and want.

I love Alphonse Mucha, and Doctor Who, so… this is perfect.

This lady is my heroine.

Stewart Lee’s thoughts on Harry Potter are basically mine… he’s just funnier than me.

Cuteness.

Happy New Year!

(Photo by euan_pics)

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Happy 2010 to all my readers! I can’t believe we’re already ushering in a new decade — it feels like two minutes ago that my 13-year-old self brought in the new millennium… what happened? I hope the Noughties have been as action-packed and fulfilling for all of you as they have been for me. Now! It’s been ages since I did a Procrastination Station post, so without further ado… Happy New Year!

I LOVE this ever-expanding video series in which people on the street answer the question “What is poetry?”

Terrible poetry jokes from McSweeney’s.

It’s ages ago now, but I loved the story of the phone box library.

A fab SPL podcast with one third of the awesome Edinburgh-based Chemical Poets.

Will pointed me in the direction of these two great poems by Kim Addonizio — thanks!

Thanks too to Bram (another Chemical Poet) who recently introduced me to Ross Sutherland — here’s one of his poems, originally posted at peony moon.

Recently rejected?

The new issue of Sparkbright is out!

Hey editors — go easy on young poets! Here’s why!

I really loved this ImprovEverywhere stunt!

37 things you should never apologise for, and why. Sound advice.

A brief note on the importance of proofreading from the hilarious Rejectionist.

& what ONS readers/former Featured Poets/friends have been up to recently!: Incredible new work from Heather Bell // Scene setting with McGuire // Matt Haigh at a handful of stones // New from Alex Williamson // Open house at Swiss’ place // Regina Green featured at Escape Into Life // A cool cut-up from Stephen Nelson // A seasonal poem from Tom Rendell at a handful of stones

All best for 2010! Have a great New Year weekend!

(Photo by Mukumbura)

Don’t forget to visit The Read This Store, and its sister store, Edinburgh Vintage!

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