Writers Block Turned Positive.

So for a couple of weeks now I've worried about my lack of writing and how difficult I've found my course.
Last night was mostly sleepless, yet I managed to start a new poem and with a couple of hours work this evening I've managed to complete it. It would be good to hear what you think of it but perhaps the most important thing I've learned over the last couple of weeks is, that it doesn't matter as long as I like it :)

Writers Block

I sit here and listen to those all around,
Whose words captivate, completely profound.
A profusion of prose all written and rounded,
Like nothing before has ever been sounded.
And yet in my corner no words outpour,
Feels like I’ve never done this before.

Some years ago my family I astounded,
The long-standing critics I completely confounded.
I passed my ‘A’ levels with a ‘B’,
Then went on to complete an Honours Degree.
Rich words were tucked under my belt,
Enough to write prose till the arctic melt.

Strange it is then, that I find,
No words at all spring to mind.
Yet when I glance down at the paper,
My mind has been on its own jolly caper.
A complete poem has simply appeared,
No block for me, as I’d long feared.
By Eve Laws

Strange things

Interestingly, after my last post I sat here and wrote half a poem! It needs some work still and I'm searching for a word or two, but the outline is there and I like it.
Then later while checking my mails and things I came across this. I don't know if it will work properly but I'll try and copy and paste it to here for you. I thought it was timely and interesting, not to mention very apt for me. Let me know how you fare and whether its apt for you too.

Your Birthdate: May 29

You have the mind of an artist, even if you haven't developed the talent yet. Expressive and aware, you enjoy finding new ways to share your feelings. You often feel like you don't fit in - especially in traditional environments. You have big dreams. The problem is putting those dreams into action. Your strength: Your vivid imagination Your weakness: Fear of failure Your power color: Coral Your power symbol: Oval Your power month: November

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Backwards rather than forwards

Tonight was week three on my creative writing course and to be honest I'm begining to wonder what I'm doing there. I can't remember a time when I felt less creative. Its not just the writing front, my knitting's not holding my attention, neither are the books I'm reading, the newspapers, tv or the internet.
But the thing that's worrying me most is the writing. I'm sitting in class each week listening to things that other people have written, at the same time as me, on the same topic and I hear lively, polished pieces with a clear voice, wonderful vocabulary and interesting details. In comparison my writing feels dull and lacklusture. I feel like I've completely forgotten how to write.
The much beloved is trying to be understanding and supportive in telling me that as long as I'm happy writing that's the main thing. It doesn't matter if we get published or what everyone else's is like. I'd love to believe him, but this whole year is costing him £500 and I'm a tad worried that at the end of the year I'll have nothing to show for it and nothing even vaguely publishable. Perhaps all this year is going to do is reveal me as a literary wanabe and a fake?

Yet more shopping...

with the other daughter today. Thankfully it wasn't as huge a trip as yesterday, we managed it all in one shop, but it was enough that I'm shattered again.
To cap it all the much beloved is ill again. He had a bit of an infection on his toe, and being diabetic , went to the doctors as he's supposed to do and got some antibiotics. The only down side is that he is allergic to penicillin and it only leaves two broad spectrum antibiotics he can have.... one of which upsets his stomach really badly.
Guess which one the doctor gave him? Yep, you've got it, the one he reacts badly to. Of course if he had been able to remember the name of it when the doctor was prescribing all this may have been avoided. (not that he's got a bad memory or something!!)
So the poor thing is laying on the sofa feeling sorry for himself and generally doing the 'ill man' bit... hopefully he'll be feeling better tomorrow and I'll have some more energy.

Shop...

Till they drop they say. And today I think it could be said that we did.

Katherine is only two weeks off ten (which I'm sure I've said before) and her childlike innocence is starting to go and she's growing up

With the growth mentally and to some extent physically, she needed to change her dress and image. Now while I didn't want her to look like some kind of teenage tart, I felt that it was time for her to stop looking a bit like Dora the Explorer.

Luckily for all concerned a young student friend of mine (Miv) is visiting this weekend, so the three of us headed for Matalan, leaving Christine with Robin.

I usually dread these shopping trips as its a fine line to walk and hard to get clothes to fit etc. This time, lead by Miv, we went for a different approach. Everything Katherine liked the look of, we put in the trolley and we headed to the changing rooms. We were in and out like jack rabbits while Katherine tried things on and discarded some awful things.

Eventually we were left with two oufits that looked just right on her and for the first time a pair of JEANS!!!! If you only knew how many pairs we' ve tried on in the past and failed to get any to fit her!!

All in all, I enjoyed the trip and having a 3rd, neutral party was a great idea. Katherine is thrilled with her clothes, I'm happy with how she looks and even Robin liked them too.

As for me, my back aches, my ankles are puffy, I ache and I'm shattered but its a small price to pay for a happy shopping trip. :)

Wet washing

why is it that when you don't have a tumble dryer and you need clothes and you put a load of washing on the line to dry, it rains?
I try hard to be an optomist, aparently it takes less energy, but I have to say that since I've moved to Hull I feel the weather has taken against me.
I put the aforsaid load on the line on Wednesday so that the children may have clean underwear. I'm indoors doing some housework and I look up and its tipping it down, absolutely raining lions and wolves never mind cats and dogs. So I recon I'll leave it there on the grounds it may well dry up and be ok. It was in good company, both neighbours also had washing on their lines and it too was wet.
Yesterday morning the weather was dry so I left the washing thinking it may dry, again, before I had chance to get to it, down comes the rain.
Finally today I gave in and bought the washing in, re-washed it and and spun it then hung it on the radiators.... so you can guess what's on the top of my wish list this month????

Is this the end of the age of innocence

Yesterday my eldest daughter (a couple of weeks off being 10) lost a tooth. Its the first tooth she's had out for some time and the first since we moved house.
As usual we left it out for her tooth fairy to collect and I dully crept in before I went to bed to change the tooth for a pound.
This morning I waited for the usual excitement of ooooh the tooth fairy's been... instead I got a very confused child coming in to me saying I don't know what to think?
She'd heard me creap in (those wretched floorboards) and the sound of the pound going down on her bedside table.
At a loss to know what to do I asked a couple of questions like, what would happen if there wasn't a tooth fairy but she ignored that so I spun a story about the fairy being busy and asking me to help her out last night. She bought it and came up with the idea that she was probably on her way to a party or something.
So it would seem that the end of her innocence with these things is nearly here, I guess the next thing to go will be Father Christmas.... and there was I hoping for another couple of years to go before that one came out.
Oh well....

Homework

Strange that I'm again subject to homework after a break of 13 years, although its no easier now than it was then.
We've been told to describe something or someone without using any adjectives or adverbs and lets just say its not as easy as it would seem. I've been wracking my brains for ages and nothing spring to mind. All of my ideas tend to vere off towards lots of description. Perhaps I'm not cut out for this?
Oh well, I've got till 7pm tonight to get it done, so I'd best get on with it. I'd be interested to see if anyone else can come up with something and how they get on with it.
More tomorrow.

Carrot cake and company

Well, this morning the girls and I again made a foree to the church on the corner of our road. Luckily today was a far better experience than last week, the girls were, if not perfectly behaved, much better. We managed to make it through the first 30 minutes of the service without too many problems and then they went out to the sunday school along with the other children and I was able to concentrate by myself.
We got home from church to a houseful of people. A bit of a surprise to me, I'd only been expecting one visitor, but the much beloved's cousin and his wife were there too. I walked through the door and there they all were, and had tea been made or cake served.... no. Although there were muttered excuses as to why not and claims that they had been offered.
I must be getting a bit of a reputation for my cooking as a quiet voice pipes up in the corner.... Eve... can I have a piece of carrot cake please?
I'd tried a new recipe for the topping so I was a bit anxious, but thankfully it seemed to go down well with everyone. So a nice surprise rather than anything and its lovely to have a house that I'm happy to have people come and visit in.
I'm discovering a whole new side of me, sociable and happy to entertain... and I like it.