THINKING TOO MUCH blog has moved

Image of new website homepage

My new website, complete with blog posts and all of the blogs from this site, has now gone live.

The new site offers not only the chance to make blog posts but also a chance to add more information about the work I do including a page giving details of my creative writing workshops.

The new site can be accessed from the link below:

 www.seamuskellypoetry.co.uk

I have also created a new site for my photography where you can buy prints in a wide selection of sizes both framed and unframed at:

www.imagesbyseamuskelly.co.uk

Finally I have social media accounts and pages as follows:

 https://www.instagram.com/shaythepoet/

https://twitter.com/Shaythepoet

https://www.instagram.com/imagesbyseamuskelly/

Touchstones Creative Writing Group - "Writing to Order" workshop - February 2016

Rochdale Town Hall,
a stones throw from Touchstones

Rochdale's Touchstones Creative Writing Group (TCWG) invited me to run two of their monthly workshops during 2016 and I was delighted to accept their invitation and to deliver my brand new "Writing to Order" workshop for their February session.

The session shows how any writer or anyone who aspires to be a writer for whatever reason can benefit from some tips and techniques from professional writers.

The TCWG is a very enthusiastic group and with 19 people attending we were assured of plenty of questions, productive discussions and of course a fair amount of creative writing. After introducing the session with a short section of my poem, "I'm a bloody poet now", I explained that basis of the session, some of the learning outcomes and set the mood by reading another of my poems, "Blank", which talks about the problem faced by a writer trying to get past the blank page.

The whole group contributed to discussions, took part in the writing exercises and kept me on my toes with a constant stream of intelligent questions - a facilitator really can't ask for more than that.

I am now really looking forward to reading some of the completed work from the session and also to my next session for TCWG, in August, when I will be delivering another of this year's new workshops "Sketching with Words".

"Writing to Order "is just one of a number of workshops that I offer to writing groups, schools and community groups; SEE MY BLOG POST HERE for details of my other workshops.

Fees and further details of my workshops are available by email:   info@seamuskellypoetry.co.uk

NEW WRITING WORKSHOPS FOR 2016

I am very pleased to announce my brand new collection of writing workshops for 2016. 

Seamus Kelly
Poet, Writer,
Teacher & Facilitator

Rochdale, UK

The Worlds Inside My Head (Adults/KS4/KS3)

Using objects and images to stimulate creative ideas and create and perform short poems or stories of the worlds inside our heads.

High Speed Haiku (Adults/KS4/KS3)

Introducing the Haiku form, its origins, history and "rules" and developing new work on a range of traditional and modern themes.

In My Own Voice (Adults/KS4)

Helping developing writers to trust and believe in their own voice with examples from well known poets and writers.

Writing to Order (Adults/KS4)

A workshop using the techniques of professional writers to help writers become more creative, more productive and to expand their horizons.

Sketching with Words (Adults/KS4)

Using a range of tools and techniques to record people, places events and ideas and how to develop those in our writing.

Bespoke workshops and readings are also available; all designed to provide inspiration, engagement, writer development and entertainment with the focus chosen by the commissioning organisation or group.

My workshops are delivered as two hour sessions and are suitable for adults (age 16+) and children at Keystage 3 (ages 11-14) or Keystage 4 (ages 14 to 16), as indicated above for each workshop.

All workshops include the provision of copies of the relevant resources for the group leader or school staff including copies of poems, relevant links and, where requested, a digital audio recording of the participants work.

Further Details:

You can contact me to discuss workshops, bespoke sessions and fees or make bookings by email at info@seamuskellypoetry.co.uk

A poem about difference

Last week I did something very unusual for me; I wrote a poem directly onto my computer, no rough ideas in my notebook, no scribbled alterations, just straight onto the computer and then edited a few times. There will be a few more edits for certain.

I don't think this will be a regular thing as the process felt less comfortable than the one I usually use. On the other hand once I had the idea I decided I wanted this poem quickly to be able to share at a particular event and I must admit the computer only process took less time overall.

The result?

Well the audiences at 2 events gave it a pretty big thumbs up.

What does all of this mean? To me it serves as a reminder that there are very many different ways to turn thoughts and ideas into finished writing and poems and that even for the same writer different methods are appropriate and helpful at different times.

The poem itself talks about being an outsider through differences over the years, in this case using the difference from those following and perhaps idolising the more prevalent and popular music of the time.

I'm not going to post the full poem here but a small section of it goes like this:


"In seventy-two

They were all crazy now

Slain by Slade

And I listened to five year old bookends

Still hearing Old Friends

Sat on their park bench"

Fifth Birthday for Thinking Too Much Blog

Exactly 5 years ago today I started this blog. My first post copied below set out my intentions:

"This blog will contain a variety of my poems, some will be new ones as I finish them and some will be poems I have written previously. My poetry is often written with performance in mind and I regularly perform at Write Out Loud venues in the North West of England."

Five years on how things have changed on the writing front (nowadays I call it poeting);

After an initial flurry of activity I found myself so busy with work and other commitments that although still writing and doing lots of other creative stuff I just didn't have time for the blog and it slipped with very little activity in 2013 and 2014.

Earlier this year things started to pick up as I looked forward to my biggest ever gig - The Eroica  Britannia Festival so I started planning and at the same time blogging a bit more often and decided that I should finally put together that collection of poetry that had been rattling around as an idea in my mind for the last few years.

Eroica was brilliant and helped me to think of being a poet in a different way - I started to think of it as a much bigger part of who I am, I started to call myself a poet. I've performed more widely, Wherever I go I'm a poet and I've developed the confidence to say so, no more do I say "I write a few poems" now I'll just say it as it is "I'm a poet".

Finally I gave up the day job.

Creative work is where my heart lies and I'm working towards making a living from it. All the experience of writing, of creating and delivering workshops voluntarily and my teaching experience can surely combine to create myself a role where I can do something I really care about, support other people and put bread on the table (figuratively as I tend to make my own bread).

It is a massive step and not limited to poetry alone, I'm also creating images (mainly digital) and getting back into teaching art and photography with some plans for new kinds of workshop developing right now.

Exciting and a bit scary - but then isn't life like that much of the time anyway.

Wonder what I'll be saying in another 5 years.....

Superheroes of Slam - Huddersfield 7th October 2015

After an introduction by Julian Jordan who reminded us that slams are the blood sport of poetry and explained the rules and scoring the slam got underway:

Dave Morgan opens the slam performances

Dave Morgan (above) was up first, the most difficult slot in a slam and a chance for the judges to settle. I was fourth or fifth and unlike my previous go at a slam I didn't feel too nervous.

After an interesting first half with really diverse poems 5 poets with the highest scores had qualified for the final. I wasn't either too surprised or too disappointed to find myself in the other half; realising that my style lends itself more to a different and less competitive style and learning more about what it takes to deliver a potential winning poem.

The final saw many high scores but at the end the highest scores were awarded to Rose Condo who, in agreement with the judges, I felt was the strongest performer of the night. Rose will now have a place in the Manchester based final of the Commonword Super Heroes of Slam.

Slam winner Rose Condo

Julian was right; this is the blood sport of poetry but it was also a great night out and credit to the newish venue Bar 1:22 in Huddersfield which is likely to find itself hosting spoken word more frequently in the future.

I said in a previous post (3rd August) that entering the slam would be stepping outside my comfort zone  trigger some creativity and give myself a deadline.

All of that turned out to be true but as the day of the slam approached I stepped much further outside my comfort zone, gave up that day job, started establishing my own creative business and re-registered with agencies do some part time teaching.

I'm writing as much as I can, creating some new workshops, developing new images for sale, making and remaking contacts and getting out on the poetry scene as much as I can.

It is a bit scary, it is exciting and although outside of the norm, out of my comfort zone and a bit precarious it has made me feel rejuvenated, more comfortable and sane than I've felt for ages and I find myself looking forwards - wondering just how far I can go rather than whether to go at all.

So if anyone needs a facilitator, a compere, a poet, needs some workshops, needs some commissioned writing, wants some new images or just some inspirational words just give me a shout....


info@seamuskellypoetry.co.uk
www.imagesbyseamuskelly.co.uk

Thinking Too Much - The book

Thinking Too Much

a collection of poems by Seamus Kelly

After many hours of toil, editing poems, editing them again, writing an introduction, managing contents, layout, cover and back cover design and liaising with the printers; I finally have my book.

In fact I have a box of books:

Thinking Too Much - They're here!

"Quien descubre el quien soy descubrira el quien eres"

The quote above from Pablo Neruda's La Injustica seemed appropriate for inclusion after the introduction; speaking as it does about discovering others through discovering oneself.

Contents page - Thinking Too Muc

There are 34 poems in the book covering a wide range of issues from family, love, death and illness, to my own views on society and some of the things that are wrong with it. It isn't all doom and gloom of course and there are amusing and hopefully inspiring tales in this short collection and I hope readers might make a few discoveries of their own.

So "Thinking Too Much" is here now.

I'll be finalising a launch event shortly and you'll be able to read the announcement here, but for those who just can't wait....

You can catch me and buy a copy at a poetry or writing event for £7 per copy - I'll be happy to sign it for you.

If you would prefer to have a copy delivered to your door then that can be arranged by emailing me at info@seamuskellypoetry and I can arrange payment through PayPal

The Business of Writing

Funny thing about all this poetry; the more you get involved, the more you perform, the more you hear and the more you read the more you tend to write.

Nothing prompts a flurry of creative activity like having a looming deadline, a performance or a workshop to deliver.

I've usually got a few things on the go, anything from three to half a dozen; when a deadline looms at least a couple of those will get finished.

Once the writing starts then it multiplies, even when you've not got a pen, dictaphone or a computer to hand stuff is still happening in your mind - if I seem a bit distant sometimes that might be why. Finishing one or two of those "on-the-go" poems inevitably leads to more than that number of new ideas filling pages of the notebook - and it is almost always a notebook.

Some of the time I've also got other, non-poetic, writing on the go as well, at the moment and for the last year or so that means a couple of rather large stories that somehow keep rolling around in my mind and bit by bit start appearing on paper or on a memory chip. The current ones involve; bikes, a revolutionary tale, some elements of steampunk, some dark stuff, a fair few struggles and a bit of hope; all the things you tend to find in fairly lengthy stories.

One has the working title of "Circling the Darkness" which I liked so much I almost nicked it for a poem but it has far too much material in there to fit into a poem (unless it were one of those single-poem books). There's a picture of the notebook where it started here:

They don't have verses or stanzas but tend instead to have chapters and they don't necessarily come in the right order. And they have characters who don't necessarily end up the way they were first envisaged. they have plots which can go off unexpectedly to new area and they may at some time in the future have endings, just maybe. A bit like poems they might start off with a title but I expect that like poems the title, the one they end up with, will come along at the end of the process which in these cases might be a very long time away.

The business of writing would take much more time than there is available, even if you stopped doing everything else so I've come to the realisation that in the end it really does need to be treated as a business or a project. It needs to be allocated to certain times, it needs to have some kind of targets (for motivation - you might even call them deadlines - although that might be a title for a collection of poems....), it needs to be organised and to be considered successful it needs to have some kind of an end result.

So I'm looking at a project management approach to some of my writing. The project won't always be something like "To produce a poem about xxxx"; it is often likely to be to work with the idea of xxxx and if there is a poem or a story in there then write it.