Returning to earth after a book launch

Small publication, big emotions

I’m back at my desk in my house in Trowbridge, west Wiltshire, after a month of travelling around a bit, to London, Exeter and Penarth where I’ve been reading from my new poetry pamphlet Love and Stones published at the end of May by the small London-based press (and theatre ensemble), Live Canon. I wrote a little about the experience of returning to live events, after three years of staying in because of the covid pandemic, on my WordPress blog where I also posted some pictures.

From publisher acceptance to manuscript editing, from redrafting to publisher liaison, from first launch to audience feedback and pamphlet sales, I’ve been bombarded with a rush of many different emotions. Fear, nerves, exasperation, excitement, gratification and love! - and that’s just for starters. I have one more reading tomorrow, Thursday, for the lunchtime concert series at St Philip & St James Church, Norton St Philip, and then no more readings until September and beyond. So I’ll soon have a chance to process all the mixed emotions I’ve been experiencing, to consider the kinds of audience responses I’ve received and how they might feed into my future work. I’ll also be able to attend to an increasingly large pile of new books. They’ve been accumulating since the spring and I haven’t had the time, energy or inclination to give them proper attention. I will be doing that soon, and I hope to to jot down some mini-reviews, notes and thoughts.

So, a short newsletter today, not very newsy, more of a quick scribbled note to tell you what I’ve been up to. A reminder to myself to return here to write something, when I have a little more time.