So here we are again, with the final few hours of the year ticking down. It’s been quite a year. I’m not going to touch on news, current events, politics etc (just take argh as read) – I’ve had to stop listening to roughly half my podcasts for the sake of my emotional wellbeing (you know it’s bad when listening to true crime stuff counts as light relief). On the other hand, I’m giving a lot less money to Patreon, so … swings and roundabouts?
Teaching at Hagley Writers’ Institute this year really hit overdrive, with a morning class, an afternoon advanced class, and a Tuesday evening online class. I had such a great group of people! They don’t yet realise that I am going to hang on to them like a coconut crab (you don’t want to know the sort of internet rabbit-holes I went down before I came up with this analogy), but they will.
Then there was the successful Boosted campaign for the Canterbury Poets’ Collective – I’m still gobsmacked by that! Humbled, amazed, touched, grateful, and overjoyed. It’s made a huge difference. In a year when government funding for everything – arts, science, education, health – has been slashed, the support of our community was so much more than we could have hoped for. A truly good thing to hold on to.
Sudden Valley Press has launched two more fabulous poetry collections – David Gregory’s Based on a True Story, and Philomena Johnson’s award-winning not everything turns away. I’m still in love with both books – totally different, but really special. Being able to bring books like these into the world is a lot of work, but incredibly rewarding. It genuinely gives me joy – I love this job! I’m in a semi-permanent state of terror that I’ll cock up and not do them justice, but it’s still worth it.
As for my own writing … hmm. It started well, with Portrait of my father as the Count of Monte Christo winning the January Rattle Ekphrastic challenge. Things fell apart a bit after that though. I managed another PoMFa piece midyear which will be coming out in Quick Brown Dog – a decima, no less – that I’m happy with. It has two possible endings: one that is reasonably gentle, and one which is as bleak as hell. The gentle one is the one in QBD, but I may revert to the brutal one when it comes to the book. We’ll see what makes sense in context. And then there was a late poem, another PoMFa piece, which I’ll write about next year – it deserves a bit more time and effort than I can manage in the dying breath of 2024 But it feels good to have it written. Stay tuned for more!
Wherever you are, I hope this year has treated you kindly.
May 2025 be full of peace, passion and poetry.
Happy new year!
Joanna x
A Dark Feathered Art 