February 2018 - new book launches!

I am so pleased to be able to state that my latest collection of poetry; 'Moments in Time', is published today!

The Kindle version will go live in a day or so - the ASIN number is B079HZD9XM so it is easy to search for when it goes live on the Amazon Kindle Store. The paperback will be ready to ship early next week.

Creating a book of poetry is part work, part creation and part love. It takes me a year to create, and each poem that is contained within the collection is unique in thought and experience. I love the sudden need to write something; a word or (more often) a phrase that comes to me and kick starts my desire to write. 

It is very different from writing fiction, albeit the motivation is the same - to communicate. To reach out beyond the reach of my skin and connect with others. Writing fiction starts with an idea, but it has to be refined, reduced, synthesised before it can be opened out, explored and blossom into (hopefully) something akin to the original idea.

At the moment, I am just over a third of the way through the two short stories that will be in my first collection for older readers - 'Past Horrors' is the working title and I am finding that as I go through the first story, with the benefit of older age and experience, I am polishing and refining it as I go. Yet as I go it is growing, becoming a longer and more involved story. It will still be a 'short' story, still follow the original story line; but it will have evolved, blossomed and, I hope; be the better for it.

With poetry, it is a recording of a slice of time; a moment in my history (and that of the world around me) that I strive not to edit afterwards. Sometimes I admit I can help it, but I honestly try to leave a poem as originally written. [Unless I have written a poem for someone; in this instance if I am going to give them a version, I will make adjustments so that they get something completely original; something that will be different from the 'official' version contained and restrained in a book or other authorised version.]

So, a new book out today and another one hopefully by spring!

A very good start to the creative year.

Stay safe all and keep reading...

A R C