On these kinds of days, it’s difficult to write. So much doing, not enough reflecting. Is there any rail equivalent for air miles? This week alone I’ve spent something like 30 hours in transit on cross country trains between London, Norwich, Dorset, Manchester and Leeds. And workshops: off the train, into a cab, to a venue, to work. This is not a complaint. It’s good to be (the right kind) of busy, and the opportunity I have to engage and share skills with a representative selection of teaching poets (beyond academia) is an enlivening one, one I’m sure I’m not making as much of as I could or perhaps should. I should be gathering thoughts and perspectives on the work we do, who we are, why we do it. What else? If there was one question I could ask them, what would it be? (Note to self: crowd source suggestions).

This travel is just one part of the work I’m doing, specifically for the national youth poetry slam event (Shake the Dust) I’m artistic director for. Consider a mini “state of the nation” round-up: I’m putting together a list of 300 recommended texts for a new poetry collection for Lewisham Libraries and planning an associated workshop project in three London schools to encourage young writers to respond to work within that new collection; I’m teaching and planning further developments for the Barbican Poets (showcase at the Barbican, March 21st); I’m planning a series of poetry events at the newly opened Deptford Lounge, including the dream of a residency there engaging with the local community and architecture; I’m reading through a shortlist for a new literary award, and doing my best to work through my manuscripts-to-edit pile; I’m supporting the development of national poetry competition related to… well, I probably shouldn’t say right now, just in case; I’m working on a body of new poetry for a computer gaming event in Margate; I’m staying true to my drive to offer more tech workshops for writers and creatives with an all-day session in Leeds on the 11th of February; I’m running a six week online poetry workshop for the Poetry School (joy!); and I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting.

I’m also: trying to avoid falling back into bad habits around email (flag for later attention, where later never comes); lamenting the lack of use my Bronica medium format camera has seen over the past few weeks, but learning to love Instagram (@jacobsamlarose); tweeting and posting to Tumblr (http://jslr.tumblr.com / http://beforeitdisappears.tumblr.com) regularly; resigned to the fact that I can no longer get away with the three or four hours of sleep I used to survive on (I’m currently good on an average of six or seven); and keenly aware that my main site (http://jacobsamlarose.com) needs a reboot, moreso since I didn’t properly finish it the last time round… 

And with that, the train’s pulling in at Leeds. Time to go workshop. On these kinds of days, it’s difficult to write, but you do what you can. Hasta la vista…

4 Notes/ Hide

  1. robert-stephenson reblogged this from jslr
  2. danceartmusic said: Don’t forget to visit Give.yourself.a.break.com once in a while :)
  3. jslr posted this