January still seems to be continuing. Okay, it's the 30th, still feels like a long month though. I've been reviewing quite a bit of late, just finished one for Under the Radar for Simon Perril's collection Nitrate. Picked up the new edition of Under the Radar which in a strangely synchronous way features my review of Roads Ahead published by Tindall Street Press. There is another one in the pipeline too.
A few poems are due to be appearing in various magazines as well and I'll probably mention them in due course. I do like reviewing, it's a different skill. It sometimes feels a bit like homework rather than writing of the creative kind. You normally have a sense of deadline and a word count, as well as the need for a formal structure. Having said that I always feel that bit more enriched by the process. You learn things. These recent reviews have been my first ones of poetry, I've written ones about prose and academic publications which have appeared in the TLS. It's always a treat when your free book (hurrah, free book!), comes tumbling through the letterbox in its padded envelope, like a present. There is that difficult bit in the middle when you actually have to write the thing and your drafts fail to make sense, but eventually after cups of tea and thoughtful bouts of staring out of windows, it normally falls into place. Hmmm, time to put the kettle on again, I think.
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