Writing Short Stories eBook

Just to let you know that as of April 23rd, Writing Short Stories: a Writers And Artists' Companion - co-authored by me and Courttia Newland -  is available as an eBook! ePUB version here, Kindle version here. So now you can take it with you everywhere ;-)

Daydreaming

To follow up on the previous post, this is what I'm trying to foster with my retreat from Twitter etc...! "Getting into the mind-wandering mode helps to push a kind of neural reset button in the brain, it replenishes your focussed state..."


RSA Spotlight: Daniel Levitin on Information Overload from The RSA on Vimeo.

Retreating

So, for the first time for 7 years, I'm taking a Twitter break, you won't find me over there right now. (There is some fake account, @boyletania, which looks like me but isn't me!). I have just been on a blissful three-day meditation retreat, and it spurred me on to strip away some of my self-created mind-chatter. If I could only tweet once a day, that would be fine, but Twitter has become such a big part of my life, and a mostly joyous one, that I don't seem - or didn't seem - to be able to do that. So I'm having a break. I may be back in a month, in a new way. I am watching myself to see if I feel the urge. I suspect I want to try more one-on-one conversations rather than one-on-5000 - but I will miss you all! I will see if write more, write differently, write about loss & sadness... :)

I am half way through my PhD and really want to experience every moment of it, allow myself the gift of total attention to it and to the book I am working on. It's all going so fast, I don't want to miss it. 

In other news, I have two new poems in the brand new issue of Shearsman magazine, available here, and my poem, Lessons in Flanders Agriculture, which won 3rd prize in the Ruskin Poetry Prize, will be published in POEM magazine. Not sure exactly when, but - yippee!And I have a new - and LONG - short story coming out in the Summer issue of Ambit magazine. I'm all print right now, which is delightful. There may be some radio news coming up, as well as a collaboration with the wonderful Jo Bell - whose new poetry collection, Kith, comes out this month! Will keep you posted!