Looking back on 2015, it has been an interesting year. This was the year that I began to make some serious attempts to get work published. In June, my short story, Between Two Worlds, was published as part of the Northlore Series: Volume 1. I also self published my first poetry collection, Goddess of the Night. 2015 was the year when I took part in my first open mic event in Blend Coffee Lounge in Paisley. It was a nerve wracking, at first, but once I managed to get up and do my piece, I realised that I actually enjoyed it. I read some of the poems from Goddess of the Night. I've been back since, and as some of you may realise, I will be doing it all over again in the new year.
I am planning on having more work published in 2016. This will hopefully include another poetry collection and a novel. Those may be simple goals, but they will be something to work towards. It will be something of a New Years resolution. Who knows. 2016 might be the year were I take the next step in my career as a writers.
Monday, 21 December 2015
Friday, 18 December 2015
Busy Start to 2016
January of 2016 looks like it's going to be busy for me, in relation to my writing. There are going to be three open mic events that I am going to be taking part in, where I am going to read some of my work. I will be reading some of the poems from my poetry collection, Goddess of the Night, as well as part of my short story, Between Two Worlds, which was featured in Northlore: Volume 1. All of these events are going to be taking place in Paisley.
The first one will be taking place on the 5th January in Saporito on Gauze Street. The second one taking place on the 15th January in Blend Coffee Lounge, on Causeyside Street and the third one will be taking place on the 21st January in Mad Hatters, Gauze Street. All of them will be starting at 7pm. They are all promising to be regular, monthly events. Events like these are a brilliant way for local writers, musicians and artists to get there names out there and to promote their work, as well as a good way for people to support local businesses.
I also think that events like this are brilliant for Paisley's bid to become the UK's City of Culture in 2021. Gaining this title has helped places like Glasgow and Liverpool - hopefully this will be Paisley's turn.
With all of these open mic events coming up, that can only be more incentive for me to get more things written. I have started writing a second poetry collection, a short story collection, as well as another novel. I am hoping to have the poetry collection and short story collection published in 2016. That will certainly give me more material to work with when it comes to these open mic events.
Hopefully, this busy start to the new year will be a sign of good things to come.
The first one will be taking place on the 5th January in Saporito on Gauze Street. The second one taking place on the 15th January in Blend Coffee Lounge, on Causeyside Street and the third one will be taking place on the 21st January in Mad Hatters, Gauze Street. All of them will be starting at 7pm. They are all promising to be regular, monthly events. Events like these are a brilliant way for local writers, musicians and artists to get there names out there and to promote their work, as well as a good way for people to support local businesses.
I also think that events like this are brilliant for Paisley's bid to become the UK's City of Culture in 2021. Gaining this title has helped places like Glasgow and Liverpool - hopefully this will be Paisley's turn.
With all of these open mic events coming up, that can only be more incentive for me to get more things written. I have started writing a second poetry collection, a short story collection, as well as another novel. I am hoping to have the poetry collection and short story collection published in 2016. That will certainly give me more material to work with when it comes to these open mic events.
Hopefully, this busy start to the new year will be a sign of good things to come.
Thursday, 10 December 2015
Arts Collective Paisley
Last month (November 2015), I started attending an open mic event that was being hosted by the Arts Collective Paisley. It is being held in Blend Coffee Lounge on Causeyside Street. Last month, I read some of the poems from my poetry collection, Goddess of the Night. I have to admit, I was nervous and half expecting to mess it up. Once I got up and did my piece, I felt elated and happy that I had actually done it. I felt as if I had actually achieved something and I wanted to do it again.
Everyone in the group was so supportive. It was also nice to see so many people, who work in different art forms, coming together to show their work and to encourage one another. There were singer/songwriters, poets, authors and artists. It made me smile to know that Paisley was so full of creative, imaginative people. I knew that I was certainly going to be going back and doing even more readings. I also think that the choice of location was brilliant. The staff of Blend were more pleasant and they were even willing to take part in the open mic event itself.
This month (December), rather than reading my poetry, I am going to be reading a section from Between Two Worlds, my short story from the first volume of the Northlore Series. After the reading that the other writer gave last month, I hope that I do as well as she did. I certainly will not be reading the full story, as I wouldn't want to give away too much of the story, just in case someone wants to buy the anthology.
I do think that the Arts Collective is something that would be a great way of helping Paisley's attempt at gaining City of Culture status in 2021. It is groups like this that highlight so much of the town's culture, which might go unnoticed otherwise. As well as being good for the town, in highlighting the positive things that are going on, these events are brilliant ways of supporting local writers, artists and musicians.
Everyone in the group was so supportive. It was also nice to see so many people, who work in different art forms, coming together to show their work and to encourage one another. There were singer/songwriters, poets, authors and artists. It made me smile to know that Paisley was so full of creative, imaginative people. I knew that I was certainly going to be going back and doing even more readings. I also think that the choice of location was brilliant. The staff of Blend were more pleasant and they were even willing to take part in the open mic event itself.
This month (December), rather than reading my poetry, I am going to be reading a section from Between Two Worlds, my short story from the first volume of the Northlore Series. After the reading that the other writer gave last month, I hope that I do as well as she did. I certainly will not be reading the full story, as I wouldn't want to give away too much of the story, just in case someone wants to buy the anthology.
I do think that the Arts Collective is something that would be a great way of helping Paisley's attempt at gaining City of Culture status in 2021. It is groups like this that highlight so much of the town's culture, which might go unnoticed otherwise. As well as being good for the town, in highlighting the positive things that are going on, these events are brilliant ways of supporting local writers, artists and musicians.
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Between Two Worlds
For about a year now, I have been working with Nordland Publishing, who is based in Oslo, Norway. It is all for a trilogy of anthologies that they will be publishing, which is called the Northlore Series. Every volume will be focusing on different aspects of Scandinavian folklore and mythology. The first volume was published in the summer of 2015 and it focused on folklore. It is filled with short stories and poems about trolls, fairies and the undead. My short story, Between Two Worlds, is story of a selkie and is set in Kirkwall in Orkney.
A little word of explaination for those who might not know. A selkie is a seal that can come ashore, take off it's skin and walk on land, as a human. Usually, these stories involve a fisherman finding a beautiful young woman, who just happens to be a selkie. He takes her skin, she ends up marrying him and they have children. As these stories go, the selkie retrieves her skin after a few years and returns to the sea. Many of the selkie stories are found in the area of Orkney, Shetland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
Having spent a few months living in the Orkney Isles, I set my story in Kirkwall, a city that I love. I did reverse the roles, with the selkie in my story being male and the person who finds him being a young woman. The story does involve another twist, which I want to remain a surprise for any possible readers.
We are currently working on the second volume of the Northlore Series. The theme for the second volume is the Gods. There will be short stories and poems about Odin, Loki, Saga and many more. All of them will be se the Norse gods and goddesses living with in the modern world. I will find it interesting to see how different writers will have the gods facing how the world has changed and how they have come to terms with the world as we know it.
No date has been set for when the second volume will be published, but the first volume is still available -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Folklore-1-Northlore-MJ-Kobernus-y/dp/828331002X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449684972&sr=1-1
A little word of explaination for those who might not know. A selkie is a seal that can come ashore, take off it's skin and walk on land, as a human. Usually, these stories involve a fisherman finding a beautiful young woman, who just happens to be a selkie. He takes her skin, she ends up marrying him and they have children. As these stories go, the selkie retrieves her skin after a few years and returns to the sea. Many of the selkie stories are found in the area of Orkney, Shetland, the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
Having spent a few months living in the Orkney Isles, I set my story in Kirkwall, a city that I love. I did reverse the roles, with the selkie in my story being male and the person who finds him being a young woman. The story does involve another twist, which I want to remain a surprise for any possible readers.
We are currently working on the second volume of the Northlore Series. The theme for the second volume is the Gods. There will be short stories and poems about Odin, Loki, Saga and many more. All of them will be se the Norse gods and goddesses living with in the modern world. I will find it interesting to see how different writers will have the gods facing how the world has changed and how they have come to terms with the world as we know it.
No date has been set for when the second volume will be published, but the first volume is still available -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Folklore-1-Northlore-MJ-Kobernus-y/dp/828331002X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449684972&sr=1-1
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Goddess of the Night is my first poetry collection. I managed to publish it through CreateSpace, which proved to be an fairly simple process for getting my work "out there". The collection is now available through Amazon, as well as from the CreateSpace website. Goddess of the Night was very much a labour of love, as it took me over a decade to write it. I started writing the poems in this collection, when I was at university, studying Archaeology and Scottish Literature.
Within Goddess of the Night, I did not stay with one theme, or topic, allowing myself to write whatever came to mind. My poetry has been influenced by numerous things, from history to folklore, as well as archaeology and re-enactment. Yes, I spend my spare time dressing up and pretending to be a Viking. I do find poems to be a brilliant way of quickly getting my thoughts down on paper, allowing me to write something about current events, when they happen.
Since it has been published, I have been spending a lot of my time promoting the collection, using social media for all that it's worth. Facebook and Twitter have certainly proven helpful in that respect. It has been hard work though. Even though I am going to be working on other poetry collections, I am also working on other projects, including a series of novels that involve the Norse gods.
This is the link to Goddess of the Night on Amazon -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Goddess-Night-Claire-Casey/dp/1518742009/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Within Goddess of the Night, I did not stay with one theme, or topic, allowing myself to write whatever came to mind. My poetry has been influenced by numerous things, from history to folklore, as well as archaeology and re-enactment. Yes, I spend my spare time dressing up and pretending to be a Viking. I do find poems to be a brilliant way of quickly getting my thoughts down on paper, allowing me to write something about current events, when they happen.
Since it has been published, I have been spending a lot of my time promoting the collection, using social media for all that it's worth. Facebook and Twitter have certainly proven helpful in that respect. It has been hard work though. Even though I am going to be working on other poetry collections, I am also working on other projects, including a series of novels that involve the Norse gods.
This is the link to Goddess of the Night on Amazon -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Goddess-Night-Claire-Casey/dp/1518742009/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
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