I didn't think winning the Annie Deeny Prize this year could be topped, but a phone call on Tuesday persuaded me otherwise: 2nd prize in Scotland's biggest poetry competition, the Wigtown! I'm sure the caller thought I was a bit daft, as I really wasn't taking in what he was saying to me. It took a few goes :)
I've been walking on air ever since - getting that far up in a competition of that calibre is a Pretty Big Deal to me. I believe the entries are sift-read first, so to even get through to be read by Douglas Dunn was an achievement... but then to go on to be placed!
I keep thinking it's some sort of mad dream ... and then I remember it is true. It augurs very well for this proposed second collection that I am working on and just shows, if you keep on battering on the doors of these things, who knows what might happen?
I'm looking forward to attending the presentation on Saturday 2nd May, as well as seeing a part of Scotland that I might not have got to see before, as well as meeting the other prize winners.
Meantime, you can read the winners here.
27 comments:
Well done that poet!
I've often thought of writing something about some of those optician's tests (some are so intimate...as they lean right into your face...some so extreme...) but you've done it (not just thought about it!). Many congratulations!
xx
Well done.
Though you will have to go some to improve on that first collection...
Congratulations again - I love the poem, the prize is well deserved.
Yes,congratulatons again. This is wonderful news and well deserved recognition.
Oh Barbara that is just so wonderful and so clever of you - good on ya!
Fabulous, my dear. Well deserved. Good things come in threes!!
All my writing friends are doing so well. It makes me proud.
Thank you Rachel - that's a lovely thing to say :)
Liam, that's also a lovely thing to say - first collections are a bit like a first-born child: you do all your learning on them (and hopefully apply the lessons learned on the next ones).
Cheers Angela and A, your own successes are rubbing off on me :)
Kay - thanks so much, got there in the end :)))
N, think I have deffo used up my three for this year, but I am delighted with my lot :)
Wow,now that is a biggie,B and it augers well for the next book,keep on knockin_very well done and YABBBAADABBA Dooo!
Jings, that's great. Well done
(Phew!Blogger have let me back in...)
And just to say again Yes!Yes!Yes! Much deserved win...you are an inspiration... : )
x
Thanks TFE, EW and Liz - don't know about inspiration, it's a lot got to do with luck :) but I ain't complaining!
:-))))))))))) very happy for you B, well done!
Cheers PJ - and I am delighted for your success too - here's to more of them!
Whoohoo! Well done, Barbara! Brilliant news!
Thanks AbVan - still delighted and the great weather here is adding to my mood of well-being :)
Congratulations. I do not know you but I like the poem very much. I am going to the opticians tomorrow and will think about it. By coincidence I was thinking about poetry competitions tonight and what ones are good and what do you do to get started and for some unknown reason clicked on your blog from Michael Farry's blog and could not believe my eyes when I saw "Wigtown Poetry Competition". It must be a good omen or something! Thank you!
Congratulations Barbara. Very well done. Have you entered for the Edwin Morgan prize?
Dubois, the welcome mat is always out on this blog, and that sounds like a very serendipitous click that you made with your mouse. Thank you for your kind comment.
Colin - thanks very much, I didn't know about the Edwin Morgan, but I'll give it a go, for sure. I somehow think I've used up my luck for this year, though :)
Well done, Barbara. Good poem too. I think, quite honestly, that you will top your first collection, judging from the few poems I've read by you since.
Thanks very much Rob, well I'm trying my level best to make a 2nd work harder for me. The first one is almost out of print!
Many congrats, Barbara - as others here have said, very well deserved. I particularly enjoyed the unsettling beauty and the points of reference in your poem, and the final line is just brilliant.
Thanks Ben - you wouldn't believe how difficult it was to get this poem right. The last line was a bugger!
Brilliant news, Barbara! So well deserved.
Congratulations!
Amazing how if one sees a way in one can write a poem about just about anything. I spent hours in my youth with my head sat in one of those machines.
Thanks Dick, I'm glad you're pleased :)
Dominic, I love taking in strange sensations and using them in poetry... I hope your eyes are more manageable now.
That's some poem, Barbara!
I wouldn't even think of waxing poetical about that machine. That's probably what differentiates between the class poets and we strugglers.
Well done! Brilliant news!
Cheers Peter - good luck for next weekend at Strokestown, my fingers crossed for ye :)
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