Blood Lines is becoming a book

When my blood became ink, words began to flow

After more than a year of written silence, I am back to posting about poetry. The principal reason is that FINALLY, I can let the world know about my forthcoming collection, Blood Lines: Living and dying with cancer - a lyrical journey.

The book will have colour photos, diagrams and layouts which (in my opinion) make it a better read as a paper copy rather than an e-version.

I feel fortunate to be alive to see this book at this stage of the publication process. I’m grateful to Ian Gilbert and the Crown House Publishing team for taking a step out of their comfort zone (education books) and to publish a poetry collection. But this is not a book just for the poetry world. It’s for people who are going through or who have been through adversity and their families and loved ones, especially with a cancer diagnosis. All the royalties are going to a relevant charity (still to be decided)

My intention is to blog fortnightly on this Substack. Please do sign up if you are interested. Posts will include: wider thoughts on some of poems in Blood Lines, poems that never made the final cut (oh this hurts), playlists that helped me navigate the complexity of emotions, editing the manuscript and so on. In anticipation that you will all wish to buy the book, it will not include poems from the published Blood Lines collection.

Finally, for those who use social media, I have set up a specific page on Facebook and a BlueSky account. So find me there too! My Caring Bridge page remains specifically for health and personal updates. I will remain active on my Creative STAR blog for all things outdoor learning and play (hooray).

May you enjoy reading my book and this blog in due course!