The Night Before Christmas

Happy December to you all! I recently entered a competition to rewrite the famous poem "Twas The Night Before Christmas". Although I didn't win, I had so much fun writing it that I wanted to share it with you.

I decided to tell the story from my dog's point of view. Dolly is always the centre of attention in our house, except for around Christmas time. She will do one of two things; either go totally hyperactive at the sight of all the decorations and  try to destroy them, or she will go and find a corner to settle down in on her own where she can look and feel sorry for herself. She absolutely thinks that we all forget about her when we're all excited about Christmas.

Needless to say, her actions around Christmas inspired this story; it's all about Dolly's encounter with Santa. I hope you enjoy it.

The Night Before Christmas

The night before Christmas was always the worst

Poor little Dolly she never came first;

The children were bathed, had hot chocolate, then bed

Dolly was wondering when she would be fed

Stockings and candy canes hung by the fire

Nothing to see here!

Tinsel and Christmas lights there to admire

Carols were playing, and lightened the mood

But she couldn’t help thinking ‘Where is my food?’

Then out of the corner of one of her eyes

She spotted a carrot and Santa’s mince pies

Her nostrils they twitched, her eyes they did water;

The food smelt so good; but what had they taught her?

I shouldn’t, she thought, I’m treated so well

But no one will see me so who’s going to tell?

I’m tired; but I do need something to eat

And if I have nothing I’ll struggle to sleep

The thought of betraying them made her feel sad;

She never wanted to be the dog that was bad

What if they see her? What if she’s caught?

They’ll never forgive her; they’ll all be distraught

But her tummy it rumbled, her ears they twitched

She jumped onto the table, she must be bewitched;

And just as her jaws reached out for its prize

A sudden loud clatter took her by surprise!

Down through the chimney came a big man in red

With a fluffy white beard and a hat on his head

A sack on his shoulder and boots on his feet

He saw what Dolly was going to eat

Dolly looked up, her eyes opened wide

Her body it shook, she trembled inside

‘I’m so sorry Santa, I know it’s not mine’

She lowered her head and started to whine

I'll just wait here till it's all over!

Santa leant over his cheeks burning red

But the smile on his face gave her nothing to dread;

‘Thank you for letting me into your home’

He reached into his sack and he pulled out a bone

It was wrapped with a ribbon, and put under the tree

Dolly asked Santa ‘is that all for me?’

And then just as Santa was turning to leave

It started to snow on this bright Christmas Eve

‘I know that your family all went to bed

And left you down here without being fed

But they didn’t forget you, they knew I would come

Merry Christmas Dolly; you’re still number one.’

The End

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Keep chasing your dreams!

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Flash Fiction: Paralysed

I lie still, paralysed. I try to lift my arm to reach for my phone but it’s impossible, it’s as if it’s weighed down by a supernatural force. I can hear my family downstairs, the sound of pots and pans, the dog barking; the usual Saturday morning sounds. I try to call out to get someone’s attention, but to no avail. I can’t scream, I can’t talk, damn; I can’t even muster a whisper. What the hell is going on? Breathing is becoming a problem, it’s like a cork has been placed in my airways.

I might be paralysed but my senses are still intact, and something is telling me that I am not alone. A bead of sweat drips down my forehead, I want to wipe it away, to get up and scream for help; but it’s useless.

            

‘I need a wee,’ my son shouts.

            

‘Okay, okay,’ say’s my husband. ‘But be quiet because mummy is still asleep.’ But I don’t want him to be quiet; I want him to come running into the bedroom, I want him to jump up and down on me and I need my husband to follow him in. I hear a creak in the corner of the room, I can’t turn to look but I see a shadow moving towards me. I hear my son and husband racing each other up the stairs, ‘I’m going to beat you,’ my husband teases. They laugh, they sound happy. I’m desperate to be out there with them, having fun together like we were before we went to bed. I was fine then, just ten hours previously; I could move, I was healthy, active. What could have happened in that short space of time?

They’re at the top of the stairs now. I can hear my son making his way to the bathroom and my husband pops his head around our bedroom door. The shadow is getting closer but now I don’t know if it’s my husband’s or something else. I’m confused, I try to move, to shout, to give my husband some indication that I’m awake; but it’s hopeless, he can’t see that my eyes are open. He must have assumed that I’m still asleep as he closes the door and walks away. I want to run out after him but by now they are both making their way back down the stairs, leaving me alone with this shadow. My muscles are trembling; tears start to prick at the back of my eyes. My skin feels hot and sweaty; I wish I could breathe.

I’m trapped, in this room, in this bed, inside my own mind and there’s nowhere to escape. The shadow rushes towards me and covers me like an incoming tide. It rests heavily on my chest. I try to inhale deeply but I can only manage fast shallow breaths. Is this what it’s like to drown? Inside my head I’m thrashing around, screaming, trying anything to get someone’s attention. This is a nightmare; I’ll wake up in a minute and be free of this incubus. But I’m not waking up, this is happening, this is real.

The shadow stretches and morphs; long misty fingers pour out of chimney smoke hands and wrap themselves around my neck. I let out a feeble attempt at a cough as my struggle for breath increases. My face feels wet from the tears escaping my eyes. I have to do something, try anything. Only I can release me from this nightmare. My mind struggles for a solution as the fingers pull tighter and tighter. Then something in the back of mind shouts at me to move.

I focus on a single tiny part of my body and repeat over and over to my little finger to move. Move, move, move! Nothing happens for a moment, but failure is not an option. MOVE! To my relief my little finger wriggles and sends a message to the rest of my fingers to do the same. It’s working, the rest of my body follows suit and suddenly I can move. The shadow lifts and floats away like a feather in a breeze.  I gasp and inhale deeply. The air tastes cool and fresh like a frosty December morning, blowing away the darkness.

The carpet feels soft as it caresses my feet. The morning sun warms the room and I can hear my son and my husband playing downstairs. All the comforts of home surround me, yet I can’t shake the feeling of being stalked. It was some kind of a nightmare, I tell myself. But the split in the curtains creates a path of sunlight shining directly on the open bedroom door that I was so sure my husband had closed.

Festival of Words

Today I visited South Molten Country Market for their Festival of Words event. I went with my husband and four boys to hear some of our favourite local authors talk about and read from their new books.

Authors included Victoria Eveleigh, Claire Barker and Dan Metcalf. It was a real treat meeting and listening to Dan. It was the first time we met him and we fell in love with his books immediately.

Dan writes the Lottie Lipton series. Lottie Lipton is based in The British Museum and she is a nine year old investigator. There are six books in this series, you can find out more about them on Dan's website.

Our signed books from Dan!

Dan reading from 'The Catacombs of Chaos!

We also had the privilege of seeing the lovely Claire Barker again. We try to attend events where Claire is because we are the biggest fans of her books. The Knitbone Pepper series is truly amazing and beautifully written with awesome illustrations. I highly recommend these books to both kids and adults. We recently attended the book signing for Claire's final book in the series 'A Horse Called Moon.' That completes our signed collection. 

Claire Barker and A Horse Called Moon!

Our awesome signed collection of The Knitbone series!

I love these kind of events. If you get an opportunity to attend a local authors book signing, go along. They're always happy to meet you and sign your books. Support your local authors!

Keep writing, keep chasing your dreams!

Steph on Twitter

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Sidmouth Literary Festival

Hello to you all!

Last weekend I had the exciting opportunity to attend my first literary festival in Sidmouth. It was amazing, I learnt loads and met some wonderfully talented authors.

One of my highlights was having a one to one with a literary agent about my novel 'A Woman's World.' She gave me amazing advice on what direction my book could go and she said "come back to me when you've finished your book," which is more than I could have hoped for.

I heard talks from published authors such as Kate Hamer and Jane Corry, I enjoyed a Bronte tea party with Juliet Barker and heard an inspiring talk form Dame Penelope Lively. But my favourite event from the weekend was Chic Lit and Chocolates with one of my favourite authors Veronica Henry. I got to meet her and bag myself a signed copy of her latest book, 'How to Find Love in a Bookshop.'

The lovely Veronica Henry and 'How to Find Love in a Bookshop'

The whole weekend was an amazing experience. I walked away feeling motivated, inspired and excited for the next literary festival I'm able to attend.

Keep writing, keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter

World Book Night

Last night was amazing. I attended World Book Night at Bideford College Library and got to hear lots of talented authors talk about and read extracts from their new books.

The authors included Victoria Eveleigh, C J Busby and one my favourites Claire Barker. I should mention here that they're all children's authors, but you're never to old to get lost in a children's story.

Claire Barker has series of books called Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog and last night she was signing copies of the second in the series called Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog and The Last Circus Tiger.

I always love meeting Claire. She's super friendly and always has time to talk, so if you're lucky enough to go to one of her events, stop by and say hello!

My mainly happy family with Claire and our signed copy of Knitbone

In addition to purchasing Claire's book, I also got signed copies of Victoria Eveleigh's and C J Busby's new books too. There was also a selection of free books to take on arrival, I think it's fair to say I was in book heaven.

My goodies from World Book Night

If you've never attended a World Book Night, try to get along to one. I'm already looking forward to next years.

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

Steph on Twitter

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I'm a Student Again!

Hello!

I'm super excited to announce that I'm a student again! Yay! Not bad for a 32 year old.

I graduated from the Open University last year with an English Literature degree and if I'm honest, I missed having a deadline to work towards. They keep me focused and make me finish pieces of work that I'm working on.

I never planned to study again so soon after my degree, but I noticed that the OU had started a Masters degree in Creative Writing. I couldn't resist signing up for this as creative writing was my favourite module in my degree.

Having recently finished a first draft of my first novel I decided to use this masters as platform to move my story forward. I can't wait to get started and I can't help but feel like a teenager again having one of these:

My student card!

I wonder what new stories I will come up with during this course...excites!

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

Steph on Twitter

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Happy New Year

Hello and happy new year to you all!

I have a number of goals that I'd like to achieve this year. I like to list them and then see how many I can tick off my list before the year is up. So below are some of the goals that I'd like to achieve in 2016:

- To get one of my children's picture books published. This is a goal I'll always work towards, plus I love writing children's stories.

- To start editing my NanoWriMo novel 'A Woman's World.' This is going to be a real challenge for me as I've never edited a novel before...I'm up for the challenge!

- I'd like to achieve something musically! After becoming a semi-finalist in the UK Songwriting Contest last year I feel inspired to enter again this year. I might even become a finalist...it could happen!

- I'd also like to try and record some of my songs professionally. Although if I can make it into the studio even once to record an original song I'll consider that an achievement.

So there we have it, my 2016 goals. Lets see how many I can tick off my list! What will you achieve this year?

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

Steph on Twitter

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Cry

Hey! It's been a good week since I last posted on here but don't worry, I haven't been doing nothing.
I've been enjoying trying out some different ways of writing. Flash fiction has always interested me so I've had a go at that. The small word count has been a trial so I'm still working on this piece of writing but I will share it with you as soon as it is finished.

I've also been writing some poetry which I haven't done for a while and I've loved getting back into it. I've written three new poems over the last couple of weeks and I thought I'd use this post to share one of them with you. It's called 'Cry' and I'd love to know your thoughts on it.

Cry

They spy
They lie
They watch people die

Don’t let them see you cry

They openly criticize
They’ve evil in their eyes
We’re the ones they despise

A nation grieves and cries

Here to scrutinise
There to patronise
People to terrorise

Still a nation cries

Listen! Let’s unify
Dare to defy
Make a stand, try

Whatever you do, don’t cry

I hope you enjoyed this poem, feel free to leave any comments, I'd love to hear from you and I look forward to sharing a piece of flash fiction with you on my next post.

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter on Twitter

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Writer's block? ...What writer's block?

'You know you're a writer when your imaginary friends won't talk to you anymore.' I love this quote, it sums up writer's block for me anyway! We all hit a brick wall in our writing at one time or another but I'm writing this blog to tell you that there are ways to break through it.

Below is my tip on how I conquer the inevitable writer's block when it hits, It requires many notebooks!

Categorized Notebooks 

OK, so my first piece of advice is to buy a pack of notebooks. I can highly recommend the ones in the photo above from Amazon. They're an ideal size for carrying around and they come in a pack of ten for a bargain price. Check them out!

Once you have your notebooks, start to categorize them. For example I use categories like Characters, Potential Settings, Potential Lines and Story Ideas. I also have other notebooks for Book Review Notes, Morning Pages and Poetry. If you have any other ideas for notebooks I'd love to hear them.

Having done this begin to fill them with as many ideas as possible, even if they sound silly at the time, It's always worth writing them down.

Now you have your notebooks and ideas you never need to be stopped by writer's block again. Start having fun. If you've hit a brick wall, dig into your notebooks and start mixing up your ideas. Choose a potential setting, pick a character to place into your setting and give them your potential lines to say. (If they sound silly even better!) 

If you've filled your notebooks enough, you'll rarely run out of ideas to have fun with. After all we should be enjoying our writing and you never know, what might seem silly to start with could end up inspiring a bigger piece of work.

Keep writing and keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter on Twitter

Steph Lott - Writer and Poet on Facebook

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Character Development

Hey, I've got to admit I've had a slow week of writing. Last week I submitted my short story Azaria to the Costa Book Awards competition, and I'm still working away on Moonlight Jasmine for the Dragonfly Tea 'Story in a Teacup' short story competition. 

I'm currently working on a second draft of Moonlight Jasmine but (like all writers) I hit a brick wall this week. To get through the wall I decided to take a break and go back to basics, so I've been working on some character development for Jasmine to see if I can find her voice and make it come across in the story. 

I thought I'd give you some tips on how I approach character development. Personally I think the best way through it is to create a character questionnaire. This questionnaire should include important information about your character. Here's a few things that I include:

For each main character apply the following profile:

Name (and maiden name /previous names /aliases if applicable)
Date of birth
Birth sign
Marital status
Religion
A detailed physical description; height & weight, eyes; hair; special abilities
Parents; names and histories (jobs, education, religion, ethnicity, etc.)
Siblings – names, ages, relationships etc.
Relationship with immediate family members
Education
Job (and previous work history)
Salary
Interests/hobbies
Fears
Prejudices
Desires
Attitudes
Friends
Enemies
Pets
Passions
Disposition (temperament, character, mentality etc.)
Mannerisms
Likes
Dislikes
Any other traits you might want to add

I find that by doing a simple exercise like this, I can find a way through the story again. The idea is not necessarily that you make use of every single detail from the questionnaire in the story, more that you get to know your character(s) in greater depth, and can draw inspiration from the details of their life.

I'm now looking forward to getting stuck into my second draft and finishing the story ready for submission. I hope this blog has helped you out if you're struggling with developing your characters. I always find this exercise very useful.

Good luck and keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter on Twitter

Steph Lott Writer and Poet on Facebook

Azaria Excerpt

It's a busy time at the moment. This month I have two short story competition deadlines and the first one is this Wednesday, 5th August. It's a piece for the Costa Book Awards short story competition, everything else has gone on hold for the last couple of days to get it finished.

My story is called 'Azaria.' Azaria makes things happens on Earth via his paintings, its the way he interacts with the humans, but the humans are not listening and are doing things their own way. This leads Azaria to decide to send a warning to the world via Daniel and Ruth about a punishment that will befall them if they don't start doing what is right. 

Here's a sneak preview from 'Azaria.'

"...Azaria had just finished painting the last of the trees with a striking lime green. They lined a long straight road that stretched the length of the canvas and gave no clues as to where it might end. Azaria sat back; he tugged on his beard and stroked his chin in deep thought. ‘Hmm!’ he mused. ‘What I need is a messenger.’..."

I hope you like it and are looking forward to reading more. I will keep you informed of any progress during the competition.

Thanks for reading and keep chasing your dreams.

@stephlottwriter 

  

And the title of my first Novel is...

Having put my short story 'Moonlight Jasmine' away for a few days before the editing process begins, I have spent some of the day working on developing my main character for my first novel, which I will be writing for NaNoWriMo this November.

So for the first time in public since getting the idea for this novel a few months ago, and at the risk of sounding a little like Neneh Cherry, my book will be called...

...'A Woman's World.'

 My lead character is a woman called Emerson James, she's a politician in her late 30's, and has a vision that will change the world; that's all I'm giving away for now!

I am very excited to be talking about my novel at last, and because I already love Emerson so much I've decided to treat you all to part of one of her speeches. It should give you a good idea about where the plot may go but it certainly won't give everything away, so here it is;

‘Imagine a world where women are no longer satisfied with 'equality'. Imagine a world where men are no longer in power. Imagine a world where men no longer exist. This is my dream, my vision, my mission.’

Whoa! What kind of a journey could Emerson be taking us on? I hope you'll enjoy getting to know her as much as I am; I will treat you to another hint about where the plot might be going very soon.

Thanks for reading and keep chasing your dreams!

@stephlottwriter

Moonlight Jasmine; Second Excerpt

Right, I've been working on my short story some more today, although I haven't quite finished my first draft yet (almost there!). I'm really enjoying getting to know my characters Jasmine and Ollie, they inspire me to keep on writing, I want to know them better, and I find out more about them with each paragraph.

Below is another excerpt from 'Moonlight Jasmine', I hope you enjoy it and I hope that when you finally get to read the story in full you will love Jasmine and Ollie as much as I do.

"...I take a final glance in the mirror and then I see him walking towards me. He looks as fresh as an early autumn morning with his floral shirt and brown chinos and that blonde hair with the single lock that is still hanging over his eyes. He flicks it back, ‘hello again Jasmine'."

Thank you for reading and keep chasing your dreams.

@steffiemarie28

Moonlight Jasmine Excerpt

As promised earlier today on twitter, here is an excerpt from a short story I am writing for a short story competition from dragon fly tea called 'story in a teacup'. There are four possible titles to choose from for this story although the story itself can be about anything. I've chosen to call mine 'Moonlight Jasmine'.

Here's a brief summary of my story; Jasmine is a shy girl who doesn't like to go out unless she really has to and definitely doesn't like to meet people, most of all men! To ensure she meets as few people as possible she has a quiet job in a library and she lives in the apartment above it. How likely is it that she would find love in this situation?...  ....well not likely at all! but against all odds Ollie (aka Mr Brook, a school teacher) walks in to the library on a normal Monday morning with a class full of students and steals Jasmine's heart right away.

I hope you enjoy this little excerpt...

"...The next few hours flew by, I felt happy and content as I watched this man; a stranger to me, play with the children and read them stories. He was very tender and pleasing to look at. I’d have watched him all afternoon if it wasn’t for Miss Summers telling me to do this and do that. But every now and then I sneaked a look. I caught him doing the same thing and I was presented with so many of his half smiles that I felt like I had won a trophy, fifty trophies, that I intended to store away in my heart forever..."

Hopefully that left you eager to read more; I will post another excerpt in the next few days, and will post the story in full once the competition is over.

Thank you for reading and keep chasing your dreams.

@steffiemarie28

New Year, New Me!

Hey and Happy New Year!

I hope 2014 has been a good one for you and here's to an even better year ahead. Here are the dreams I'm going to be chasing over the next twelve months...I hope you'll be chasing some of your own.

Completing My Degree...Woohoo!

Five years seems like such a long time ago now when I started my English Literature Degree, I never thought I'd have the patience to see this through till the end. But finally, there's light at the end of tunnel. June 2015 will mark the end of this long journey and I'm so happy and proud of myself for sticking to it. What will I do with all the spare time I will gain from having no assignments?!...

My First Half Marathon...aggghhh!

I can't quite believe that my husband and I have signed up for this, I'm nervous, I'm excited! As my degree comes to an end in June I will also be running my first (and possibly last) half marathon in aid of the North Devon Hospice. This charity means a lot to me as they looked after my boys daddy just before he died in 2012. So next week starts a whole new fitness regime in order to get in to shape to achieve this goal...bring it on! As if these two goals aren't enough...

I'm Writing a Novel

Once my degree and half marathon are out of the way I plan to get back into writing and focus on one of my many story ideas to write my first novel. In order to keep myself motivated to do this I'm going to be writing it with nanowrimo. National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30.

I'm totally excited about my story-line and it is very much one for the ladies. I'm looking forward to revealing the plot to you all later in the year.

So there we are, a few of my goals for 2015, a few more dreams I'm going to chase. I'd love to hear what some of yours are, you can tell me by leaving a comment on this post.

Have a peaceful and blessed New Year and remember to keep chasing your dreams.

@steffiemarie28

Stephen Mulhern Song

Hello!

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a while, I've been super busy being a full time mum and starting my first novel which I will tell you all about in my next blog!

This post is about a new song I've written which was inspired by one of my idols Stephen Mulhern. I'm sure you've heard of him! You might be wondering what my motivation for this song was, well...

… My honest answer is I'm trying to get him to follow me back on Twitter and it's made pretty clear in the lyrics that that's what I want.

I've always wanted a follow back from the Mulhern Man, but never so much as I do now. A couple of weeks ago, my sister earned herself a follow back from him for getting an answer right in the quickest time on Catchphrase.

OK, I'm a little bit jealous! But I thought, maybe that's all I have to do to get him to follow me, earn it. So I'm hoping to earn a follow back with my new song which is all about him.

Please check out my song 'Stephen Mulhern' and if you like it, please give it the thumbs up and share it with as many people as possible, it would make my day!

You can hear 'Stephen Mulhern' here - Stephen Mulhern

Please do let me know what you think, I always love getting your feedback.

I'll see you in my next Blog. I promise not to leave it so long next time!

Bye for now and remember, Keep chasing your dreams!

@steffiemarie28

UK Song Contest

I recently entered the UK Songwriting competition with my Cancer Research UK single ‘It Wasn’t Meant to Be’. At the time of entering, I wasn’t really sure what score to expect, but when the results came out I was more than happy with my result.

The competition gave each song a score between 1 and 10 and, although I didn’t make it as a finalist, I was super excited to have received a score of 6. This is what the competition said about this score;

‘A score of 6 indicates that the writer has demonstrated real songwriting ability and understanding and songs with these scores will receive a Commended Entry Certificate.’

Me and my certificate...woohoo!!

 

How cool! However, I had mixed feelings about the next bit…

‘A score of 6 can be regarded as a borderline semi finalist score and indicates that the song nearly made it into the semi finals’.

So close but didn’t quite make it. However, what I did get from this competition was confidence in my songwriting abilities. The fact that I was a ‘borderline semi finalist’ has encouraged me to keep on writing and the knowledge that I am a good songwriter.

To listen to the song, follow this link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoXoptiiHpk

Keep chasing your dreams!

@steffiemarie28

Gigs Update

In my last Blog I mentioned a couple of gigs that are coming up. It's really exciting as my husband and I haven't gigged together for a while due to family commitments. We're definitely ready to start again! We perform as Folk/Rock duo Despite Water. So here's what's coming up -

Relay For Life - This is a Cancer Research UK event which will be taking place in Braunton on Saturday the 8th of June. We will be opening up this event with a half hour set starting from 2pm, but the main point to this gig will be to play my Cancer Research UK single 'It Wasn't Meant to Be' live. As if this isn't exciting enough, we even get to try out our very own, brand new PA system!

Despite Water's Yamaha PA system



CalvertStock - This is another charity gig which will be raising money for  Calvert Trust Exmoor on the 22nd of June. It includes a great line up, and we will be playing a half hour set at 1:30pm. You can find more details about this event here - https://www.facebook.com/events/553348468028819/?fref=ts

Our band Despite Water on a poster!!

So that's what's coming up for us in June. We hope to see you at one or both of the events. But for now, back to rehearsing!

Keep chasing your dreams!

@steffiemarie28

And now back to the writing!

It's been a while since I last posted anything, due to completing two more modules towards my English Literature degree, but I'm finally free to start blogging again...well at least till October anyway! So here's a little update of what I've been up to over the last few months:

April and May have been very busy months completing a Level 1 module towards my degree which required a three hour exam to complete the course. Needless to say, I was very nervous about this as the last time I sat an exam was thirteen years ago when I took my GCSE's. I feel confident that I've done enough to achieve a pass though and will keep you informed of the results when they come out in June...fingers crossed.

I've also just completed my level three Creative Writing module, which finished with a 4000-Word short story to write for my end of module assessment. I was very excited about writing this as I had a great character in mind that I wanted to develop. As soon as I get my result back for that I look forward to sharing my new character and story with you all.

Hmm, what else have I been up to? Oh yes! On the second of February, my husband and I travelled up to Plymouth to perform live on BBC Radio Devon for a second time. This time we performed as Despite Water and played two original songs live on air. However, I think the highlight for both of us was joining in with the end of show Jam with a full band performing one of our favourites, 'Folsom Prison Blues' by Johnny Cash. Click the link to have a listen -
https://soundcloud.com/bigjgproductions/folsom-prison-blues-jg-jam?in=bigjgproductions/sets/jg-jams

Despite Water at BBC Radio Devon

On the 10th of February we had another road trip. This time to Torquay to perform live on Riviera FM. I really enjoyed this interview and performing my Cancer research song 'It Wasn't Meant to Be.' This interview was a great opportunity to get my Cancer Research story back out there.

Me rehearsing for my live performance on Riviera FM

Now that I'm free for a few months before my last few modules start, I'm going to concentrate on finishing my children's picture books and sending them off to Publishers. Also my husband and I intend to expand our band Despite water and add a lead guitarist and a drummer. We're currently rehearsing for two charity gigs coming up which I'll tell you about in my next blog.

Keep chasing your dreams!

@steffiemarie28

The Unwritten Haiku

I've recently started a writers page on facebook so I can share my work and hopefully inspire others to share their own. On Tuesday I started 'The Unwritten Haiku' where I invited people to be creative and write their own Haiku, and then share them to my wall. I think we came up with some really creative poems so I thought I'd share them on this blog. I hope you enjoy them!

A small seed waiting                                          Take me out to play
Beneath the earth to blossom                            Outside where the people throng
To become unique                                              Desperate to belong

By Steph Lott                                                     By Melissa Jackson


Never ending stream                                           It is great to fly 
Flowing always onwards. Or                              When the spirit takes you high 
just our perception?                                             Don't O'er let it break!

By Rob Lott                                                         By Melissa Jackson


Life begins; through our                                     Thunder and lightning 
tears we start to grow then back                        Take over the skies; But the
to the earth we go                                                Sun will always rise

By Steph Lott                                                      By Steph Lott


Hold me close and tight
never let me go from you
you're special and mine.

By Melissa Jackson

Keep chasing your dreams!

@steffiemarie28