COMING SOON - Environmental Health

I know, there's an influx of environmental children's books lately, but dare I say this is different? I'm gonna, but ultimately, that's for you to decide.

I've been writing poetry about environmental issues for a while now and I had nowhere to put them apart from my own social media. As I read more about it, I wrote more, creating a collection of poetry with the same themes. I decided this needed to be published. I asked Tommings to do the cover art - because I can't put out any content without his artistic stamp - I love his work and I'll forever ask him to illustrate for me for as long as he lets me..

My upcoming poetry book, Environmental Health, was a passion project. Many hours of research went into this, and it opened my eyes to the difficulties the world is facing at the moment due to the impact of humans. It made me try even harder to reduce my carbon footprint, to change my lifestyle even more, and to create art to make a point about those issues.

The book will be coming out in the next week or so.
During the launch month, October 2019, I am going to be taking 10% of the sales profits and donating them to climate crisis charities. The only issue being, I'd need to get a lot of exposure and sales of the book in order to make this good deed worth while - I'd hate to promise this and have to donate the equivalent of a newspaper.

I'll be following up this post with a link to the book when it is available. So, I'm asking my worldwide readers to share share share! Even if you don't fancy the book yourself, sharing it means the book reaches more people, those people may be interested in the book, which means they may buy it, and that means they're contributing to charities that work to fight climate change, wouldn't that be wonderful?

Poetry : Buoy, I'm Glad I'm Not The Sea

Poetry : Don't Mind Your Beeswax

Writing Poetry For Children

I'm going to attempt writing a poetry book for children!
The books I have out for children rhyme, so I'm hoping to apply this to a book full of nonsense!

I once made a plan to create a book called 'Nursery NERRORtives' - which was a mashup of well known nursery rhymes, that weren't typically how they ended. In all honesty, they were utter nonsense, but they worked. Children learn nursery rhymes, and can join in - but the idea was that it was unexpected - which was apparently hilarious.. I am hoping to go through the rhymes again and see if they could be improved, ie. changing them into something silly.

I was inspired by Michael Rosen, I follow him on Twitter, and he is so passionate about exposing children to poetry and rhymes. I already write rhyming stories for my children's books, so this new project will be interesting. I'm not slapping a deadline on this, as I already have loads written, it just needs perfecting. I am excited to go through these notes again, hopefully creating more twist endings.

I will be needing littlies to be my beta readers, so when I've made some progress, I'll be needing little readers to give me some feedback. If you're interested, when I put the call out, please contact me on the form below.

Writing Exercise : Blackout Poetry

I play this whenever my husband buys a newspaper (which is rare, so it's extra fun!)

You select a short article in the paper and try to use the words to form a haiku, funny sentence, or poem, then you blackout the rest of the paragraph, leaving just your poem - plus it looks very arty-farty this way.
Alternatively, you can also circle or highlight the words - this is useful if you've chosen a long article.
It's a great way to write without writing, use your creativity, and in my case kill time at the hospital!

I have seen a few posts about people using this exercise, and I think it's absolutely fantastic! The article you've chosen may include some words or themes that you'd never write yourself, but the result is your handy work. It's borderline effortless - but you are putting your creative writing to good use!
I don't recommend using books because you shouldn't deface an author's hard work in order to complete a writing exercise; newspapers and magazines have enough wacky articles with interesting themes, and you can do whatever you like with them!

I'll be uploading some of the blackout poetry I've created to Instagram in the near future, just for fun. So keep a look out!

Unplanned Poetry

Yesterday, I wrote a poem without feeling motivated or prepared - but I was inspired.
I became infuriated when reading multiple posts online with the same , and apparently I respond by making poetry.
Who knew?
You can create incredible things from frustration, anger, sadness, jealousy, etc. You don't have to feel happy and positive for inspiration to come along and help you create. Emotions are important when creating, as there's a drive of passion behind a project.
So, yesterday I was beyond angry, and the more I read, it riled me up more - but because I can't actively do anything about the issue that sparked my frustration, I sat and wrote this poem.

I've said it before, and I will say it again, writing poetry can help your mental wellbeing. I got all of my negative emotions out, and it resulted in something I'm quite proud of. The poem did have a title, but it was a little on the nose - so for now it's untitled.
Hope you enjoy it!

Writing A Comedy Poem

I recently came across a writing job looking for a comedy poem.
I've written comedy sketches, a screenplay, and have experience ghost writing stand up sets.
A comedy poem sounded interesting.
I've written political, or serious poetry in the past, so a humour poem would be a challenge.

Most of my time went on deciding a topic - it's all good and well having the freedom to write comedy and go off on tangents, but I wanted to stick with one for my first attempt at comedy poetry.
I went with relationships as a theme, they're easy to write about, and even easier to be comical with. It's basically about a tragic date night - we've either all experienced disaster dates or we love hearing about them being cringey!

The deadline is April - so I'll share it after then, possibly on a publication.. Fingers crossed!

Poetry For A Clear Mind

Please don't think this is a post dedicated to relaxing poetry.. It's definitely not.
I have been using poetry to clear my mind of worries and stresses. This is an exercise I have adopted before I start working on my novel, or my other projects. It's as simple as writing down what's bothering me and making it rhyme.

If it's on the paper, it's off my chest.

I started doing this only recently, to get everything out in the open so my mind is clear before working. It's a fun, little exercise, as it makes small bothers seem trivial - and often hilarious.
The poetry doesn't have to be deep or serious, it can be silly and pointless. The most important thing, is that your brain is not longer busy, putting you in the right mind set so you're ready to write. If there is a chance some of this poetry could go further, then even better, because you've turned a bother into a project.

- - Obviously, if something is serious, a poem won't fix it - you're going to have to deal with that.
This exercise is to clear your head before writing.

My Books.. So Far.

It's weird to think I have FIVE books knocking about! They're all completely different! I thought I'd put a post together where they can all be in one place at once.

For The Best was taken from notes my father made of his childhood growing up in Gipton, Leeds. I've not changed the order of the stories and memories, as that's not how you remember things, there's always tangents and finding something else to talk about. So it's written very organically - which means a lot of explicit language - not for little ones!
You can ONLY grab a copy here:
FOR THE BEST - MEMORIES OF A FIFTIES CHILD.

My poetry book is fairly angry, it's mainly politically focused and it's a collection of my first poems. I used my friend Jo's artwork for the cover (support indie!) - and again, the poems can contain explicit language - but not all of them do!
You can ONLY purchase a copy of my poetry here: MIND THE GAP.

The Charlie Cheese books series are cute, rhyming, indie books about a slice of brie! The illustrator is my friend Tommings - he is beyond talented! Give him a look up and check out his other work, too!
Where you'll find..
Don't Eat Charlie Cheese: Amazon / Waterstones / Barnes and Noble / Booktopia.

Charlie Cheese Travels The World: Amazon / Waterstones / Barnes and Noble / Booktopia.

Charlie Cheese And The Food Dance: Amazon / Barnes and Noble.

UPDATE MARCH 2019:
My brand new children's book, The Macroodelzig: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Sticky Note Haiku Procrastinator

I feel the title could be my superhero name / be on my headstone without it being questioned.

If you follow me on Instagram - my handle is @thebeffyparkin - you'll know I was supposed to be doing paperwork today, something I've been putting off since the dawn of time. Obviously, I shuffled three pieces of paper then began writing..

My brain has rewired itself. I used to enjoy organising paperwork.
Now, I'm happy writing all day and making a massive desk mess. Shocking.

I'm attempting to use this to my advantage, somehow. I am hoping to create rhymes and haikus WHILST ticking things off my to-do list - and when some jobs are done, "as a treat" I can begin making notes. What an exciting life!

It has to be sticky notes - or I'm just going to create more paperwork that I'll never finish. Smart.
Here's the result of this morning's procrastination:

Say No To Clickbait!

Just a little thing I created this morning whilst running on less than 5 hours sleep. It's also to remind myself why I should get other people to do my art work for me!
Say NO to clickbait, kids!

Poetry Plug

As you may know, I often dabble in poetry. It's either political or angry. There does not seem to be an inbetween. I haven't wrote anything lately, but I'll be working on it a lot more this year!

Last year I created a little book for my poems - Mind The Gap - and I used my friend Joanna's artwork for the cover. (Support indie, like I always say!)

I rarely plug the book as I'm one of those people who look/read at their work over and over and start to hate it - and this happens more often with my poetry, as I seem to get imposter syndrome when it comes to this kind of creative writing.

Anyway, if you are interested in the book, Mind The Gap is only available by link >> HERE <<

My First Poem - Aged 5

This is my first ever poem, 12th June 1998, I was five years old and the task at school was to make a poem about a nursery rhyme character.
I love this, I'm so glad my mother hoarded any piece of paper I scribbled on as a child.
My handwriting is still cartoon-y like this, so if you're finding it difficult here is what it says..

Humpty Dumpty went to the moon.

Humpty Dumpty went to the moon,
On a supersonic spoon,
He took some porridge and a tent,
But when he landed the spoon got bent,
Humpty said he did not care,
And for all I know he is still up there.

Fantastic.

A Morning Of ~Trying~ To Blog

This is what I experienced this morning...

9am-10am
Make cuppa / Burn tongue / Set down / Forget cuppa / Open blogs / Read notes / Check drafted posts / Hate drafted posts / Delete drafted posts / Play with dog / Feed the dog / Open Emails.

10am-11am
Check Emails / Respond to Emails / Read notes again / Eat cereal / Start new post / Preview post 13 times / Read post aloud / Publish post / Update social media / Obsessively check on blog post for errors / Cup of tea attempt round two / Successful.

11am-12pm
Spider diagram until ideas fall out / Write up creative writing ideas / Dog walks on laptop / Read what dog wrote / Delete dog's attempt at blogging / Check social media / Draft new post ideas / Re-read several times / Take a break.

Literary Festival - Entered

So, tonight I got tagged in an Instagram post about a commission, for a literary festival that takes place in May (by Tommings, see I told you he was awesome!).
I had to quickly think and put forward my idea as the deadline is the end of the month (if I didn't do it now, I'd get worked up and nervous and it wouldn't get done).
It's a new Charlie Cheese story!
Not to be mistaken with Charlie Cheese And The Food Dance, which I will release, eventually...
I've written up less than half of the story, I know the overall storyline but it needs editing into oblivion and that's what I'll be working on for the next few weeks. I'll know if anything comes of it early February.
Wish me luck!

The Camper - Beffy Parkin

I am hoping to have this short poem featured in a Vanlife / Travel / Camper related publication. It's part of my writing challenges and I am just jumping head first -- if anyone can help me out with this I would be forever grateful.

I am also using this opportunity to plug my travel blog: Hit The Road Macs. Forgive me.

Challenge Complete - Poetry

As part of one of my Writing Challenges for 2018, I set out to have my poetry featured somewhere...
I can now tick that off the list!

One of my poems, 'Home Sweet Homeless' from my book Mind The Gap can be found on the back cover of the first issue of No Borders.
I am delighted with this, as the 'zine sports lots of amazing comics, artwork, articles (and so much more) which address very, very important issues.

I am ecstatic that some of my work could be a part of this, thank you No Borders!

2018 Writing Challenges

I'm setting myself aims for next year. I am going to set deadlines and targets, and will hopefully share all of my work with you. -- If you would like to send me feedback, please do! I am constantly looking for writing challenges, and making notes of my ideas. I will be writing a whole lot more as of 2018!

My challenges are:

Write a play.

Turn 'For The Best' into a screenplay.

Write content for a #Vanlife magazine/website.

Write up that Sci-Fi idea. (It sounded great in my head, but I fear there's loopholes.)

Write more stand up comedy sets.

Create a comic book (I had an idea for a superhero, I just want to see where it will go.)

Write TWO more children's books. (Not for Charlie Cheese.)

Have poetry featured somewhere. (GET IN TOUCH IF THIS IS SOMETHING YOU CAN HELP ME WITH, PLEASE.) COMPLETED.


Write up short stories / film them -- depending on funds.

..Obviously, if I get any writing work or any ideas then I'll work on them alongside my plans.
See you all in the new year!

Aim : Videos

I plan to hopefully make short films and promo videos in the future.
I wrote a screenplay a while ago, but it's not quite ready and I work on it from time to time to tweak, chop and change it.

I will be filming bits and pieces, this month and next, for 'Deck The Halls With Boughs Of Honesty' to use as a short Christmas video. Depending on time/finances, it may be ready by next Christmas but I will push for this year to get it on Youtube.

I have also drawn up a small storyboard for my first Charlie Cheese book, 'Don't Eat Charlie Cheese', to use as a short promotional video, but I'll need to find an animator -- get in touch if this is something that interests you.

I would absolutely love to see my writing come to life and be on a screen. That's the dream.
I aim to write a play, more screenplays and create stop motion videos. Wish me luck!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

I wrote a little thing about Christmas time! Feel free to share it everywhereeeeee!
I am aware it's November, but I am more than ready to feel festive, plus I may not be creative again until after the holidays, who knows..