Tuesday 22nd March
Today is proving itself a vivid illustration of how mixed my working life has become. I find myself moderating an Open University forum on ‘graduateness’ and how best to enhance it, at (more or less) the same time as I ponder the fact that the next issue of Northwords Now is due to be printed in a few hours. Then a letter flops on to the doormat downstairs and I open to it find that the lovely people at New Writing Scotland wish to publish a poem of mine. So my poor old brain is now trying to juggle
a/ the need for the Open University to enhance collaborative learning in on-line environments
b/ the fear that I haven’t sorted all the typographical gremlins and 7,000 copies of a leading literary magazine are about to bear witness to my carelessness
c/ the strange and beautiful juxtaposition of beached boats and a graveyard on Skye.
I think I need some coffee.
(By the way, the poem is about the boats and the graves rather than virtual classrooms or misspelling the name of acclaimed novelists)