Let's go Through the Looking Glass on World Poetry Day!

Today is World Poetry Day and therefore a great time to reflect on poetry and its impact on our lives. Apparently the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) created the day "...to support poetry, return to the oral tradition of poetry recitals, promote teaching poetry, restore a dialogue between poetry and the other arts such as theatre, dance, music, painting and so on, support small publishers and create an attractive image of poetry in the media so that the art of poetry will no longer be considered an outdated form of art but one." I'm all in favour of that! I am beginning to find more and more that the right poems speak to me, and I'm working to incorporate them more in my creative journey. 


One of the best ways to enjoy poetry is like the best way to enjoy Shakespeare i.e. listen to it being read out loud. Below find a poem read by Benedict Cumberbatch, one of the trendy new actors out there who is appearing in some exciting new projects, one of them being the voice of Smaug in The Hobbit movies. Cumberbatch has a thrilling voice, so I have no doubt he'll do a great job. He's reading Lewis Carroll's nonsense adventure poem "The Jabberwocky" which I've always enjoyed. It's from the second Alice in Wonderland book "Through the Looking Glass". As Alice said, "Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas — only I don't exactly know what they are!"


Let me know what you think of Cumberbatch's reading in the comments. Do any poems stir you? Let me know so I can check them out. Let me know if there are recordings I should check out. 

7 Great Reasons to "Like" the Belleworks Facebook Page

I've recently set up my Facebook page for my freelance writing business. I'd love you to take a look at it and "Like" my page: https://www.facebook.com/belleworks

Those of you who are writers or looking to get into writing for fun, profit or both might get a lot out of my page for many good reasons which might appeal to you.

1) I post lots of writing tips. I follow a lot of great resources on my Twitter page. (You might want to follow me there too: https://twitter.com/#!/belleworks) As an aspiring author myself, I'm always looking out for useful advice on structuring a novel, developing characters, avoiding typical mistakes or marketing a book or blog. I post lots of these on my Facebook page - free of charge!.

2) If you have questions about grammar or punctuation I'll answer them. I taught and tutored grammar to university students for a long time, and I do a lot of editing in my day to day work, so this is an area of expertise for me. If you have grammar or punctuation questions, feel free to ask me. If I don't know the answer myself, I'll scour the Internet and try and find you one.

3) I post about writing opportunities too. Remember those resources I mentioned? I see lots of opportunities for writers eg Nanowrimo, writing competitions, free ebooks.  Added bonus: As a Caribbean writer, I'm always on the look out for opportunities which would be of interest to me, and I know Caribbean authors out there are aware that chances like that are sometimes a bit rare. I give anything related to our interests top priority.

4) I promote blogs of interest. There are so many good blogs out there. I'll be spotlighting some of the good ones. I also want to promote blogs of the people who like my page, so I encourage anyone who follows the page to link their blog, so I can promote it to everyone else.

5) It's a place to meet other writers.  It's always good to be able to interact with other writers and bloggers out there. It's a good chance to have discussions and ask questions, and I hope a lot of that will be going on.

6) It's a good place to find out if I can be of service to you. I'm a freelance writer/editor, and this page is also my showcase for the kind of work I can do for you or your business. Be sure to check me out and see if I can help.

7) I'll be working to improve this page all the time! So if you have writing related ideas or suggestions of what you want to see there, let me know, and I'll incorporate them if I can. Post ideas below if you have them.