For the past few years I have been developing a group of short stories drawn from my life experiences. They were written because I liked writing and wanted to write. They evolved through various mechanisms and went through different forms. They are now ten to twelve short stories and, aside from the editing, they are complete. And, now, I don’t know what to do. Of course, I have my poetry. Poems are my morning glory. They lure me from my bed. My poems are part of my every day. I pick them from the top of the fridge, hear them on the radio, play with them in the garden. But for the past year or so these stories have anchored me. So now I am feeling rather unbalanced, not as in ‘falling’ but as if I have lost my moorings. Now a million shipping metaphors are on the drift…without a compass, all at sea, fog bound. You get my point!

 I guess those stories gave shape to my writing, provided an outlet and now I am going to have to find a new funnel (help, I have to get away from these nautical nuances) for my writing.  Maybe different stories? More drama? Different horizons? (there I go again)! It’s a little scary: I feel as if am marooned on a desert island with no trees or bushes, simply oceans of sand.

 In the past, when I have thought of a desert island, it has always been laden with exotic fruits, thick fronded palm trees and weeping willows (I think the latter came from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five Stuck On an Island) from which I can weave a comfortable abode. There are fish leaping through the surf and shy, good looking, half naked nomads who occasionally share my beach and listen to my poetry. But now I’ve completed my stories, the ‘desert’ aspect becomes more dominant. My island is now barren, full of dry, windswept grains of sand and somehow, I have to make it fertile. I have to make something grow. In short, I have to start a new script for myself.

 It’s rather terrifying, and I have a feeling that this will turn out to be a bit of a ‘process’ thing. You know, where one has to experience the change and the moment before appreciating its meaning and understanding its form. I hate process. It’s so intangible and takes an age. I am too impatient for process. I always try to impose significance on process before it is ready.

 So you may be hearing more from me than is desirable. If my scripted musings become too impenetrable, ignore it…it’s just me processing and writing willy-nilly in the absence of any prosaic structure!

 Actually, maybe I’ll be able to help myself at the writing weekend which I am running on Saturday 16^th and Sunday 17^th August in Cana House. It may get me started anyhow. Actually, this week a participant of the last writing weekend shared my facebook post about the upcoming weekend, saying

 Treat yourselves – I did a weekend workshop with Kate Ennals and have to say, best money I ever spent on myself. Better than any spa day and better than the best night I ever had in a pub

 Pretty cool ay?

 Details of the weekend are:

 A two day writing workshop will be facilitated by Kate Ennals on Saturday 16^th and Sunday 17^th August in Cana House (behind St Felim’s School) Farnham St, Cavan Town from 10.00am – 3.30pm The two day workshop will include discussion on writing and poetry and set a range of different exercises: poetry, free writing, character development, dialogue. The poems/writing of each participant will be work shopped by the group.

The aim of the weekend is to stimulate different writing ideas and to work together. The workshop will be varied and hopefully challenging. There will be a limit of 10 places allocated on a first come, first served basis. Cost €45. (Light home made lunch included). The weekend is intended to be fun and constructive, providing local writers with ideas and characters that can be developed.

For further information and to register, contact Kate Ennals on 0863737847/facebook or email kateennals@live.co.uk.

 

Kate completed the MA in Writing at NUI Galway in 2013, receiving First Class Honours.  She has lived in Ireland (Dublin, Cavan, Galway) working with local communities and writing for the last 20 years. Kate Ennals was highly commended in the Desmond O’Grady Poetry competition in 2012, won 3^rd Prize in the Dead Good Poetry Competition, run by Over the Edge and the Galway Rape Crisis Centre in May 2013. This year, she was shortlisted in the Claremorris Theatre Fringe Festival, in the Doolin Short Story competition in 2014 and the Swiftsatire Battle of the Books competition. She has been published in the Skylight 47 (2013/2014), in Crannog (2013), Boyne Berries, ROPES, and Burning Bush 2 (2014). She also has poems and short stories published in The Galway Review.

Kate also set up and co-ordinates AT the Edge, Cavan (supported by Cavan Arts Office) a project which holds regular literary evenings in Cavan.