Moving On

I’m having a full-on quarter-life crisis. Over the course of one month (admittedly, it was way back in August and September), I got married and handed in my master’s dissertation. I’ve been both working and in education for a very long time and I feel that my education days are behind me. I’ve also changed my name. I feel different.

I was excited about starting this blog. I set it up after I finished my English degree. I can see how my writing has moved on with it and I wrote this blog, sporadically, as I was completing a Creative Writing MA. I look back and I’m glad I got my voice into something even a little bit public. I tend to overthink these sorts of things and procrastinate: is that short story really ready? Should I really set up a blog? Should I give up writing this novel because it doesn’t seem exciting enough? So I’m glad it’s here.

And the bottom line is, I’ve changed my name and it’s funny how much of a change this can produce in your identity. All of this feels quite old. And nobody calls me Katharine. Honestly, I just thought it sounded more writerly.

So, I’m moving on. My new blog is http://www.katelunnpigula.wordpress.com (and in case you’re wondering, fellow feminists, it’s his surname too). I’ll be updating once a week. Come and visit me.

Interesting Links #2

Welcome to the second Interesting Links! Sadly I haven’t thought of a more interesting name for it yet…

A woman author submitted her novel with a male pseudonym. The results are on Jezebel.
Sally Hughes writes about her rescue dog on The Pool.
And in more dog news, and being a massive fan of The Artist, I was sad to hear that its canine star, Uggie, had died. Here’s a cute interview with him from 2012.
It’s Women in Translation month. For Books’ Sake have an interesting selection if you want to read some new authors.
A thoughtful piece about mental health online.
I recently watched an amazing documentary called The True Cost, about the real costs of cheap fashion. The trailer is here and it’s available on Netflix.

Interesting Links

Welcome to my first round-up post. Here are a few internet things I have enjoyed over the last week. I will probably change the title if this is to become a series, because ‘Interesting Links’ isn’t very interesting. But these are!

The Guardian has asked a lot of people about their summer reading plans.
Amy Poehler always manages to see the positive in situations.
Can male writers write authentic women? asks The Pool.
The Last Act of Love sounds heart-breaking. Naomi has written an excellent review.
A sensitive piece written by Teika Bellamy, of Mother’s Milk books.
It’s important to remember to play.
The Booker Prize longlist is announced next week and over at Shiny New Books they’ve been speculating.
I love looking at all of the pictures of Pluto. Well done, humanity!

First Post of the Year!

Happy New Year!

So I’ve finally dragged myself back to normality today, with the good intentions only a new year can bring. I decided to have a small blogging break over Christmas because I wanted to come back refreshed. I have eaten Quality Street (and everything else) with abandon, watched all eight Harry Potter films, and caught up with people I haven’t been able to see much in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I read a bit as well; poetry, short stories and a novel, so I will be blogging about those in the coming weeks. Most of these things have been done sitting down, so I am left with the inevitable extra padding only the end of a year can bring. But it’s probably better to have a bit more body fat in winter, right?

My intention with the blog is to post two days a week. There’s a balance needed; it is easy to spend too much time on the internet and not enough time on other projects. Also, I want to have time to read books.

Just a quick post today then to re-break the ice (thaw it, maybe?). Thanks for reading my blog and I hope that you have an excellent 2015!

A Bloggy Makeover

As I have been running this blog for six months now, and my previous post was my 40th post, I have decided that this site could do with a makeover for its sort-of birthday. I’ve gone for a simpler style and I think that my content might become simpler. I’ve been reading more poetry and short stories recently and find that I am not so interested in novels and long non-fiction at the moment.

Also, although I said on my previous blog incarnation that I wrote about ‘books and other things’ I have not written about other things since July. I am also busy with my Master’s course and a new job and don’t have as much free time as I did over the summer. There are myriad reasons why I am craving shorter works. I’ll return to novels at some point, of course I will, I just go through a lot of phases.

So I think I’ll be experimenting with this blog over the coming weeks: I have no idea what I will write about but I think that’s a good thing.

A Neglected Blog

This poor blog has been forgotten about for a few weeks. I recently moved house, amongst other things, but as I’m settled in now this blog should see a bit more activity. To brighten up the blog a bit, then, here are some pretty flowers from my new house:

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A post shared by Kate Lunn-Pigula (@katelunnpigula)

I’ve been busy but I’ve still been reading. It only seems to be short books at the moment, but I’ll post my thoughts about them soon.

RIP Maya Angelou

(Image credit – http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/photocredit/achievers/ang0-010)

‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ – Maya Angelou

Readers will never forget how Maya Angelou made them feel. Angelou was a fascinating woman and lived a full, and difficult, life. Her writing was bittersweet and seemed to flow so easily; her poetry was candid and graceful. Angelou put her personal experience as an African-American woman at the centre of all of her literary work and she never let hardships defeat her (see her poem ‘And Still I Rise’). I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a wonderful book, if you want to read something by her then start there.