Excuse Monkey

Hi

Been a while since I posted!!

I keep starting my blogs with this statement and I sound like the perennial ‘excuse monkey’

That sounds like an interesting thing to be and when this thought came into my head I decided to Google to see if such a thing existed?

It didn’t so I will now copyright that idea ©excuse monkey.

An excuse monkey will therefore be defined as a procrastinator who seems to have a monkey on their back and that is who they blame for not getting on with things.

However this isn’t why I started to write today.

I looked back on my last blog and have continued to write various pieces which I think I will put in my brand new, new book.

This isn’t a typo as I have new book which about to be published on Amazon (more about that later) but I will need to make a start on the next one.

Some more good news!!

1. We have celebrated my daughter (and son in law’s) wedding.
2. The local drama club have managed to perform their pantomime (late due to Covid 19)
3. We have survived COVID 19 infections in various family members.

I am feeling less pessimistic which is helpful as it means that I feel able write a bit more.

The new writing group has continued to meet and we have had some more people join us. The tasks have challenged me (for the positive) so for one, I took a risk and wrote a rap based on marriage.

I am seen as a mid 50’s rock loving guy (well I admit to listening to other stuff too) but RAP music is not normally in my ‘wheelhouse’

My weird inspiration was, whilst listening to Spotify I heard Buddy Holly and then Eminem in succession. These are not the usual combinations I listen to but I then put some of the words on paper/ my phone.

I initially shared what was written a fortnight ago and then wrote more ideas based on the constructive thoughts/ feedback (not harsh criticism) received from my fellow writers.

I then performed this rap at the latest Spoken Word (The Innerverse) on Weds 29^th and was given very positive feedback from the ‘experts.’ I plan to perform it again and this time I’ll do it much better!

Four weeks ago I took the plunge and delivered a workshop on Limerick Writing which stimulated others to write further limericks. Because of this I had to write a few new ones to share at The Innerverse. Again this was received very well. Nowadays I am being introduced as the “Limericks Expert” but I feel I have imposter syndrome about this but it is nice to know that I am able to share my knowledge/ skills to fellow writers.

I also spoke about contranyms  which I illustrated by this old joke I DIDN’T share at the above wedding.

“When a man doesn’t have a partner he is incomplete, when he gets one, he is FINISHED”

A contranym is a word that can have opposite meanings dependant on the circumstances.

“To dust can either mean to add or to remove dust”

As I mentioned before, I have put the final (well almost) touches to my latest book.

Two years ago, my son in law wished me a happy birthday with the words “Joetry in Motion” and used the throwaway comment, that would make a good title for a book.

Well that is what I have used, so thanks Lee Hall (www.leehallwriter.com ) who is not the Lee Hall who wrote Billy Elliot.

I will publish the book over the next few weeks so keep a look out for notifications and hopefully you may want to purchase a copy.

Let’s see if I can keep up this effort and write something on this blog next week!!