Singing In The Rain

Well, what else would I be doing on a wet Friday in August but singing my heart out in the upper Eccles of the my local library with a vocal couch and professional musician, courtesy of the Arts Council

I have discovered that singing is amazingly liberating; especially in a group of 20 other women and 2 men. (As usual the men are scarce on the ground.)

We crooned our way through The Tennessee Waltz and more lively numbers like The Galway Girl.

What took me to singing lessons? Haven’t I enough to be doing? We’ll, two reasons, the truth be told. Recently I heard a poet give a stand-up spontaneous stirring rendension of performance poetry and I was utterly blown away.

I reckoned the voice exercises and breathe control skills needed to sing is not dissimilar to that needed to give a poetry performance.

The writer in me believes if you can dream it, visualise it, you can achieve it.

My second reason is to write a song. Not just write it but sing it, yes sing it, at our next extended family get-together. And I happen to know there is just such a thing coming up in 2025.

That will shift the smirk off their faces. Who says I can’t sing? The cheek of them! Of course I’ll wait until they are well inebriated – or as they say in Ireland, well oiled, three sheets to the wind – you get the picture.

What else have I been doing?  They say to be an accomplished writer (and I am writing diligently every day) you should read widely. So I joined a book club

This month’s book is Graham Norton’s book FRANKIE.

I’m reliably told it has a twist in the tail.  I have just started it. Set in London, it’s about a man who is a carer for old rich people.

I’ll let you know how I get on reading it

Having just published my own second novel Orphan And Strangers I am trying to get my neglected writer’s blog writeyouwriteme.com tidied up before I start into the next novel.

However, while I’ve been writing my novels WordPress has up the ante and introduced a new block editor – the might Gutenberg editor. Boy, do I hate that thing. All things that were straight forward before are now damm hard to do!

Anyway, back to the singing and the song writing – can’t be that hard. Can It!

Gemma Hill©