Paperback release week – Update 12.5.24

I have loved how well You are Not alone has been received so far. Thank you each and every one of you who bought a copy.

On Tuesday I finally got the email I was waiting for. After a bit of a delay, my paperback copy was ready to collect at my local shop. Next time I’ll totally get it delivered as it’s been a bit of a faff and an author needs her copy!

Then it was time for my customary author photo with the new book and so my husband took the photo you saw posted on my account on Tuesday. Here it is again:

I had a great response to the announcement across social media. The paperback, as you know, had been released for a couple of days but I had to follow the photo announcement tradition and the response was worth the wait, with many saying they wanted a copy or had already ordered one.

I was proud to take it into work to show some of my colleagues the next day, who were so supportive and seemed impressed. I have such a matter of fact attitude about what I do. I’ve come such a long way in the shouting about my achievements area but I still take it as just something I do and I’m humbled when people are impressed. That said, I’m incredibly proud of this project. It has been highly emotive at times and I hope those who read the book can find comfort in the poems and feel heard and seen.

I now have three five star ratings and I even briefly made the top 100 in the Poetry Anthologies category on Amazon. It was a fleeting appearance but I’ll take it as a huge win.

In other news, this week has been very productive in terms of writing new poetry. I can’t explain the reason for it. I’ve just been more inspired this week. I do think I need to write some more rhyming poems and I managed a couple of these yesterday. I’d still like to write more though.

One of the poems I wrote this week was a spooky version of an early poem, Through the Keyhole. The poem will be posted on my paranormal socials.

If you’re familiar with this blog, you may be familiar with Through the Keyhole. It was featured in my first ever collection, The Perfect Prompt and I’ve also had it featured on the BBC upload show. It is a fun rhyming poem that lends itself to encouraging further writing, which is what my Perfect Prompt books are about. My son and I have already written a sea creature version and listening to a spooky podcast prompted me to write a spooky version too. I have used Through the Keyhole in my poetry club in my previous school and the children loved writing their own versions of the poem.

I also wrote a blog post about how to use the poem in the classroom: Poetry in the Classroom 1 – Through the Keyhole

Here is the poem:

Through the Keyhole

Through the keyhole I can see
A pretty fairy waving at me
She is tall and has blonde hair
With eyes a shade of blue so rare

Through the keyhole I can see
A bunny rabbit as white as can be
His eyes are tiny; his ears are long
I want to sing him a happy song

Through the keyhole I can see
The greenest, tallest old oak tree
Its trunk is thick; it stands so proud
I think it’s trying to touch a cloud

Through the keyhole, what will you see?
will you see an animal, running wild and free?
Will you see a fairy or perhaps a little elf?
Have a little look and see for yourself.

jen Elvy

Once again, here’s the link to order You Are Not Alone

Paperback release photo

Very proud to officially announce the release of You Are Not Alone in paperback. I’m so proud of this project! Grief is something that we all go through and this collection of poems explores the complex range of emotions encountered during this very difficult time.Thank you to those who have already bought a copy.

Order here

Preparing the Paperback – Update 5.5.

This week saw more positive feedback on SOCial Media, my first review and a bit of preparation for the release of the paperback

When I put my poetry together to make a collection, I use the Kindle Create App. This lends itself very well to Kindle books but you do find that there are some differences for the paperback. I knew that there wouldn’t be too much adaptation involved for this one but I needed to see how the paperback would look so, as I’ve done for every book but my first, I ordered a proof copy from Amazon. This copy is designed for that final check and has a big strip across it saying ‘Not for resale’.

The proof copy for You Are Not Alone arrived on Wednesday and I made the necessary edits (There weren’t many.) and finally uploaded the latest copy, checked the preview and hit publish for the paperback. I knew for a fact there were people waiting for it and I was glad to tell them the following day it was ready.

I just have to wait until tomorrow when my new copy hopefully arrives and I will do my traditional photo with the book and announce its publication. I had hoped to do this yesterday but there’s been a bit of a delay. I did make a bit of a low-key announcement on some socials.

I think I will pop back on and upload the photo tomorrow and give you the link. However, if you can’t wait until then, you can get to the paperback version via the link I posted last week.

I now have two very positive reviews as well as some amazing feedback on social media for the poems I’ve posted. It leaves me very humbled.

I’m going to close with a poem that isn’t in the book but is a grief poem I wrote a few years back on the anniversary of my dad’s death.

Another Year

Another year where I call your name
And you won’t be able to answer
Another year where I see your face and hear your voice
But only in my heart
Another year with so much to tell you
But you can’t be here to listen
Another year with so many questions
And no answers
Another year wanting to feel normal
But feeling so very sad
Another year without you in my life
But you are in my heart always.

jen Elvy

Book release week – Update 27.4

In the world of poetry this week has been wholly positive with a successful reading at my poetry evening and the release of my new book on kindle.

First to mention my poetry open mic readings, I chose five poems to read. Two of these were paranormal poems written in rhyming verse (and under my pen name, Savannah R James). I’d practised well and as a result the readings went smoothly. Then it was a nostalgic poem about Meopham, the village where I grew up. Tracey from the host pub, The Mole, filmed this and broadcast it live. The hubby, who watched from home said how much my live readings have come along. I still haven’t watched it; I must! But I do agree that I feel a lot more confident about reading my poems now than I did two years ago when I first started. I’m so grateful to Tracey for giving me a platform to perform my poetry. Before she suggested such an event reading my poems in public wasn’t something I thought I could do.

The next poem was a letter to myself about what I went through last year and the final one was from my new book and was called I Can’t. I sat down for this one and gave an expressive performance, hopefully doing the poem justice.

I loved hearing everyone else’s work that evening. Amazing! So much talent! Well done to all.

Onto the main subject of this blog, the release of my brand new poetry collection, You Are Not Alone, a collection of poems about grief and loss. I am awaiting a proof copy so I can check the paperback layout but the kindle was ready so I released that earlier this week. Many are waiting for the paperback, which is fine. I find many people want to own physical copies of poetry collections but I know the ebook is still in demand for poetry. I’m running out of space for physical copies of books so any I can get on kindle I will!

This is a project very close to my heart and has been a highly emotive one. I hope people find solace in the poetry I’ve written during such a difficult time. Feedback on individual poems I’ve posted has been amazing. The poem I mentioned earlier, I Can’t has had an amazing response on Facebook. I Can’t is a poem about that overwhelming feeling that grief brings. The first line is ‘I can’t do this today’ which is a feeling that anyone who has been through grief will be familiar with. At the start there may be many days when you feel like this. Or you might feel like this every day. Lots of the comments I’ve had on the post have said every day is like this. I feel humbled to have had such a strong reaction to this poem and that many have felt a sense of ‘someone knows how I feel.’ This is my main wish for this new book; that, when reading it, people will find poems that speak to them and bring them comfort.

I will close by sharing I Can’t with you and then the link for You Are Not Alone

I Can’t

I can’t do this today
I feel so alone and lost
Without you next to me
Without you near
Without being able to talk to you

I can’t do this today
The house is so silent
The imprint is still on your chair
Your empty chair
I can almost see you
Still sitting there
But I know you’re not

I can’t do this today
I just heard your favourite song
I can’t breathe
I can’t speak
There are no words anymore

Jen Elvy

If you’d like to check the book out and maybe order it on kindle, click here.

Thank you for reading.

Jen x

Poetry Update – Publication and Performance

This week has been busy but I’ve managed to do some work on my new poetry collection ready for its publication in the coming weeks.

I’ve had to solve some spacing issues in the kindle app and read the poems through again. Yesterday I wrote my acknowledgement and started on my introduction, which I’ll continue shortly.

I’ve had a few sales of my poetry books this month, which has been great. I had a lovely author post on social media about the collection I wrote under my pen name, saying how much she enjoyed it. It’s always such a boost! She left a review too.

The facebook algorithms are always a bit up and down but I’ve had some great responses to my grief poems recently. Some people have asked me to let me know when by book is released, which is lovely.

As well as preparing my book for publication, I’ve been preparing some of my poems for reading at this month’s Holy Moly Spoken Word poetry evening. I always look forward to this chance to connect with other poets and showcase my work. This week I’m reading two of my paranormal rhyming poems, a poem about the village I grew up in and a couple of emotive poems, including one from my new book. I also get to see what my fellow poets have to offer and always look forward to hearing their work.

I love writing poems related to wellbeing and I want to close out the post by sharing one with you.

Check in with you

Checking in is a kind thing to do
But never forget to check in with you
Find a quiet place to sit and reflect
No one will mind; no one will object
Think about how your day has gone
Is there anything you need to reflect upon?
Think about anything preying on your mind
Remember, remember to always be kind
Think things through, but do not dwell
Instead focus on those things that went well
Tell yourself that you’re doing great
Treat yourself like you’d treat your best mate.

Jen Elvy

Thank you for reading this and I’ll touch base again next week.

Jen xx

Catch Up

It’s been a while since I wrote on here and I can see the traffic has been good so I was thinking maybe I should be writing here more often, providing you with more posts. So I’ll try and do a post once a week to update you all.

I’ve been working on a poetry collection about grief over the last few months. The title will be You Are Not Alone and that is the message I want to convey. We all go through grief at various points in our lives and we all deal with it in different ways. It’s important to realise that we are not alone in our feelings and others have been there before.

The poems I have shared have had a great response on social media with so many people saying how the words resonated with them. That is my biggest wish through all of this, that people who are in immense pain through grief find comfort in the words I use and it warms my heart to hear when it happens.

I have still been writing other poetry, especially paranormal haiku poems that I write under a pen name. I actually set up a prompt challenge on socials to inspire paranormal poetry but there have been no takers yet.

I also wrote a fantasy poem this week.

I will close with a poem from my new book, You Are Not Alone. See you next week.

I wonder

I wonder if, in heaven,
You’re greeted at the gates
And members of your family
Gather ’round in wait.

I wonder if, in heaven,
You see your special place
Or places that so long ago
Somehow fell from grace.

I wonder if, in heaven
You eat just what you like,
Instead of having to jump on
An underused exercise bike.

I wonder if, in heaven,
You sit upon a cloud
And watch over your loved ones,
Feeling very proud.

Jen Elvy

Signs

Distanced

Hi all

It’s been a while but I see there has been traffic so thank you so much.

I’m currently putting together a book of grief poetry and the title will be “You Are Not Alone”.

Here is a sneak preview of the title poem.

New year – an alternate view