So still today after the wind that's been shaking the windows. It's raining and I'm tied to the computer with a list of jobs to do. The house is quiet, despite half term. I did a reading at Guildford Book Festival last week, organised by one of my Open University students, Gareth. He showed a film he's made of people reading poems in the street - poems they were given. It's an amazing film because of how enthusiastically everyone responds to the challenge and because it focuses on the words rather than who's written them. The personalities we experience are those of the readers.

Today I received an anthology called The Book of Hopes and Dreams, published by Bluechrome. It's to raise funds for Spirit Aid, a charity providing medical aid to people in north east Afghanistan. More than 100 poets have contributed, including Margaret Atwood and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and many more big names. There's a tiny poem of mine in there too. Buy it to support the charity and for a snapshot of contemporary poetry. Another good anthology came out earlier this year from Oxfam, it's a CD, again with about 100 poets on, called Lifelines. It's available from Oxfam bookshops and funds also go to the charity. I have a poem on it from Fever Tree.

Next week, more workshops, then it's quiet for a time. Time for some writing, to try and shape my next book some more. Swim, too, but in the pool now. It's too cold for the sea.