It's hard to think of yourself as a writer during the periods you're not actually writing. I've come to realise that no matter how many poems I get published if I'm going through a period of not writing then it all feels very detached from me. The primary motivation for writing poetry is in the experience of the writing itself rather than publication, though it would feel pretty pointless if there was no aim at finding a readership for the work.

I'm a little bit in post-second-collection-limbo just now. I hate being in limbo. I have my ballad project which is on-going and I think will be a long-term project. But I don't feel like I have much of a focus for writing otherwise. I'm looking for new sources of inspiration and not sure where I'll find it. I've ordered a collection by the Romanian poet Marin Sorescu - I very much like the work of his I've read online and I have a tendency towards Eastern European poetry.  So I hope I find inspiration in his work. In the meantime I'm forcing myself to keep writing regularly, unedited stuff which may or may not occasionally unlock the poetry door.