Caroline Hardaker

Black Holes & Revelations

It’s been a rocky couple of weeks emotionally. It’s so strange – sometimes I’m boundless, ricocheting from success to flop, flop to success, success to success, flop to flop… Taking it all in my stride. More often than not, my reaction to a rejection is only a resolute stare and the determination to do two…

White Noise & Ouija Boards

An exciting first for me… One that I’m bursting with excitement to reveal! (So much so that I’m not even going to build it up – it’s THAT GOOD). This summer, I’m going to be guest editing the latest anthology from Three Drops Press, alongside Managing Editor Kate Garrett-Nield! The anthology is entitled ‘White Noise…

Submitting Vs Writing

I do sometimes find it tricky to strike the balance between writing and the somewhat less artful art of submitting. I can get tied up too much in submitting to journals and anthologies, writing the cover letters, doing the endless copying and pasting of poems into a single word document (for some reason this is…

A Little Bit of Melancholia

Today, I’ve been writing a poem about my cat. I don’t usually focus on such things, but she’s a little darling with a dark streak – and so I felt inspired. Juno is the first cat I’ve owned, and it’s quite the experience. She is a bit like an extreme version of a human being…

Journal#3: A New Year

It’s not QUITE new year anymore, but still – it’s nearer the beginning of the year than the end of it, so I think a looking a-head post is still relevant. After all, isn’t that what January is about? A cleansing of the festive sugars and a looking ahead to what the year might bring?…

Tailfins & Sealskins

And another Three Drops collaboration! This is the last anthology from Three Drops Press that I’m scheduled to appear in, for now at least. I feel like Three Drops has inspired me to write so many poems on folklore, witchery, and the other. The editor (Kate Garrett-Nield) has been incredibly supportive of my writing ‘particularly…

Short Stories

The urge to plan is strong in this one. Sometimes I become overwhelmed with ideas, and I’m left confused and confuddled as to which are the best ones to go for. So I need to ensure I keep track of everything, in case a spark of inspiration is forgotten. The usual flux of ideas has…

The Stinging Fly – Fear & Fantasy Issue

It’s been out a few weeks, but I’m still on cloud 9 about this one… One of the top literary magazines in Ireland, The Stinging Fly, has included some of my poetry in their Fear & Fantasy issue. Mia Gallagher acted as the guest editor for the issue. And you can read her thoughts on…

‘Nan Hardwicke Turns into a Hare’ Review

Many moons ago (it seems) I reviewed this pamphlet, written by Wendy Pratt. I’ve reviewed two of Wendy’s mini-collections now, and next to come will be a review of her full length collection, Museum Pieces. You can read my review of the pamphlet over at the Three Drops from a Cauldron website.

The Poetry School (and the Fundamentals of Alchemy)

I have been a busy bee, but also a quiet one. One that sits, unthinkingly. In chorus, I have been blocked a bit in terms of creativity lately (due I think to moving house, repeated bugs, and then the arrival of a rather large and overly-excitable kitten in my house), and also been trying to…