Celebrating The First Time

Introduction

I can't remember when I first thought of creating a villanelle, possibly when I was watching the series "Killing Eve", my first attempt was overcomplicated and not a true villanelle and this was pointed out by some excellent constructive criticism from a Vocal Creator, but you can read it in the link to my first real villanelle and see what was wrong with it, but it is still a decent poem.

So What Am I Celebrating?

This is the one that got a Top Story and it is my latest villanelle. It was just a bit of silliness, though I know lots of people (including my daughters Juliet and Kirsty and Son-in-law Mark) are huge Star Wars fans.

This was Kirsty and Mark's wedding cake and they named their daughter (my granddaughter) Alexis Leia.

This is the poem:

Since my first attempts, I feel that I have become an excellent villanelle writer, and while I cannot hold a candle to Dylan Thomas I feel I am good.

I even created my own guide to creating a villanelle complete with a video which you can check out here.

And here are a lot of my villanelles on Vocal:

So it did rankle with me a bit the fact that none of my villanelles were Top Stories, but now one is, and that has pleased me no end.

My friends and audience have loved my work, and I have got many reads for my villanelles but I thought that the fact that they were a formal construct went against them. When I suggested the Villanelle challenge I did not even place much to the shock of my friends but it was what I expected, I have had my place in the challenge so it;s unlikely I will get another, but I will keep entering and maybe one day prove myself wrong.

Conclusion

This is simply a lesson to show that you should never give up hope when you are writing , because success can come from the most unlikely and unexpected sources.