Poetry Treasures is an anthology of poems by a number of talented poets. Today I am thrilled to introduce poet and children’s author, Victoria Zigler, whose work features in this anthology.

I don’t do routines by Victoria Zigler

I’ve made that fact clear in several interviews where I’ve been asked what my writing routine looks like.

It’s not that I don’t want to, because I’d love to have a proper routine. The simple fact is, I can never make it stick, and it’s not even poor willpower, but issues with insomnia battling chronic fatigue, which means sometimes I go days where I’m lucky if I need all the fingers on one hand to count the hours of sleep I managed to get in those few days – regardless of how physically tired I might feel – while other times it’s the reverse, and it’s hours of wakefulness that are few…

Debbie De Louise from Ruff Drafts hosted a post for my Great Escapes virtual book tour about the Siege of Ladysmith which took place at the beginning of the Second Anglo Boer War. Thank you Debbie.

Guest Post: The Siege of Ladysmith by Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Background

The siege of Ladysmith, a town in British controlled Natal, was a lengthily engagement between the British and the Boers during the Great South African War (Second Anglo Boer War).

When the negotiations between the two Boer republics and Britain broke down and war was declared on the 11^thof October 1899, 21,000 Boers advanced into Natal from all sides. By way of a countermeasure, Lieutenant Sir George White deployed his British troops around the garrison town of Ladysmith. As the Boers surrounded Ladysmith, White engaged in the Battle of Ladysmith with ended in disaster for the British with 1,200 men killed…

Poetry Treasures is a new WordCrafter poetry anthology with contributions from guests to the 2020 Treasuring Poetry series on Writing to be Read, hosted by Kaye Lynne Booth and myself.

You can read the latest Treasuring Poetry post here: https://writingtoberead.com/2021/04/17/treasuring-poetry-meet-poet-and-author-elizabeth-merry-and-a-review/

Blurb

A collection of poetry from the poet/author guests of Robbie Cheadle on the “Treasuring Poetry” blog series onWriting to be Readin 2020. Open the book and discover the poetry treasures of Sue Vincent, Geoff Le Pard, Frank Prem, Victoria (Tori) Zigler,Colleen M. Chesebro, K. Morris, Annette Rochelle Aben, Jude Kitya Itakali, and Roberta Eaton Cheadle.

This wonderful cover was designed by Teagan Riordain Geneviene. You can find Teagan’s lovely books here: https://teagansbooks.com/ and you can find her ready designed covers here: https://teagansbooks.com/riordain-cover-designs-portfolio/

A reading of What is Happiness?

What is Happiness? is one of my five poems in Poetry Treasures.

Links to samples of other poems…

If you type the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle into the computer, up comes details of her ghost story ‘Through the Nethergate.’ Now that is impressive. And then we are treated to details of her early life growing up in South Africa – fascinating!

But the wonders don’t stop there. Take Robbie’s early reading list: L.M. Montgomeery (Anne of Green Gables), The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge, Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (although strangely he is now always referred to as Tolkien, no using the JRR). Nothing odd about any of those, a typical diet for a young girl starting out on her reading journey. Even after exhausting all the children’s books, which Robbie had by age 11, her diet was still very acceptable: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and the Bronte Sister’s … that…