Please click on the audio symbol above if you 
want to hear me explain how I wrote 
Dear Ugly Sisters.

Dear Ugly Sisters began as a poem for adults
in the voice of a bedraggled househusband, 
who listed everything he had done that day,
only for his wife to complain that he'd
forgotten something. 

But something wasn't quite right. The poem
felt more like a poem for children rather 
than adults, and wasn't working somehow.

So I showed the draft to an exceptional poet 
called Rachel Rooney, who wrote back saying:
'Cinderella?'.

As soon as I saw that, I knew what the last 
two lines should be, and that, instead of being
a conversation, the poem should be a goodbye 
letter from a Cinderella who had had enough.

For me, this poem is a good reminder of two things:
I never know where a poem is going to take me – 
I might have an idea, but whether that's where 
it actually ends up is another matter.

Secondly, asking certain trusted people to look 
at my writing helps me generate new ideas, 
develop my skills and create better poems.