I had been asked to return to the Leytonstone Festival to deliver a poetry workshop. So on Sunday, I found myself in the basement of a nightclub with a group of Leytonstone locals! As we were in the Luna Lounge, I themed the workshop around the moon and stars, presenting poetry by Philip Larkin and Grace Shulman to inspire us. The group worked individually and also together, brainstorming words they associated with the moon and stars. After a warm up based on a personal memory around the theme, the group free flowed their own poetry -incorporating words from their lists, free flows and the Larkin & Shulman poems. Everyone scribbled lots of words and read aloud. There was some great sharing and listening and it was a pleasure to be back at the Festival! I love adding to my list of interesting venues around London….JPG) |
| The gardens at North Bank, Muswell Hill, N10 |
I also returned this week to run a workshop for a small group of women writers who belong to U3A (University of the Third Age) and meet every week to write. I had such fun with them last summer that I was delighted to return and we had a real giggle again this year!
I was also delighted to have the second Skype session in a series of three this morning. The participant wanted to develop a character that they had been working on. So we played around with different points of view, a conversation with the character and also focussed on what made the character unique; How did they move? What were their mannerisms? Did they carry anything around that was important to them?
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| Music Hall boots |
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| Says it all! |
Some of you may remember that I have been working on a Music Hall themed project for ScreenDeep, in partnership with the Museum of London Docklands. Today I was excited to hear the ‘almost there, work in progress’ audio piece. It was fantastic to hear the writing from the group I worked with at the Museum, the recording studio and Hoxton Hall sessions – all come together so effectively. There is a celebration event on Monday, which will give the participants and everyone else involved the opportunity to hear the audio.
TRY THIS: Write ‘I am’ in your voice and then your character’s voice for ten minutes each. If you don’t have a character, pick a portrait postcard for inspiration, or ask some interview questions for your character to answer. You will be surprised at how quickly a character emerges!
There is a great Summer energy at Creative Writes and I look forward to this frenzy of activity continuing! I was honoured to be asked if I would like to take over two Creative Writing groups and a Book Club in Kew. I met with the groups recently and we will start working together in September. I am also looking forward to the next Creative Writes Themed Workshop, ‘Spin A Story’ and the Pickled Pepper Adults & Blogs Etc workshops. Our EARLY BIRD offer for the two blocks of workshops is on until 31 July. Masterclasses and Skype sessions run all year (we have a new Masterclass package): https://www.creativewrites.co.uk/p/bookings-workshop-info-how-to-book.html
I will also return to Pickled Pepper Books in Crouch End from September, for our children’s Blotted Ink creative writing workshops. It is block booking only, please contact the shop.
Bye for now, I will be back again soon! Thanks for reading, comments welcome.