My name’s Joanna Paterson and I run the Writing Space retreats in Scotland.
What do you do? Well, I help people to find and tell their stories.
How do you do that? By creating the space (like these writing retreats). By offering permission slips, through my words and maybe through my photographs too. By running journal writing classes. By creating opportunities for people to try new forms and formats, and share their words together.
What do you write? I write as part of my teaching… I write to teach, and to learn. I write to explore and discover. I write in the hope that my words might help to wake someone up, to give them confidence and belief in their own right to write.
I write, a lot, about how blogging and social media can help you to find your writing voice – you can follow that work at Confident Writing.
I also write prose poetry from photographs, in response to the invitations I see, hear and feel from the natural world. (If you can come up with a word for what this writing form might be, please do let me know!) You’ll find that writing at my photography and prose poetry site: Join the Dance
I live and work in central Scotland, and love nothing better than to get out and explore the beautiful landscapes round about me, walking, taking photos, journaling, writing, breathing in wonder.
All the retreats I run have time built in for you to do some of that too.
What do you look like? This is me.
Or rather, it’s a representation of me. But it’s close enough that you’ll recognise me as and when you join us on a writing retreat 
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