Summer Writing Space: Online Group
Posted on 29. Jun, 2010 by joanna in Info
“To be disciplined as a writer you need a compassionate and welcoming attitude toward your own work, and you need the support of others who value and call forth your writing.” Pat Schneider (Writing Alone and With Others)
An experiment for the summer.
An online writing group, creating the space for you to:
- share some pieces of writing (especially the ones you’re not ready to let go into the wider world)
- tap into the energy and enthusiasm of others
- enjoy the support of others who ‘value and call forth your writing’
- explore and experiment, maybe, with some different styles and voices (in a safe space)
- develop and maintain regular writing practice over the summer
How it will work:
- A space (on Ning) to share pieces of writing and other materials (photos, reflections on process and so on)
- A small group (maximum 20 participants)
- A time limited programme (6 weeks) but long enough to develop writing habits
- Supported and facilitated by me (with some prompts, but generally just to hold the space)
- Cost: £20 / $30
- Dates: July 19 – August 30
Interested?
You can sign up here via PayPal.
Any questions – please leave them in the comment box, or drop me a line via the contact form.
June Retreat: Residential Places Booked Up
Posted on 03. Jun, 2010 by joanna in Info, News
Just a wee update to let you know that the residential places for the June Writing Retreat at Cambo House are now booked up.
If you live nearby and have a last minute urge to join us… that would still be possible – drop me a line and we’ll see what we can do.
I’m going to be taking stock about what comes next in terms of dates, venues, format, pricing… watch this space for info!
A Room of Your Own: One Place Left on June Retreat
Posted on 26. May, 2010 by joanna in Offers
Just to let you know there’s one place left on the June Writing Retreat at Cambo House.
I’ve done a bit of shoogling which allows me to offer the place on a solo occupancy basis. In other words, you get a room of your own 
(And the rooms are stunning – more like apartments really, with plenty of space to lounge about, read, and write.)
The price remains the same: £455 which includes:
- Writing tuition, coaching, prompts, feedback & support
- Accommodation
- Breakfast and light lunch
- Evening meal on Monday night
- Last night dinner in sumptious Cambo House dining room (3 courses, wine, pre-dinner drink)
If you’re keen to come but need to spread the costs over a month or two, let me know and we’ll see what we can do.
By the way if you live near Cambo and would like to come on a non-residential basis that’s perfectly possible – drop me a line and I’ll let you know more.
How Writing Changes in a Group
Posted on 04. May, 2010 by joanna in Writing
I got an email the other day asking whether a few days away would really make a difference to the writing experience.
The short answer was ‘yes’ but the longer answer got me thinking harder about how and why writing retreats change things.
I think it’s to do with the way writing changes when you’re in a group.
We tend to think of writing as a solitary activity.
Part of the benefit of a writing retreat is that you get the time and the space to write, on your own, without distraction.
But that’s only part of the story. The other bit is the way your writing changes when you’re writing (reading, thinking, testing, learning, experimenting) with others too.
You find that your words change with:
Permission: Other people can give you permission, even quietly and subconsciously, to stretch beyond your normal comfort zones. This is particularly true with people you didn’t know before. Old labels and ways of thinking about yourself get left behind.
Encouragement: Other people encourage you. Give you courage. There’s also an odd thing, that as you encourage others (as you undoubtedly will) that voice of support encourages you too.
Feedback: You learn from the feedback you get from others. When it comes with good intention it helps to strengthen your writing.
Experiments: You get ideas from other people: new things to try, new approaches to experiment with, new voices to write in. It’s an invitation to stretch and experiment.
Stories: You get ideas and inspiration from other people’s stories (the one’s they’re writing, or the one’s they’re living.) That can help to wake you up or see things from a different perspective, to notice new angles. At some level this helps you see the ways all our stories are inter-connected, which gives you more confidence to tell them.
Humour: The sharing of words leads to laughter, and countless moments of shared humour. (I’m not quite sure why this is: anyone?) It can help to lighten you up, and lighten up your writing.
Recognition: Although writing is often done alone, it is written to be read. You feed off and grow through the act of sharing those words, and seeing other people’s recognition of one small part of who you are, and how things have been.
Energy: Writing with other people changes the dynamic. It can give you more energy, it can add more energy to your writing, to the way your words dance on the page.
I’m not sure I’ve found the right words to describe how this works, and I’d love to hear about your own experiences. How have you found that writing changes in a group?
~~~
The next writing retreat I’m running is the Tell Your Story Women’s Writing Retreat, June 14 – 18, in Fife (on the East Coast of Scotland, near St Andrews). Just a couple of places left: book quickly if you want to be there 
The Untold Story
Posted on 26. Mar, 2010 by joanna in News, Stories, Writing
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you ~ Maya Angelou
I love that quote. It talks to me not just of the stories we want to write, but also the stories we want to tell, through our actions, our choices, the work that we do, the way that we live our lives.
Sometimes I think we get hung up on a too literal interpretation of ‘story’.
I know I’ve stumbled over that in the past, felt like less than a writer because I didn’t have fiction waiting to be written, characters whispering storylines to me, plotlines unfolding. Maybe I haven’t found the source yet but whenever I’ve looked, wherever I looked, those kind of stories simply weren’t there.
That’s not to say there aren’t other things I want to write and to share though: there are. Things that will keep on nudging me to find the time, to find the space, to find the words, until they are told.
The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. ~Vladimir Nabakov
There are words I need to find, sometime, for the journey I’ve been on from my former working life as a busy stressed out civil servant to the way I chose to live now, creating the space for words, poems, photography, stories to unfold and blossom, not just in me but in others too.
Stories I might tell, sometime, about my female life, about motherhood and daughterhood and some of the joys and sorrows that have gone inbetween.
I know I need to keep on looking for the words to express the relationship I have with the natural world. I know my best, most truthful writing comes from that place. I need to keep doing more of it, and find the courage to put it centre stage.
I guess they all connect, somehow… though I haven’t yet worked out what kind of narrative might hold them all together, and for now I’m not going to try. Will just enjoy letting the pieces unfold, and start to tell themselves.
I’m learning there are many different aspects of our lives that are telling, and wish to be told. It might not have form, might be missing the characters and plotlines, might not have a beginning, middle and end – yet can still be a story that needs to be told.
What untold stories are you bearing inside you? What will be the trigger for starting to tell them?
~~~
The Tell Your Story Women’s Writing Retreat takes place at Cambo House, on the east coast of Fife, Scotland, June 14 – 18 2010. Follow the link to find out more.
Beachcombing for Life
Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by joanna in News, Stories, Writing
I got a chance to visit Cambo House the other weekend, including a riverside walk to see the snowdrops, and a meander along the shore.
Looking at the photos I took that afternoon got me thinking about how beachcombing – walking slowly, looking for patterns, looking for colour, looking for meaning in discarded objects – is a bit like the work we do to find the stories that run through our lives…
Patterns, shapes, lines, markers in the sand…
Shape and form… meaning, maybe even art… from objects in our lives
The way our lives are multi-layered (multi-storied even)
New life emerging from our stories…
How about you – what do you think you might find if you took the time to go beachcombing?
~~~
Tell Your Story: Women’s Writing Retreat takes place at Cambo House in June (14 – 18). Follow the link to find out how to book your place.
Do You LOVE to Write? A Special Offer
Posted on 05. Feb, 2010 by joanna in News, Offers
Do you LOVE to write?
Do you LOVE the swirl and swing of words as they tangle with human emotions?*
Do you LOVE to fill your paper with the breathings of your heart?**
Do you LOVE to hear the inner music the words make?***
Would you LOVE to spend a weekend walking, sleeping, reading, writing?
Would you LOVE to tap into the power of your own words?
Would you LOVE to tap back into the source?
Would you LOVE to be at this weekend, but need a little help to get you there?
Well here’s the thing…
I LOVE to see people finding their voice and playing with words and sharing their stories.
I LOVE to see people starting to write with confidence, and staying that way.
I LOVE to create the space for people to write.
And I would LOVE for you to join us on this weekend.
So in honour of St Valentine… on the 14th (coming up, don’t forget!)…I’m running a special LOVE offer.
Write and tell me why you would LOVE to come on this weekend.
In return you’ll get a discount of £75 for the February weekend.
You’ll need to be able to join us at Lendrick Lodge in the Trossachs to take advantage of this LOVEly offer… February 19th to 21st.
All the rest of the information can be found here: February Writing Weekend
To take part:
E mail me at joanna [@] thewritingspace.com and tell me why you’d love to come.
A sentence will do… but I’d LOVE to hear the words that come from your heart
~~~
* Like James Michener
** Like William Wordsworth
*** Like Truman Capote
A Writing Space in the Hills
Posted on 30. Jan, 2010 by joanna in News, Venues
I went past Ewich House yesterday en route to the west highlands and popped in for a quick look.
It just reminded me what a perfect venue it is for an autumn or winter writing retreat. The house nested in under the hills, looking bare and majestic in their winter coats, with a dusting of snow on the lower slopes, and white peaks glinting in the sun. Its stone walls beckoning you in out of the cold, to coory in by the fire, curl up and read, unwind and write.
~~~
Please note: I’m not currently taking bookings for an autumn / winter retreat, but if you’re interested please do drop me a line at joanna [@] thewritingspace.com and I’ll keep a note of your interest and keep you posted with possible dates.
An Island of Time
Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by joanna in News, Writing
Sometimes, in all the
Rush and
Hurry of our lives
We need so much
Just now and then
To find an island.
Kenneth C Steven
Island of Hoy
Is It Time to Bring Your Words Out of Hiding? February Writing Weekend
Posted on 25. Jan, 2010 by joanna in Dates, News, Scotland
Is it time to bring your words out of hiding?
Is it time to…
- Let your words breathe
- Take the lid off your writing
- Tell the story you’ve been waiting to tell. You’ve been aching to tell
- Banish that gremlin that says ‘but I’m not a writer’
- Write with rhythm, with passion, with the beat of your heart
Then the Out of Hiding writing weekend has been designed just for you
I’ve linked this weekend with the image of the snowdrop:
Simple. Quiet. Strong. Compelling.
Emerging from the darkness of the winter.
Out of hiding.
~~~
Ready to join us?
The writing weekend is at Lendrick Lodge, near Callander in the Trossachs, central Scotland, February 19 – 21st
Cost £195 including food and accommodation
You can find out more including how to book here: February Writing Weekend
~~~
PS If you know someone else you think might be interested please do pass it on!