Our blogs

Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

15 March 2025

Posted by Susan L. Edser

Stones

Ali Sparkes is a children’s author who leads writing sessions for Junior and Young Writers every Saturday morning at MAST Mayflower Studios. To learn more about her, visit her website: https://www.alisparkes.com and click on her profile: https://artfulscribe.co.uk/facilitators/ali-sparkes


Susan L. Edser, MA graduate in Creative Writing and Publishing and winner of Bournemouth University’s prestigious Vice Chancellor Award 2024, is Ali’s assistant and writes the weekly blog. To learn more about her, click on her profile: https://artfulscribe.co.uk/facilitators/susan-l-edser



Ali brought her unique collection of painted stones to inspire our keen writers. She tasked them with choosing a stone from the bag and imagining it had magic powers. The writers loved this and conjured characters with shape-shifting talents and flying abilities. Ali asked them to consider how the new skills changed their lives, for good or bad. Most opted for the former, but one pairing decided to lose their special archery talent, describing the consequences of this. 


Turning our attention to the forthcoming showcase, Ali chose the strongest Frankenstories from last week by the Junior and Young Writers and read them aloud. They raised their hands to vote, and one was the clear winner for each group. Want to hear them both? Join us on Sunday’s community showcase! Here’s the link for more information:

https://artfulscribe.co.uk/events/show/1685/artfulscribe-community-showcase-litfest-local-2025


It's been a while since our writers penned a poem, so this week Ali started them off, with a title ‘Pebbly Poem’ and the first two lines:

You really should not throw stones

And here’s the reason why…


Talented as ever, we were treated to warning poems that were touching, amusing, and also tragic. The skill shown at writing the stone stories and pebbly poems won four lucky writers awards this week. Willow won the ‘Writer of the Week’ award for her stone story, which had excellent flow and engaging descriptions, and her poem, which had well-thought-through scanning and rhyming. Rowan, Sisan and Melody won awards for their collective story effort and the poems they wrote individually. Congratulations to the four of you!


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