15 July 2019
Posted by Joanna Barnard
Are you paying attention?
We began our last session at the Art House before a brief summer sojourn looking at the poem Snowdrops by Louise Gluck. It got us thinking about beginnings, about embarking on new things and about rebirth. Beginning anything new can spark a range of emotions, including excitement yes but also apprehension and even fear as we risk the 'raw wind of the new world'. Many of the so:write women can relate to this as they begin to put their words out in to the world for appraisal by agents and competitions, or come tentatively back to writing after a break, risking rejection and 'failure' but also the potential rich rewards of having our voices heard.
We used these emotions as a jumping off point for our first exercise, along with a host of other words which we gifted to each other and which generated a range of stories featuring sinister hatchlings, secrets and lies, and journeys to new worlds, in labs, woods and aeroplanes. The richness of what we create in a short space of time always astonishes me and these pieces were of value in their own right but equally could each have served as the launchpad for a new, longer, piece of writing.
Next we heard and fed back on the new beginning of Rhiannon's novella, leaving us excited to hear more come September. Then we embarked on some 'mindful' writing which showed how even in a short space of time we can use writing therapeutically, focusing in very short bursts first on an external object, then on our own physical being, then on our emotional state. This was an exercise in paying attention, in working through distractions, and looking at ourselves in ways we perhaps don't often take enough time over.
We have one more session at the Library this coming Saturday, 20th July, from 10.15am, and then the so:write women take a little break. I wish for you all a summer of attentiveness, engagement, maybe some risk, yes, and a great deal of joy.
Archive
Storytelling and Escalation or Rising Action
Junior Writers Club Acrostic Poem
Notes on Intention for MAST Collective - Year 3 - Facilitation Focus
Earthquakes & Dominoes - MAST Collective Blog #4
SUPER MARIO AND POP CULTURE POEMS
Receptionists & Inky Voids - MAST Collective Blog #3
Saying No and saying YES on National Poetry Day!
There's a Dragon in the Wardrobe...
House Warming Party (The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known) - MAST Collective Blog #2
Intern Blog 5 - The Publishing Process
POEMS TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS
On The Streets With Theresa Lola
Intern Blog 4 - The Internship Journey
NEW DIRECTIONS, STARTING SMALL - THE ORWELL YOUTH PRIZE
LIGHTHOUSES, HOPE AND METAPHORS
on workshop and transformations: frogs, lions, and the duck that becomes a larder...
Poetry Ambassadors - Interview with April Egan
Intern Blog 1 - Finding a Voice
World Poetry Day: Fluffypunk and the Invisible Women
On Being a Writer: A Conversation by Beth Phillips & Sam Morton
Poetry Ambassadors - Interview with Kaycee Hill
UNHEARD VOICES: INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY, AND STORIES OF CONFLICT
