Trowbridge Town Hall was awash with poets and artists on National Poetry Day, October 6 2016. Ten local schools each sent small groups of children and a member of staff to take part in my poetry and art workshops which I ran with artist Ben Midgley. In addition, poets from Trowbridge Poetry Society Stanza group took part, … Continue reading National Poetry Day at Trowbridge Town Hall
I'm gratified by the number of likes, comments and visits I received to my Not Quite a Post post! It just goes to show that, when you've said you're on a blogging schedule (in 2014 I've been trying to post at least once a week, usually on a Sunday) it's worth plonking your bottom down … Continue reading On the value of blogging.
It was very kind of Literature Works, the Literature Development Agency for South West England, to ask me to write about my work in community settings. You can read what I said over on their website. And here are some images from projects I've been involved in!
What are your ideas for commemorating the centenary of the start of the First World War which will, of course, take place next year? I went to a meeting last night organised by heritage and arts organisations in Wiltshire and there were some interesting proposals emerging. As well as telling the stories of those who … Continue reading WWI Centenary Projects
I said I'd post again before the daffodils came out in my garden, I looked away for one moment and there they were, and looking pretty weary after two days of brutal March winds. We are experiencing a cold snap in the UK, no snow where I live, in the south west of England, but … Continue reading Read/Write South West and the joy of libraries
Students began by reading their stories from last week when they'd placed one of their own fictional characters in a work setting they'd researched by interviewing other students. The writing was diverse and really interesting and included a man working in an all-female cleaning crew, a white Zimbabwean farmer advising on simulation exercises to a … Continue reading WordWeavers Session 4 – Writing Dialogue
A summary of what we did.... Last week, among other things, we talked about how a character's actions can reveal something, a mood or character trait, for example, to the reader. This week, continuing to think about what our characters do, we considered the world of work as a source of writing inspiration. The workplace … Continue reading Writing about Work – WordWeavers Session 3
We began by considering the following: writing what a character does is a way of revealing emotion or mood to the reader; it helps to know something about your character's background, their childhood, their desires, their fears, etc., as this is likely to influence their behaviour; tapping into your own memories and thoughts is a … Continue reading WordWeavers Session Two involving a carrot…
For those who couldn't make it…. A summary of what we did. Confession: I stole the warm-up exercises from Vicki Feaver and Hugh Dunkerley who used them on a Creative Writing module at Chichester University in the early 1990s. First, a quick warm-up exercise: write, in two minutes, a list of possible uses for this object Then, write … Continue reading WordWeavers at Trowbridge Museum – First Session
.......or, at least, his book of short stories, The Dubliners, did and this is just a quick post to say how much I enjoyed leading a Writing Short Stories workshop in Trowbridge Library last week. The library has recently relocated into a refurbished County Hall and its new home is truly impressive. I hope my … Continue reading James Joyce visits Trowbridge Library
