Many people assume there can only be one reason for coming to writing workshops, and that’s in order to become a published author. I find this assumption strange.
Hi, great reflections there Jenny, thank you. I am sometimes a writer and more often an unpaid carer so I do writing workshops to find some peace and let me be myself for a change! I like the focus of a workshop as an escape from the overwhelm all around us and the time for quiet contemplation. I really enjoy hearing what others have written.
There's nothing like a writing workshop for a chance to be yourself. Running workshops has been a fabulous quiet focus for me these last few months with all the chaos of my relocation and flat renovation
Sometimes people come to me because they want to get published but then they stay for the laughter, stories and community. To me, it seems like the fastest way to make friends!
Yes, absolutely this! I love that lasting writing friendships and brand new writing groups have grown out of my workshops. Where else do you sit with a group of strangers and share your inner worlds of emotion and imagination?
I guess my workshops don't tend to attract people who are career driven because that's not my promise/offer. Publication seems to me the least exciting part of the writing life - there's writing, and then there's writing for publication. I often work with authors who are much published like me but struggle to hold on to the joy and freshness of it, or new writers who don't know yet where they want their writing to take them. If my offer was writing to get published, I'd attract a very different kind of writer. That is a very good point - thank you!
Me either. In fact publishing has nothing to do with writing. When I published my first book I had so many people ask for my time to discuss publishing - I eventually learned to ask (before I handed over my time): have you written anything? Hilarious how many people sweat publishing when they haven't got anything to publish. I tend to attract people who believe they 'can't write' - which is a crazy thing to say considering most of us have been doing it all our lives. Hence the unobvious referenced above.
Yes, yes to this! It's so sad how many people believe they can't write, when creativity and imagination is our first nature, before we learn to navigate the world. But on the upside, it doesn't go anywhere - with a safe space and a little guidance, there can be such a joyful reconnection.
I find workshops work for me on two levels. The first is the opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and experiment. Some of the pieces that I really love that I have written come from workshops because they are ones I wouldn't have necessarily thought about in my day to day. Workshops are great equalisers. You can find yourself sitting next to a a writer with a long publishing CV and/ or a person who is only starting out. What we have in common is that we are all there to learn and challenge ourselves. To produce art in a safe space.
Me too! I love going to other people's workshops because they take me places I would not have found on my own and my favourite kind of group is one that has a range of writing experience, from much-published to completely new - there's so much we can learn from each other.
Hi, great reflections there Jenny, thank you. I am sometimes a writer and more often an unpaid carer so I do writing workshops to find some peace and let me be myself for a change! I like the focus of a workshop as an escape from the overwhelm all around us and the time for quiet contemplation. I really enjoy hearing what others have written.
There's nothing like a writing workshop for a chance to be yourself. Running workshops has been a fabulous quiet focus for me these last few months with all the chaos of my relocation and flat renovation
I too am an unpaid carer so I know exactly what you mean x
Sometimes people come to me because they want to get published but then they stay for the laughter, stories and community. To me, it seems like the fastest way to make friends!
Yes, absolutely this! I love that lasting writing friendships and brand new writing groups have grown out of my workshops. Where else do you sit with a group of strangers and share your inner worlds of emotion and imagination?
Hi Jenny, isn't that just the best question! Why do people come to writing workshops? The answer is everything but obvious ...
I guess my workshops don't tend to attract people who are career driven because that's not my promise/offer. Publication seems to me the least exciting part of the writing life - there's writing, and then there's writing for publication. I often work with authors who are much published like me but struggle to hold on to the joy and freshness of it, or new writers who don't know yet where they want their writing to take them. If my offer was writing to get published, I'd attract a very different kind of writer. That is a very good point - thank you!
Me either. In fact publishing has nothing to do with writing. When I published my first book I had so many people ask for my time to discuss publishing - I eventually learned to ask (before I handed over my time): have you written anything? Hilarious how many people sweat publishing when they haven't got anything to publish. I tend to attract people who believe they 'can't write' - which is a crazy thing to say considering most of us have been doing it all our lives. Hence the unobvious referenced above.
Yes, yes to this! It's so sad how many people believe they can't write, when creativity and imagination is our first nature, before we learn to navigate the world. But on the upside, it doesn't go anywhere - with a safe space and a little guidance, there can be such a joyful reconnection.
indeed! it doesn't go anywhere, just patiently waits for us to pay attention.
I find workshops work for me on two levels. The first is the opportunity to get out of your comfort zone and experiment. Some of the pieces that I really love that I have written come from workshops because they are ones I wouldn't have necessarily thought about in my day to day. Workshops are great equalisers. You can find yourself sitting next to a a writer with a long publishing CV and/ or a person who is only starting out. What we have in common is that we are all there to learn and challenge ourselves. To produce art in a safe space.
Me too! I love going to other people's workshops because they take me places I would not have found on my own and my favourite kind of group is one that has a range of writing experience, from much-published to completely new - there's so much we can learn from each other.