Fallowness
Many of us are finding the world an increasingly hostile and chaotic place. It is more hostile to some than others. I know that a lot of my readers give time and energy to fight for social, racial, global and environmental justice in different ways. In this context, opportunities for togetherness and fallowness seem crucial – to recharge, to find community, to just ‘be’ for a while.
That is why I am offering another Fallow at the Farm, on Saturday 5th July (11-4) at a cost of £35 per person (including booking fees). This creative retreat held near Otley will be themed around the four elements – earth, air, fire and water. Two free places are available for people on low incomes. Follow this link for more information and to book.
If you are interested in further opportunities to explore fallowness and creativity, drop me an email and I will add you to my list.
Sowing
Memoir writing
It’s crazy but I’m already at the mid-point of my Developing your Creative Practice creative non-fiction project (funded by Arts Council England). So far, it has been a nourishing experience.
Highlights over the last couple of months have included:
Mentoring from Kerri ní Dochartaigh who has read and commented on a full draft of my memoir. Her enthusiastic, nuanced feedback and nurturing, structured approach is initiating the kind of learning that takes place in the conscious mind, body and subconscious all at once.
As a writer who loves to combine the found with the original in various ways and who is drawn to much that is slant, I have dabbled in hermit crab poems and essays in the past. Attending Jess Wright’s Hermit Crabs as Queer Forms course (Beyond Form Creative Writing) has made me a little obsessed by these creative works that borrow forms from elsewhere and are so fun to make.
My DYCP grant included a budget to join the London Writers’ Salon as a Silver Member. This means I have access to various courses, talks and groups such as the welcoming memoir and non-fiction community. Last week, I was given the opportunity to have an extract of a work-in-progress edited by LWS editors in front of an audience. I shakily sent them the first pages of my memoir. But when Lillian Duggan and Jane Cahane used adjectives like ‘beautiful, evocative, intriguing, efficient, rich and layered’, I realised nerves were unnecessary. Their constructive and generous feedback echoed with Kerri’s comments such as regarding the overall structure and a request for more reflective passages. Other points were fresh e.g. allowing the reader to spend more time in a particular period before switching eras. I’m carrying their suggestions for improvement and comments on what they loved into the draft I’m working on.
Returning to freelance work
16 months ago, I left my role at the Lifelong Learning Centre and returned to full time freelance work. Reshaping my career at this point in life has proved challenging (involvingmuch filling in of application forms, dozens of creative submissions and many rejections).
It is also invigorating. As a writer-in-residence for First Story, I’ve been busy building a relationship with writers at a school in Burmantofts and putting together a horizon-expanding anthology of their work. I have three poems in the first issue of The Aftershock Review, edited by Max Wallis. The journal responds to trauma and has broken dramatically into the poetry world this year. erbacce highly commended my poetry collection manuscript and I have more work forthcoming in magazines and journals. I’m excited too at new partnerships that are developing – with the outside it is beautiful collective, Bradford 2025, creatives interested in fallowness, queer and memoir writers, a local digital company, Abbey House Museum and others.
Reaping – your opinion
For many years, I’ve considered setting up a Substack to share blogs/newsletters/creative works with the aim of reaching more readers and making my writing career more sustainable. Algorithms set by those in power increasingly affect which posts are seen and by how many people. So it seems ever more important to find autonomous ways to share creative work. For those of you who are not familiar with Substack, this is what the platform says about what it does:
‘On Substack, writers and creators can publish their work and make money from paid subscriptions while supporters can directly sustain the work, they deeply value.’
News blogs such as these would remain free (just on Substack rather than on my website). If it seemed sustainable to do so, I would also offer a subscription package for those who want more regular blogs/something different. As loyal readers, I would love to know what you would be most interested in reading and what you think would be an acceptable amount to pay for these additional blogs. If you have 2 minutes to spare, please fill in this poll.
Don’t worry, it won’t commit you to anything. I’ll also give you advance warning before shifting to another platform!
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