November Newsletter

Dear all,

I hope you’re well and appreciate this quick round up of my news and upcoming events.

Jesmond Library

I was delighted to see that Jesmond Library won the Arts and Culture Award at the Community Libraries Network Awards 2024 for the writer in residence project I was involved in earlier this year. Well-deserved for all the hard work by volunteers to get Arts Council funding and to manage and support me during the residency. You can find out more about the project  by reading my blog posts on the library’s website and copies of ‘Welcome to the Library’ – the anthology of writing about libraries produced during the residency – are available from the library at £5 each.

After the writing residency, I’ve been lucky to be able to keep working with Jesmond Library on a range of projects including a new six week writing course at the library on Saturday mornings (10am-12pm). The first session was last week, but there are a couple of spare places if anyone would like to join for the rest of the course (each week covers a different topic so you wouldn’t need to catch up on anything). The course runs on a pay what you can basis – the suggested donation is £25, but you don’t have to pay to attend. If you’d like to find out more then please contact me.

Brum Library Zine

Talking of libraries, have you seen Brum Library Zine? It’s been produced by Birmingham writers to protest about library cuts and is a magical and moving collection about all 35 community libraries in the city. It also made me remember all the time I spent in Yardley Wood Library as a teenager - mainly choosing large print doctor and nurse romances for my grandma who lived nearby. Find out more about the campaign at Brum Library Zine Instagram

Gather Online Writing Group

There are a few spare places for my online writing group, Gather, which is meeting tomorrow evening (Thursday 7 November) between 6.30pm-8.30pm on Zoom. Tickets are £10 for lots of writing inspiration (including prompts and resources to use afterwards). If you’d like to join us, please contact me.

Time to Write at Koru Pizza

The last Time to Write workshop of the year at Koru Peaceful Pizza in Gosforth is on Sunday 24 November (11am-1pm). This has developed into a small and supportive group of writers, with some regulars and others who attend as a one off. Tickets are £20 - contact me to book. I’ll be running some further Time to Write workshops at this lovely venue in 2025 so will let you know as soon as I have some dates.

Biscuit Factory Workshops

I have a couple of workshops coming up at The Biscuit Factory Gallery in Newcastle. Writing Winter is on November 17 (11am-2pm) where you can explore how to write about the season and your relationship with it. Then, on 19 January (11am-2pm) Enjoy Creative Writing is about writing for pleasure and enjoyment – with lots of new exercises and ideas to get you started on a positive note for the new year. Booking is through the Biscuit Factory – click on the links to find out more about both sessions.

Writing Prompt

Finally, I’ll leave you with a writing prompt from one of my recent Time to Write workshops. The workshop was looking at how to use words as prompts and, as a simple exercise to start, we chose a random word from a selection I’d brought along. The group chose layer which generated some great writing. You could write something inspired by the same prompt word or try the following word-based exercises:

• Write a list of 20 unconnected words (or you could use a random word generator). Choose two at random. Use them as a title for a new piece of writing. Or choose three, four or five words.

• Open a book or magazine and pick out a single sentence. Use this as the first or last sentence of a new piece of writing.

• Make a list of words or phrases you use in your own family or that you’ve noticed other people using (see this article on familect). You could use one to inspire a piece of memoir or fiction.

• Is there a word or phrase that particularly reminds you of someone you know. Use it to write about this person or use it to inspire a new character.

• Write a list of ten favourite words. Choose one and write about it and your feelings about it. Do the same with your least favourite words.

• Pick out a sentence from your notebook and write it backwards. Use this as the first line of a new piece of writing.

Happy writing!

Amanda