"Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been."
Alan Alda
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'If you are a writer you locate yourself behind a wall of silence and no matter what you are doing, driving a car or walking or doing housework you can still be writing, because you have that space.'
By Joyce Carol Oates
News
I've just received a prize through the post... for a competition I don't remember entering! The competition was run by the UK-based Biscuit Publishing and entrants were judged on a portfolio of three short stories. My work was highly commended. My memory might be short but needless to say, I'm thrilled.Workshops in Singapore
My last writing courses ended early summer. For the first time I ran a beginners' course (Storymaking) and an advanced course (Storymaking2) in parallel (well—a day apart!). I really couldn't have wished for two finer groups. Everyone showed an immense eagerness to learn the tricks and techniques of engaging writing, and then to apply these to their own work. There was buzz about the groups as ideas, questions and feedback zipped back and forth, that was fantastically energising. What really impressed me was the willingness everyone showed to be experimental in their writing and then to share the results with the group—that really does take some courage. So all in all, I think I'm right in saying the workshops were a great success... certainly I received some very complimentary feedback!
Two new creative writing courses—one for beginners (Storymaking), the other for more advanced writers (Storymaking2)—will start in November 2008.
September saw the launch of two new half-day workshops: Features Writing for Magazines and Writing for Children. Because I like to keep my workshop groups small, I was forced to turn a number of people away for both courses, which was a shame. There's no question I'll be offering both workshops again in the new year, so if either grabs you, please keep an eye on my 'Workshops' page and click on 'Schedule'.