Winter Newsletter - New Course for January - Thirteen Ways of Looking

January course announcement/ write along dates/giveaway winner

Photo by Fabrice Villard on Unsplash

I tend to organise all things seasonally, and love the feeling of moving onto a new season. This week I’ve been moving into winter; finding time to enjoy the pleasure of this acknowledgement of change, of the different pace of winter, the slower, hunkering down of the winter months which are always good for writing and planning. I’ve been changing to my winter duvet and changing my duvet cover sets, bringing out different sets of fairy lights to light up dark nooks in the house, de-cluttering to make room for the Christmas tree, all things that say ‘I am preparing, I am nesting into winter, I am ready to embrace the dark and to not just get through these months but use them, revel in them, enjoy what the dark brings.

What’s in Store for Paid Subscribers of Notes from the Margin in December, January and February

December is a good month for me to begin to think forwards to the goals I want to achieve, to the plans I want to put in place. How do I want to grow this platform? Growth on substack depends on the number of subscribers coming to Notes from the Margin. I have a set number of subscribers I need to reach before I can offer more and I’m very close to that number now, which is exciting.

More on that, and what parts of my writing process I’m taking forward into the new year in another post, this post is for what’s coming up here in Winter. I can’t wait to work with you!

December

• Thursday December 12th 12.30-1.30pm UK time - Lunchtime write-along. Join me on zoom for an hour of communal writing. We’ll begin with a reading, an optional prompt and then we’ll settle down to some writing in the zoom room. Feel free to bring along a long term project, or use the space in another creative way. This is a place to be creative together, a gentle accountability to your creative self. If you are a paid subscriber to Notes from the Margin, you don’t need to do anything, your zoom link will appear in a paywalled substack post just before the event.

Photo by Cathryn Lavery on Unsplash

January

New paid subscriber course for January -

Thirteen Ways of Looking

Based very loosely around my poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, which you can read about here:

This online paid subscriber course is all about shaking up perspective. Each week we’ll take a generic theme and find the details in it, the unusual perspectives, the ways of looking at a well worn subjects, finding our own ways in and making the poems and prose jump from the page.

Week One - Thirteen Ways of Looking at Nature

Week Two - Thirteen Ways of Looking at Landscape

Week Three - Thirteen Ways of Looking at Grief

Week Four - Thirteen Ways of Looking at Love

Perfect for shaking up your writing in January and breaking some of your writing habits, in this course we’ll look at published creative non fiction and poetry that take unusual or interesting viewpoints, and how we might be inspired to shake up the perspectives in our own writing. There will be writing prompts, links, practice tips and inspiration all delivered in one paywalled substack post per week on Fridays in January. Set your own pace, choose the prompts that you want to, the ones that inspire you and make a resolution to put your own writing first. You can post your drafts, give and receive feedback in the closed facebook group, or just work alone, whatever suits your writing needs best.

If you are a paid subscriber to Notes from the Margin you do not need to do anything to sign up for this course, all paid subscribers will receive course notes in their inbox, in the body of a paywalled substack post.

Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash

February

• Thursday February 13th 12.30-1.30pm UK time - Lunchtime write-along.

Join me on zoom for an hour of communal writing. We’ll begin with a reading, an optional prompt and then we’ll settle down to some writing in the zoom room. Feel free to bring along a long term project, or use the space in another creative way. This is a place to be creative together, a gentle accountability to your creative self. If you are a paid subscriber to Notes from the Margin, you don’t need to do anything, your zoom link will appear in a paywalled substack post just before the event.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Giveaway winner

Last week I ran a giveaway from my new Nine Arches Press collection, Blackbird Singing at Dusk. I can announce the winner is:

Tamsin Chennell (she/her/they)

Tamsin, if you want to drop me a message I’ll get a copy posted out to you, thanks for your support x

Looking for an excellent Christmas gift?

You can buy my nature/landscape memoir The Ghost Lake from bookshops, online, as an ebook and an audio book, and you can buy my new poetry collection, Blackbird Singing at Dusk direct from the publisher, online and in bookshops.

Until next time

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