Opening Keynote
Friday morning began with a keynote address by Novelist Jenn Ashworth (@jennashworth) who came to talk to us about ‘Finding the courage to write and keep on writing’. I soon discovered that she had spent time in my home town of Preston in her youth, and I felt like I was listening to a kindred spirit with some of the things she was saying. How school wasn’t a fit with her, how she didn’t really have friends, how she found solace in books. And most importantly about how as women we often have to ‘don armour’ to protect ourselves, and that courage can be found in being vulnerable. She also talked about her community of writer friends and how much she takes from the support they give her. I was almost in tears. Her words resonated so clearly with me and the courage I have gained from the group of writers I have in my own support group.
Some pearls of wisdom that I took from Jenn’s talk included - Don’t let research get in the way, if you wait until you know everything you’ll never write it. If you find when you’re writing that you need more information on something, block it off and write 'need info on…' The first draft is your guide to what you need for the second draft.
She also told us that 'when the well is empty, do whatever you can yo fill it up'. What Jenn does between projects is read, visit an art gallery, use that time to re-charge creatively.
Jenn then read an excerpt of her novel Fell which sounded intriguing. As we took our first break of the day Jenn signed copies of her book and spent time talking to every person in the queue.
Morning Workshop
The first workshop I had was with Rosie Garland (@rosieauthor) on ‘Silencing the internal critic’. As someone who listens to hers far too much (in all aspects of life sadly - not just writing) I felt I would get a lot out of this workshop, and Rosie certainly didn’t disappoint.
Notes:
Sometimes in order to move forwards you need to be willing to go backwards.
Be as kind to yourself as a mother who's toddler is learning to walk. You'd never say "you might as well stay down there" so don't tell yourself that.
Find your “crime scene”, the point in your life when your internal critic started speaking to you. - Despite my useless memory I felt I could pin-point this moment precisely to when my fiancé told me my writing aspirations were a silly dream that nothing would ever come of.
Start to recognise 'The Script'. What does the internal critic say? Once you figure out what the scrip is you can go "off script" and start taking control. The key is knowing the difference between being kind to yourself and sabotaging yourself.
One of the things I said to Rosie was that my internal critic's most frequent way of making me feel like crap is to say 'you'll never be able to write like X', 'you'll never be as good as them so why bother'. Rosie's advice here was "comparison is the thief of joy".
If you've done it (good writing) before you can do it again.
We each have an internal critic and an internal editor. The editor will speak to you about changes you could make to improve your writing, helpful things. Whereas the critic only says bad things. You need to be able to tell the difference in these two and know to always ignore the critic.
Rosie also told us to remember that the first draft is you telling yourself the story. It’s the sketch that lives under the painting. It’s the starting blocks to give you something to build on. Writing is a craft. It's a skill that you learn and develop, so if you don't do it you can't get better at it.
Remember that the books you love are published, edited, finished works. Don't judge yourself on that. They all had first drafts that would have been very different to the finished works.
Google the drama triangle (not done this yet) - your internal critic is the persecutor in this scenario.
One way to battle the internal critic is to give it a name. It makes it more physical and easier to push away. If you name it, it's not you, it's them. Humorous names are good too as they'll make the critic seem even more ridiculous. It's kind of magical that giving it a name means you take away it's power. This of course made me think of the end of Labyrinth "You have no power over me".
It's liberating to defeat the critic. It teaches you that you can live with what scares you. "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional".
Finally if your critic is shouting, you're more likely to be on the right path.
Afternoon Workshop
The second workshop on day 1 was ‘Making Art is hard and that’s okay’ a zine workshop for wannabes, imposters and would be creatives with Sasha de Buyl-Pisco (@sashadebuyl).
I didn't take any notes from this workshop as it was more about just getting on and creating something. As such, my finished zine stands as my notes for this one.
Closing Keynote
We finished the day with a ‘Path to Publication’ Panel chaired by Jane Bradley (@forbookssake), and featuring the aforementioned Rosie Garland and Grrrl Con organiser and novelist Claire Askew (@onenightstanzas), alongside poet and playwright Afshan Lodhi (@ashlodhi).
Lots of talk on what the path looked like for them (clue - it was very different for each of them), and sage words of advice and encouragement for us all. Most notably to enter competitions, send your stories to magazines etc. Rejection will happen but the more you put your work out there the bigger chance you have to get published.
My take away words of wisdom were “You can only have a first book once, so make sure it’s ready.”
Friday morning began with a keynote address by Novelist Jenn Ashworth (@jennashworth) who came to talk to us about ‘Finding the courage to write and keep on writing’. I soon discovered that she had spent time in my home town of Preston in her youth, and I felt like I was listening to a kindred spirit with some of the things she was saying. How school wasn’t a fit with her, how she didn’t really have friends, how she found solace in books. And most importantly about how as women we often have to ‘don armour’ to protect ourselves, and that courage can be found in being vulnerable. She also talked about her community of writer friends and how much she takes from the support they give her. I was almost in tears. Her words resonated so clearly with me and the courage I have gained from the group of writers I have in my own support group.
Some pearls of wisdom that I took from Jenn’s talk included - Don’t let research get in the way, if you wait until you know everything you’ll never write it. If you find when you’re writing that you need more information on something, block it off and write 'need info on…' The first draft is your guide to what you need for the second draft.
She also told us that 'when the well is empty, do whatever you can yo fill it up'. What Jenn does between projects is read, visit an art gallery, use that time to re-charge creatively.
Jenn then read an excerpt of her novel Fell which sounded intriguing. As we took our first break of the day Jenn signed copies of her book and spent time talking to every person in the queue.
Morning Workshop
The first workshop I had was with Rosie Garland (@rosieauthor) on ‘Silencing the internal critic’. As someone who listens to hers far too much (in all aspects of life sadly - not just writing) I felt I would get a lot out of this workshop, and Rosie certainly didn’t disappoint.
Notes:
Sometimes in order to move forwards you need to be willing to go backwards.
Be as kind to yourself as a mother who's toddler is learning to walk. You'd never say "you might as well stay down there" so don't tell yourself that.
Find your “crime scene”, the point in your life when your internal critic started speaking to you. - Despite my useless memory I felt I could pin-point this moment precisely to when my fiancé told me my writing aspirations were a silly dream that nothing would ever come of.
Start to recognise 'The Script'. What does the internal critic say? Once you figure out what the scrip is you can go "off script" and start taking control. The key is knowing the difference between being kind to yourself and sabotaging yourself.
One of the things I said to Rosie was that my internal critic's most frequent way of making me feel like crap is to say 'you'll never be able to write like X', 'you'll never be as good as them so why bother'. Rosie's advice here was "comparison is the thief of joy".
If you've done it (good writing) before you can do it again.
We each have an internal critic and an internal editor. The editor will speak to you about changes you could make to improve your writing, helpful things. Whereas the critic only says bad things. You need to be able to tell the difference in these two and know to always ignore the critic.
Rosie also told us to remember that the first draft is you telling yourself the story. It’s the sketch that lives under the painting. It’s the starting blocks to give you something to build on. Writing is a craft. It's a skill that you learn and develop, so if you don't do it you can't get better at it.
Remember that the books you love are published, edited, finished works. Don't judge yourself on that. They all had first drafts that would have been very different to the finished works.
Google the drama triangle (not done this yet) - your internal critic is the persecutor in this scenario.
One way to battle the internal critic is to give it a name. It makes it more physical and easier to push away. If you name it, it's not you, it's them. Humorous names are good too as they'll make the critic seem even more ridiculous. It's kind of magical that giving it a name means you take away it's power. This of course made me think of the end of Labyrinth "You have no power over me".
It's liberating to defeat the critic. It teaches you that you can live with what scares you. "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional".
Finally if your critic is shouting, you're more likely to be on the right path.
Afternoon Workshop
The second workshop on day 1 was ‘Making Art is hard and that’s okay’ a zine workshop for wannabes, imposters and would be creatives with Sasha de Buyl-Pisco (@sashadebuyl).
I didn't take any notes from this workshop as it was more about just getting on and creating something. As such, my finished zine stands as my notes for this one.
Closing Keynote
We finished the day with a ‘Path to Publication’ Panel chaired by Jane Bradley (@forbookssake), and featuring the aforementioned Rosie Garland and Grrrl Con organiser and novelist Claire Askew (@onenightstanzas), alongside poet and playwright Afshan Lodhi (@ashlodhi).
Lots of talk on what the path looked like for them (clue - it was very different for each of them), and sage words of advice and encouragement for us all. Most notably to enter competitions, send your stories to magazines etc. Rejection will happen but the more you put your work out there the bigger chance you have to get published.
My take away words of wisdom were “You can only have a first book once, so make sure it’s ready.”
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