Spinning Straw into Gold, and Other Transformations
Introducing Poetical Workshop
From The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (1889)
Have you ever felt as if you’re being asked (or as if you’re asking yourself) to do an impossible task inside a locked room? Somehow too much has been promised or expected, and now it’s time for unthinkable bargains and sacrifices - or clever reconfigurations, namings, shifts into new knowledge. Every now and then I’m reminded of the tale of the miller’s daughter. Of course, the king’s tasks in Rumplestiltskin are in many ways like the impossible demands of exploitative employers: more work done in less time by fewer staff.
I’m determined that writing (and the teaching of writing) doesn’t have to be this kind of labour. The practice and process of creative writing has the potential to be slippery, amorphous, provisional, unpredictable, carried under the tongue or putting down roots slowly in the dark rather than passively waiting, like a mountain of straw or a pile of laundry, to be tackled.
The practice and process of creative writing has the potential to be slippery, amorphous, provisional, unpredictable, carried under the tongue or putting down roots slowly in the dark rather than passively waiting, like a mountain of straw or a pile of laundry, to be tackled.
For a while now, I’ve been thinking my way around how to build a fulfilling life as a writer and solo mum. Like many people in the UK, I moved to a rural area just after the pandemic. I quickly realised just how much of a big city person I was. I couldn’t even drive! I expected public transport to be reliable and shops and museums to be open all the time, including on Mondays. I also, I quickly realised, needed to make seismic shifts in the direction of my working life: long-distance working from home has its limits, and the logistics involved in sustaining most academic jobs (at least, while remaining present as a parent) are almost impossible for me, for now. So I moved further into adult education, teaching courses for Dialect and The Poetry School. I’ve always loved teaching adults because they bring such a diverse range of experiences with them into the classroom. I began to encounter, and to consider, the people who wanted to learn and wanted to write, but weren’t attending the sort of classes I taught.
As you might know if you’ve read my previous posts, I’ve been thinking hard over the past few years about how we can integrate writing practice into our everyday lives even when time and space to write is scarce. Inspired by my mum’s degree study with The Open University, my own years of teaching online, and my experience with learning apps on my phone, I’ve been thinking a lot about the potentials of online creative writing workshops, particularly poetry workshops.
I’ve been thinking hard over the past few years about how we can integrate writing practice into our everyday lives even when time and space to write is scarce.
What kind of poetry workshop could be flexible and portable enough to hold and support people in their everyday lives, including those with limited or irregularly available time and brainspace, but, at the same time, lively and interactive enough to build the kind of trust and camaraderie that workshops need to thrive? After experimenting with Google classroom I started to search for something more community-focused than more standard learning management systems. I wanted a social media-style space that could encourage and foster discussion, but could also incorporate zoom workshops and writing hours, courses, recorded video, a resources archive…
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In July this year I started to build Poetical Workshop. It’s taken far longer than I expected, of course but it’s finally set up and ready to go, and reports from my lovely test team of poets are positive. Each month there are themed writing prompts from guests poets as well as me, plus updates on poetry news, submission deadlines and other opportunities, and space to share and discuss poetry challenges and achievements. There’s also access to courses and resources, and more… I set out to encourage interaction and mutual support as much as possible and I’m hoping that, through continued evaluation and feedback from community members, I can create a space that feels genuinely safe and nurturing - as well as helping poets to hone their craft, develop their voice, and play. This month we’re focusing on slow poetry and mindfulness with the help of guest poet Cath Drake. In the next few months we have prompts coming up from guest poets including Jacqueline Saphra, Sarah Howe, Kayo Chingonyi, JLM Morton and Holly Hopkins. I’m planning an online launch party next month to celebrate all of this. Watch this space for details.
This is, of course, a scary new venture, and there are lots of other online poetry workshops out there. Poetical Workshop is different though, I think, because of the way it combines a more traditional workshop space and format with a flexible online community, and the ways it tries to make up for the absence of physical bodies in space through video, audio, (optional) Zoom events and lots of opportunities to interact.
There’s a 14-day free trial and there are discounts available if you’re low-waged or receiving benefits. If Poetical Workshop is something you think you might enjoy, please check it out at https://poeticalworkshop.org/ and share it with anyone else you think might appreciate it.
Go to https://poeticalworkshop.org to find out more and sign up for a free 14-day trial.
