I love journalling. I’ll be teaching a course on journalling for the Isles of Scilly adult education in November! But I do get stuck in the same old rut, so I like to look out for new ideas.

I have never before heard of an Italian Renaissance notebook called a zibaldone, so I really enjoyed reading about this. Thank you so much for the introduction.

Room to Think

Isn't This Just a Commonplace Book?

I keep a personal, a professional, and a devotional zibaldone: a type of notebook popularized in the Italian Renaissance…

Read more

12 days ago · 117 likes · 8 comments · Heather Luczak

Those that know me know that I love lists. But I have never thought about keeping a notebook just for lists.

The Stationery Project

You Should Start A "List" Journal

Out of all the journals I’ve ever created, one of the most useful and fun ones has been my “list” journal. It also happens to be one of the only journals that has absolutely no paragraphs in it. Most people are going to dismiss this type of journal immediately. Lists feel too thin to count as “real” journaling because so much of what we consider traditi…

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a month ago · 680 likes · 65 comments · Bryant Del Toro

More creative writing than journalling, but so many brilliant writing prompts from compiled here to dip into when you’re ready.

Tania’s Highly Irregular Newsletter & Unbox Your Words

Unbox Your Words #22 July 2026

A reminder that if you’d like to unlock the full version of this post - and all the Unbox Your Words posts, including the audio version and the zoom workshop discount codes - but the paid option of £3.50/month would be a struggle, you can upgrade your subscription for free by clicking this link…

Read more

2 months ago · 3 likes · 2 comments · Tania Hershman

And I love these whimsical journal rituals from - also love the idea of turning life routines into special rituals.

Jada De Luca

Whimsical Journaling Rituals

Read more

5 months ago · 2022 likes · 37 comments · Jada De Luca

The last one I’ll leave you with is on flash fiction by the brilliant because I’m teaching a 3-part course on flash in East Grinstead this autumn.

The Joy of Fixion

20 Ways Flash Fiction Will Make You A Better Writer

Hardly anyone I talk to in the ‘real world’ (lol) seems to know what flash fiction is. Even within the creative writing community it’s something of a niche offshoot. Something a little bit… undefinable, perhaps…

Read more

2 years ago · 24 likes · 6 comments · Jo Gatford

What is in your Substack saved pile?

Leave a comment

Live online creative writing sessions on Tuesdays 2-3pm (UK time) will resume for paid subscribers on 8 September. Click here to join us:

Subscribe now

If you are local to East Grinstead, you might be interested in my Tuesday evening course on writing flash fiction. More details here.

For a list of creative writing workshops and courses I’ll be running in the autumn, click here.

And I’ll be a tutor on The Creative Writing Programme in East Grinstead and Worthing this autumn. Click here to find out more.

Until next time…

Read more

But…

I’ve been thinking about how much I usually love the research process and how it helps me make connections and how actually, the slowness of it is what adds depth to writing. I have been working on a short story and I realised I wanted help to be able to visualise the house, which is integral to the story. So I gathered some photos from the internet and loaded them into PowerPoint. While I did this, I was thinking about the characters and where they would be and how the layout of the house would affect what they did. If Claude had given me the information I needed in a minute, I would not have had the same amount of thinking time. I will also draw my own plan of the house layout, with notes and arrows on it. This will also hopefully give me time to figure out the plot as well.

While I was a researcher for the University of Brighton on a few projects following my MA in Creative Writing, I learned a lot and so I thought I’d share a few non-AI tips with you to help with your own research as a writer.

Here are some different types of research you might do as a writer:

1. Finding out actual facts for your book. For example, if your character has a job you are not familiar with, you might find out some of the technicalities in this job or if you set your book in a different time to now, you’ll need to find out what was going on in the world at that time and smaller, important things such as what people were wearing.

2. Researching other books that have been written in the genre you are writing in. This will give you an idea of the landscape you are working in and will be really helpful when you come to pitch your book or story to agents and publishers.

3. Researching general ideas to back up any bigger themes for your book. For instance, if your book is about climate change or mental health to name a couple of very broad topics, you’ll want a good grasp on what’s being said in these fields right now and to keep up to date.

4. You might also want to pick an author or two to study in detail to read as a writer and find out how they tackle certain writing techniques. For example, how they structure their story or layout dialogue or approach point of view.

5. I also call some types of generative writing research. For example, if I’m writing a story loosely about my grandparents. I will want to write down everything I can remember about them. I might not use all of this in a story but I am mining my own memory for details and feelings I can use later.

So here are some ideas you may find helpful:

• your local library. Always my first port of call. If I am researching a topic, genre or particular type of book, I will order a pile of books (I am allowed to order six at a time) and this will give me an idea of where to start. This is all free. Also brilliant for local research. They will have connections with local archives.

• your local museum. Our small town museum has 25,000 items that are in storage and not on display. They are really happy for requests to look at these objects and holding an object in your hands can make such a difference to your writing and spark many different ideas. This can be useful even if you are researching a time you can remember to jog other memories as well.

• talking to people. This is so helpful if you are researching a particular profession or time of life. People are generally really happy to help with specific questions and can be an invaluable source of information. If I’m writing non-fiction and using what someone said as a source (for example, in an interview), I will always show them what I’ve written to check I’ve got it right and to get their permission for me to use it.

• your local bookshop. Really helpful if you want to see what type of books are being published and sold in your field or genre. Which is useful if you are looking for comps for your book.

• Conscious Style Guide. This website is an amazing resource of information if you are writing about so many issues. It is a repository of articles about race, gender, appearance, climate etc and how to use considered language.

• Google Scholar. Brilliant place to start for academic research about a topic. If you look at the small blue text under each entry, you’ll see a ‘Cited by..’ link. Click on this and you’ll see a whole load of related entries. Not all of the articles will be accessible for free unless you are part of a university institution however.

• For free articles, I go to DOAJ - The Directory of Open Access Journals. Also, you can read ten a month for free on JStor.

• One time, I wanted to research how people sounded (the voice and language) of Swansea people in the 60s, so I looked at old films on YouTube. I have since found this BBC archive website: BBC Rewind, which looks brilliant. I wrote a poem by writing down vernacular phrases the people used in some archive footage of cockle gatherers.

• I am no longer affiliated with a university, and I was missing having access to the books. I could have joined the university library as alumni and go there to research but it is a long way for me and so I subscribe to Perlego - not free but has a comprehensive selection of non-fiction books for £12.99 a month. I read a lot of books about writing and editing on here.

• your own journals. You can keep records and explorations of all sorts of things that could be useful in future writing projects - the weather, notes on news articles, words for the sea, colours, clothes, dialect, feelings and body language.

And to keep track of all of that research, at the minimum, I have a document running alongside a working draft of my project, that I call ‘Freewriting and Dump Doc’. I paste everything in here - notes, thoughts, research, outtakes from the draft, freewriting around the story. When it gets unwieldy and for research not connected with a particular project, I use Notion. I use the free version and I emailed them to ask them to switch off AI, which they did. But I have just regained access to Scrivener. I haven’t used it for a few years because I wanted something I can use online as well, but I am now thinking of going back to it as an AI-free zone.

Where do you love to research?

Leave a comment

Live online creative writing sessions on Tuesdays 2-3pm (UK time) will resume for paid subscribers on 8 September. Click here to join us:

Subscribe now

If you are local to East Grinstead, you might be interested in my Tuesday evening course on writing flash fiction. More details here.

For a list of creative writing workshops and courses I’ll be running in the autumn, click here.

And I’ll be a tutor on The Creative Writing Programme in East Grinstead and Worthing this autumn. Click here to find out more.

Until next time…

This week, I’ve been working at my desk and walking a little bit. I’ve kept up with my chosen dietary changes and have been resting in the afternoon but have not done any exercise. I’ll introduce that gradually next week or when the weather cools down a bit.

I am not into the idea of daily step counts and goals for hours of exercise with my heartbeat raised by a particular amount.

My days and weeks are not the same. I do not have a routine. My energy each week is different. So it’s hard for me to measure any sort of baseline from which to gradually make changes. I do however, have a broad rhythm to my days and weeks and I like to pay attention to the seasons and I have a built-in self-reflection tool with my journalling habit.

It is the same with writing. Why would I be introducing daily step counts for myself and hourly goals for exercise when I struggle to do this in any consistent way with writing?

My goals for exercise (my swimming and climbing) has always been to enjoy it and not have any goals as I have seen it as benefitting my mental health just as much as my physical health. Occasionally (as with writing) I love to set myself a challenge and achieve it for the feeling of completion but mostly, gently bringing myself back to it is what I try to do in any given week.

What I can do though is noticing. I can notice how my body feels in any given day. I can rest and then notice the feeling in my legs which tells me they want to move or the stiffness in my shoulders which tells me some stretching might help. I can write down the exercise I do and how I feel afterwards. I do this with writing as well. At the start of each writing session, I write a little about how I’m feeling in that moment and at the end, I do the same and finish with a gentle intention for the next session.

In this way, I can notice what derails me as well as what motivates me. And now I know moving more might help my cholesterol, especially as writing and editing involves long hours at the desk, I can gently nudge myself towards this. I can notice the difference between feeling tired because I’ve exercised hard (a rest might be good) and feeling tired because I have been overworrying about something (exercise might help).

Gentle things I did to give my creative self space in the past couple of weeks:

• deleted the Substack app from my phone (I love to read Substack notes, but it’s the first thing to go when my brain needs a rest - I don’t have any other social media apps on my phone).

• cat sitting for a friend in exchange for office space. I am currently working in my dining room and it is a busy place with people coming and going, so it was lovely to get some quiet time to think. Plus I got to hang out with this very gentle cat.

  

• did not worry about going anywhere special to watch the eclipse! This is what I caught in my back yard - the light and shadow of the eclipse on my fence from the light shining through the neighbour’s hedges.

• played games! We played a lot of Scrabble on my trip and after one of the games (the following day), I enjoyed setting a timer and making up a story including all of the words on the board. This was the only writing I did in those days. I didn’t even have the energy for morning pages!

So that’s my update. I like to have a break from teaching in the summer but I forget that it’s probably not the time to fit in everything I’ve not had time for in term time.

Live online creative writing sessions on Tuesdays 2-3pm (UK time) will resume for paid subscribers on 8 September. Click here to join us:

Subscribe now

If you are local to East Grinstead, you might be interested in my Tuesday evening course on writing flash fiction. More details here.

For a list of creative writing workshops and courses I’ll be running in the autumn, click here.

And I’ll be a tutor on The Creative Writing Programme in East Grinstead and Worthing this autumn. Click here to find out more.

Until next time…

If you’d like to check in and plan what writing we can do in what’s left of August, let’s have a chat on Wednesday - online at 9.30am Wednesday 12 August.

Gentle Book Writing Club is a writing support group for paid subscribers of this HoneyLeaf Writing newsletter. If you’d like to join and you’re not yet a paid subscriber, upgrade by clicking the button below.

Subscribe now

You are welcome if:

• you are writing a book and want some mutual support with the sometimes messy and solitary process

• you are not writing a book but want a bigger commitment to writing - maybe you are considering sending your work out into the world for the first time (or hundredth time)

• you are writing something which may or may not be considered a book but keeps getting longer or you have the same themes in your work that you return to again and again and you think this could become something

• you love to chat about writing and the writing process

• you understand that progress is not linear but sometimes you wish someone would remind you just how far you’ve come.

This is not the group for you if you are looking for:

• strict accountability (we are more about gentle intentions)

• a step-by-step guide to writing a book (though I can signpost you to resources that may help)

• a quick route to market

Either way, if you’d like to join us at Gentle Book Writing Club - it’s Wednesday 12 August at 9.30am-10.30am (UK time).

Subscribe now

Gentle Book Writing Club is a supportive, encouraging space – anti-bootcamp, bums in seats, getting the work done no matter what. Instead, we work with intuition, energy and seasons and we feel our way into the process with tiny nudges. The commitment is unwavering but time, energy, self-belief may be limited. We are in this for the long haul. It will all come together at some point!

In our book writing support group - Wednesday 12 August 9.30am-10.30am (UK time), we will:

• introduce ourselves and our book projects

• do a little seasonal journalling (prompted by me)

• split into pairs for deeper talking and listening inspired by the prompts

• come back together to feed back and share a gentle intention for the month.

This live group is for paid subscribers to my Substack newsletter (HoneyLeaf). If you are not a paid subscriber, you can click this button to upgrade (£8 per month or £80 per year).

As part of your subscription, you will also have access to a weekly live online guided creative writing hour (Tuesdays 2-3pm, UK time).

Subscribe now

If you are a paid subscriber, please scroll down for the Zoom link for today’s session.

Future dates for the new moon support group on Zoom

For people working on books or longer projects despite everything.

All UK times:

Friday 11 September 1pm
Friday 9 October 11am [this is a change of date from previous email - changed from Saturday to Friday]
Monday 9 November 4pm
Wednesday 9 December 11am

Open to all paid subscribers. Drop in to as many as you are able to.

The meeting link is below the paywall:

Read more

I remembered the brilliant Iowa University MOOC courses that I did back in 2015 when I was deciding if I wanted to do an MA in Creative Writing. I thought if I can find time for an online course, then I could do it. I loved it and went on to love my in-person MA even more! The MOOC courses are no longer funded but they have archived them all here.

I also loved the Open University free introductory writing courses as well as BBC Radio 4’s The Invisible College, which is a series of 18 writing lessons from famous writers from the past. Here are links to those:

Creative writing and critical reading

Writing what you know

Start writing fiction: Characters and stories

The Invisible College

I do not have experience of these Wesleyan University courses, but I’ll dip in and see:

Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot

Creative Writing: The Craft of Character

Creative Writing Specialization

And if you’d rather something live, then is running free write together sessions with prompts in July and August. Also, not quite live but contained, has a free week-long Summer Sanctuary.

I’m sure there are more here on Substack that I don’t know about or have forgotten. If you are running free writing courses or workshops this summer, feel free to drop your link in the comments.

Leave a comment

For a list of creative writing workshops and courses I’ll be teaching in the autumn, click here.

And I’ll be a tutor on The Creative Writing Programme coming to East Grinstead for the first time. Click here to find out more.

Until next time…

As part of our TEND series, we’ll be gently looking at how best to tend to ourselves, our creativity and anything else that calls to be tended to in this season!

Last session this afternoon at 2pm!

New season of FLOW will start on Tuesday 8 September at 2pm (UK time).

Subscribe now

Paid Subscribers - there is a Zoom link at the bottom of this email.

If you are not already a paid subscriber and you’d like to join us at 2pm (UK time) this afternoon, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year (or scroll down to the bottom of this email for the link if you are already signed up). You can join as a one off to see if you like it before committing, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link.

Subscribe now

More about TEND - the Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm) workshops

I will offer one or two writing exercises with prompts (sometimes an object, poem or picture, sometimes words or sentence starters). You will have some quiet time to write, we’ll check in halfway through, then there will be time for sharing at the end if you would like to.

I will be available for 15 minutes before and after the session for general chat and to answer questions.

You will need

Something to write on - no fancy notebooks needed, though if you have one on your shelf that has been waiting for the perfect moment to be written in, please bring. Otherwise a few sheets of paper or old exercise book will be fine!

Something to write with - pen, pencil, crayon - whatever you feel most comfortable using. 

Cameras and microphones

It’s good to be able to see each other during the writing hour, so it would be great if you can leave your camera on in the main. But feel free to switch it off at any time. 

We usually mute microphones when writing, but leave them on during the times when we are talking or sharing writing. 

Feel free to mute my prompts if you’d just like company to get on with your own writing project during this hour.

If there is anything you would like to try or you have any feedback for me, please let me know. 
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.

Zoom link below the paywall for paid subscribers…

Subscribe now

Read more

So these are all sentence starters I’ve used in the past few months during my TEND season of writing workshops. Set a timer if time is limited, begin on a clean page and write the sentence starter, then keep going. It’s fine if you write from a fictional character’s point of view or if you write in a journalling style. However you feel in the moment is fine, and whatever you write is fine. You cannot do this wrong!

To add a bit of randomness or if there are too many to choose from, close your eyes, pick a number between one and fifty and begin.

Or you could print these out and use them as daily prompts for the next fifty days. Up to you.

Five-Minute Sentence Starters as Writing Prompts

1. If I took the time to wander, I would…

2. For years I wandered…
(from The Tradition by Kathleen Jamie)

3. I walk at the land’s edge…
(from Poem by Kathleen Jamie poem)

4. The seed I’d most like to plant is…

5. As a seed, I was…
(from Wild Pansy by Lisa Bellamy)

6. If I decided to go deeper, I would…

7. In my bottom drawer is…

8. If I walked into my museum of ideas, I would see…

9. Pride of place would be…

10. The biggest surprise is…

11. The one I’d most like to liberate is…

12. If my idea was liberated and knocked on my door, I would ask it…

13. In my garden grows…

14. The place I love to sit is…

15. The most carefully tended area is…

16. At the back of the potting shed is…

17. In amongst the roses, grows…

18. Walk across the lawn and you will find…

19. Look in the pond for…

20. Hidden under the path is…

21. Buried in the rockery is…

22. In the patch of nettles, be careful of…

23. The garden as a whole is…

24. I enjoy writing when…

25. I have experienced the magic of writing when…

26. To connect with the joy of writing, I will…

27. If I were to ask…

28. I love a good story that…

29. It’s not fair that…

30. Let me tell you about the time I went to…

31. My mornings are…

32. I remember the bread…

33. Every so often, I meet with…

34. When things come together, it feels…

35. This summer, I would like to…

36. Once I had a vintage…

37. My favourite thing I would describe as vintage is…

38. I remember…

39. I don’t remember…

40. Then I heard…

41. Let me tell you about my vintage…

42. I came across this scarf when…

43. You’ll never believe it but this scarf…

44. I was told the colours in this scarf…

45. I wore this scarf at a time in my life when I was…

46. Even today, when I pick up this scarf, I…

47. If we hadn’t…

48. We wouldn’t have…
(from ‘If At The Wedding, At The Zoo’ by Lydia Davis)

49. When I chop onions…

50. What if…

Let me know how you get on with them.

Leave a comment

For a list of creative writing workshops and courses I’ll be teaching in the autumn, click here.

And I’ll be a tutor on The Creative Writing Programme coming to East Grinstead for the first time. Click here to find out more.

Until next time…

As part of our TEND series, we’ll be gently looking at how best to tend to ourselves, our creativity and anything else that calls to be tended to in this season!

See you this afternoon at 2pm.

Dates

Last dates for this season:
14 July
21 July

New season of FLOW will start on Tuesday 8 September at 2pm (UK time).

Subscribe now

Paid Subscribers - there is a Zoom link at the bottom of this email.

If you are not already a paid subscriber and you’d like to join us at 2pm (UK time) this afternoon, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year (or scroll down to the bottom of this email for the link if you are already signed up). You can join as a one off to see if you like it before committing, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link.

Subscribe now

More about TEND - the Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm) workshops

I will offer one or two writing exercises with prompts (sometimes an object, poem or picture). You will have some quiet time to write, we’ll check in halfway through, then there will be time for sharing at the end if you would like to.

I will be available for 15 minutes before and after the session for general chat and to answer questions.

You will need

Something to write on - no fancy notebooks needed, though if you have one on your shelf that has been waiting for the perfect moment to be written in, please bring. Otherwise a few sheets of paper or old exercise book will be fine!

Something to write with - pen, pencil, crayon - whatever you feel most comfortable using. 

Cameras and microphones

It’s good to be able to see each other during the writing hour, so it would be great if you can leave your camera on in the main. But feel free to switch it off at any time. 

We usually mute microphones when writing, but leave them on during the times when we are talking or sharing writing. 

Feel free to mute my prompts if you’d just like company to get on with your own writing project during this hour.

If there is anything you would like to try or you have any feedback for me, please let me know. 
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.

Zoom link below the paywall for paid subscribers…

Subscribe now

Read more

I’m excited that this course, so well established in Brighton for the past 20 years, has expanded to towns across the south east and is coming to East Grinstead on Saturday mornings this autumn! Not only that, they’ve invited me to be the tutor on the course :)

It is a brilliantly structured two-year course, with lots of feedback built in and close reading of published texts. I have flexibility to teach in my own way within a course framework, which is ideal for me. I could not offer a course like this by myself, so I am delighted to be part of the team delivering this and also it is a perfect step up for people who’ve taken my workshops in the past but want to make a longer-term commitment to their writing.

I enjoyed the creative energy in the room at the taster session in East Grinstead library last Saturday and am looking forward to seeing who will be in the final group when we start on 3 October. There is one more taster session on 12 September (in East Grinstead - plenty more in other towns!) before the final booking date of 16 September.

I will be keeping going with my Thursday morning group at Chequer Mead in East Grinstead, my Tuesday evenings, when we’ll explore very short stories, and of course, my Tuesday afternoons on Zoom for paid subscribers of this newsletter.

In the autumn, the theme for the Tuesday afternoon sessions (2-3pm UK time) will be FLOW. We will embrace ease, take inspiration from rivers and explore how to find flow in the pockets of time we have for writing. And of course, we’ll tap into the flow of awen, the Welsh word meaning poetic or creative inspiration.

On Wednesday, I attended a beautiful story circle interspersed with songs performed and hosted by and friends to celebrate the launch of her book, No Fair Maidens: A wild journey with the lost goddesses of Britain. Kim and I met on this platform, Substack, a few years ago as we were both writing about Welsh mythology - it was so lovely to meet her in person for the first time.

The stories were connected with water and it felt so apt as I had already picked my word of FLOW for the next season. I was inspired by Kim to remember and continue my mythological work and to emphasise the value and absolute necessity of storytelling in these times when I’m doing my more craft-based creative writing teaching as well.

I can’t wait to settle down and read her book. It will be added to the big stack I have in preparation for the autumn. Even though I’ve called it a ‘summer slowdown’, I still have some editing and book making to do, but I feel so thankful to have work I can do quietly and flexibly around other summer activities.

What are you up to this summer? Is it a time when you have more time to yourself to write? Or is writing impossible for you in July and August?

Leave a comment

Until next time…

As part of our TEND series, we’ll be gently looking at how best to tend to ourselves, our creativity and anything else that calls to be tended to in this season!

See you this afternoon at 2pm.

Dates

Last dates for this season:
7 July
14 July
21 July

New season will start on Tuesday 8 September at 2pm (UK time).

Subscribe now

Paid Subscribers - there is a Zoom link at the bottom of this email.

If you are not already a paid subscriber and you’d like to join us at 2pm (UK time) this afternoon, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year (or scroll down to the bottom of this email for the link if you are already signed up). You can join as a one off to see if you like it before committing, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link.

Subscribe now

More about TEND - the Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm) workshops

I will offer one or two writing exercises with prompts (sometimes an object, poem or picture). You will have some quiet time to write, we’ll check in halfway through, then there will be time for sharing at the end if you would like to.

I will be available for 15 minutes before and after the session for general chat and to answer questions.

You will need

Something to write on - no fancy notebooks needed, though if you have one on your shelf that has been waiting for the perfect moment to be written in, please bring. Otherwise a few sheets of paper or old exercise book will be fine!

Something to write with - pen, pencil, crayon - whatever you feel most comfortable using. 

Cameras and microphones

It’s good to be able to see each other during the writing hour, so it would be great if you can leave your camera on in the main. But feel free to switch it off at any time. 

We usually mute microphones when writing, but leave them on during the times when we are talking or sharing writing. 

Feel free to mute my prompts if you’d just like company to get on with your own writing project during this hour.

If there is anything you would like to try or you have any feedback for me, please let me know. 
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.

Zoom link below the paywall for paid subscribers…

Subscribe now

Read more

As a slight aside, if you are on the cusp of committing to writing and you live locally to me (Sussex, England), then I am delighted to be teaching the two-year Creative Writing Programme in East Grinstead (Saturday mornings, East Grinstead library) this autumn. Find out more here. Sign up for this Saturday’s taster session here (4 July).

Back to Gentle Book Writing Club - I will see you all on Friday morning 9.30am. Scroll down for the link. I think it’s probably a good time to review the year so far and think about how we’ll balance everything during the summer, but whatever is coming up for you right now related to writing is fine to talk about.

Gentle Book Writing Club is a writing support group for paid subscribers of this HoneyLeaf Writing newsletter. If you’d like to join and you’re not yet a paid subscriber, upgrade by clicking the button below.

Subscribe now

You are welcome if:

• you are writing a book and want some mutual support with the sometimes messy and solitary process

• you are not writing a book but want a bigger commitment to writing - maybe you are considering sending your work out into the world for the first time (or hundredth time)

• you are writing something which may or may not be considered a book but keeps getting longer or you have the same themes in your work that you return to again and again and you think this could become something

• you love to chat about writing and the writing process

• you understand that progress is not linear but sometimes you wish someone would remind you just how far you’ve come.

This is not the group for you if you are looking for:

• strict accountability (we are more about gentle intentions)

• a step-by-step guide to writing a book (though I can signpost you to resources that may help)

• a quick route to market

Either way, if you’d like to join us at Gentle Book Writing Club - it’s Friday morning at 9.30am-10.30am (UK time).

Subscribe now

Gentle Book Writing Club is a supportive, encouraging space – anti-bootcamp, bums in seats, getting the work done no matter what. Instead, we work with intuition, energy and seasons and we feel our way into the process with tiny nudges. The commitment is unwavering but time, energy, self-belief may be limited. We are in this for the long haul. It will all come together at some point!

In our book writing support group - Friday 3 July 9.30am-10.30am (UK time), we will:

• introduce ourselves and our book projects

• do a little seasonal journalling (prompted by me)

• split into pairs for deeper talking and listening inspired by the prompts

• come back together to feed back and share a gentle intention for the month.

This live group is for paid subscribers to my Substack newsletter (HoneyLeaf). If you are not a paid subscriber, you can click this button to upgrade (£8 per month or £80 per year).

As part of your subscription, you will also have access to a weekly Zoom guided creative writing hour (Tuesdays 2-3pm, UK time).

Subscribe now

If you are a paid subscriber, please scroll down for the Zoom link for today’s session.

Future dates for the Gentle Book Writing Club on Zoom

For people working on books or longer projects despite everything.

All Fridays 9.30am-10.30am (will set up the autumn dates soon!):
3 July

Open to all paid subscribers. Drop in to as many as you are able to.

The Zoom link is below the paywall:

Read more

As part of our TEND series, we’ll be gently looking at how best to tend to ourselves, our creativity and anything else that calls to be tended to in this season!

See you this afternoon at 2pm.

Dates

Last dates for this season:

30 June
7 July
14 July
21 July

New season will start on Tuesday 8 September at 2pm (UK time).

Subscribe now

Paid Subscribers - there is a Zoom link at the bottom of this email.

If you are not already a paid subscriber and you’d like to join us at 2pm (UK time) this afternoon, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year (or scroll down to the bottom of this email for the link if you are already signed up). You can join as a one off to see if you like it before committing, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link.

Subscribe now

More about TEND - the Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm) workshops

I will offer one or two writing exercises with prompts (sometimes an object, poem or picture). You will have some quiet time to write, we’ll check in halfway through, then there will be time for sharing at the end if you would like to.

I will be available for 15 minutes before and after the session for general chat and to answer questions.

You will need

Something to write on - no fancy notebooks needed, though if you have one on your shelf that has been waiting for the perfect moment to be written in, please bring. Otherwise a few sheets of paper or old exercise book will be fine!

Something to write with - pen, pencil, crayon - whatever you feel most comfortable using. 

Cameras and microphones

It’s good to be able to see each other during the writing hour, so it would be great if you can leave your camera on in the main. But feel free to switch it off at any time. 

We usually mute microphones when writing, but leave them on during the times when we are talking or sharing writing. 

Feel free to mute my prompts if you’d just like company to get on with your own writing project during this hour.

If there is anything you would like to try or you have any feedback for me, please let me know. 
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.

Zoom link below the paywall for paid subscribers…

Subscribe now

Read more

I did not know I was looking for a new project, but I did get very excited about playing the drums a few weeks ago and I do have enough writing projects to be getting on with so clearly, my brain decided I needed something else.

Maybe this new project, called The Bread Project for now, is a distraction from writing, as a close friend of mine pointed out, but maybe it also fits perfectly alongside my writing. I have been gathering ingredients, writing a little and then mixing and kneading, writing a little more and then knocking back the dough. You get the picture.

My family loves the idea - it gives us something to talk about and to laugh about as well. They all love a good list as well as discussing countries of the world!! And despite their eating differences, they all eat bread :) I bake something usually a couple of times a week, and was thinking I could do with varying things up.

On Sunday, I baked bread from Afghanistan and on Monday, soda bread from Albania. And then there was a delay while I found some semolina for bread from Algeria. I now have it, so maybe today or tomorrow I will get to the kitchen.

Did I mention the countries will be approached in alphabetical order? Also, I realise one country has many breads - I will just pick the one I like the look of to bake!

Importantly:

• I give myself permission to stop and let go of or take a break from this project at any time.

• There is no deadline, just a quiet exploration of bread happening in my kitchen when I feel like it.

However, once I started thinking about bread, I realised there were so many references to it in fairytales and culture in general, that I’m sure it will creep into my writing as well.

This website gives a good summary of bread superstitions and folklore around bread. And oh goodness, Andrew Janjigian’s Wordloafium -what a rich resource on bread to delve into.

So you might have guessed, my theme for workshops this week was bread. We shared bread memories and stories and amazingly, there was a new person who attended Thursday’s group and she had childhood memories of working alongside her father in his bakery.

I created this list of bread words for our warm up exercise:

Bread Words

14.5KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Writing prompt

If you’d like to give the exercise a go, then pick five words from the list and include them in your freewriting. If you want to randomise them, print out the list and cut them up, stick them in a bowl, mix them up and pick out five. For an extra challenge, use the words but do not write about bread.

Return Anthology

In other news, I was delighted (if a little overwhelmed!) to receive 61 contributions from 27 people for my anthology to celebrate 10 years of me running creative writing workshops.

I will be working through these also in alphabetical order by first name. And since I’m away next week, I’m not going to be finishing in June as planned, so if you are one of those contributors, I will get to you when I can. If your name is later on in the alphabet then it will take longer! But I will email everyone once I’ve read your contributions.

When I get back from my week off in Swansea next week (no newsletter next week), then I will set up my autumn programme of workshops, so look out for those dates.

In the meantime, feel free to share favourite bread recipes or stories with me in the comments below. Tell me which country they come from too if you’d like me to bake them :)

Leave a comment

Workshops & Other Events

ONLINE

To join in with the Tuesday Zoom Group (2-3pm UK time) upgrade to become a paid subscriber. The new season of TEND began on 14 April, but you can join at any time. The last session will be 21 July. No session next week - 23 June.

As a paid subscriber, you will also be able to join in with my monthly Gentle Book Writing Club. Next date: Friday 3 July.

Subscribe now

IN PERSON

The Creative Writing Programme

In the autumn, I will be teaching the East Grinstead cohort of the well-established two-year Creative Writing Programme. Next taster day is on Saturday 4 July in the morning at East Grinstead Library. Book a place here.

Until next time…

As part of our TEND series, we’ll be gently looking at how best to tend to ourselves, our creativity and anything else that calls to be tended to in this season!

See you this afternoon at 2pm. We’ll be writing about bread and all its associations :)

Dates

First Date: 14 April

Last Date: 21 July

Breaks (no workshops): 23 June.

Subscribe now

Paid Subscribers - there is a Zoom link at the bottom of this email.

If you are not already a paid subscriber and you’d like to join us at 2pm (UK time) this afternoon, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year (or scroll down to the bottom of this email for the link if you are already signed up). You can join as a one off to see if you like it before committing, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link.

Subscribe now

More about TEND - the Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm) workshops

I will offer one or two writing exercises with prompts (sometimes an object, poem or picture). You will have some quiet time to write, we’ll check in halfway through, then there will be time for sharing at the end if you would like to.

I will be available for 15 minutes before and after the session for general chat and to answer questions.

You will need

Something to write on - no fancy notebooks needed, though if you have one on your shelf that has been waiting for the perfect moment to be written in, please bring. Otherwise a few sheets of paper or old exercise book will be fine!

Something to write with - pen, pencil, crayon - whatever you feel most comfortable using. 

Cameras and microphones

It’s good to be able to see each other during the writing hour, so it would be great if you can leave your camera on in the main. But feel free to switch it off at any time. 

We usually mute microphones when writing, but leave them on during the times when we are talking or sharing writing. 

Feel free to mute my prompts if you’d just like company to get on with your own writing project during this hour.

If there is anything you would like to try or you have any feedback for me, please let me know. 
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.

Zoom link below the paywall for paid subscribers…

Subscribe now

Read more

Some people in my groups have been coming to me for years. Others have such interesting questions that I want to give them space to explore their ideas. Right now, the people I am working with are definitely not beginners even if they started off as such. I love the challenge, but I also feel as if I need clear headspace to help my ideas come to me.

In the end, I was so pleased with the way things went in the workshops this week - the extra effort was worth it!

I’d like to share a writing exercise with you that came out of my foray into poems about mornings and ended up being not really about mornings but about friendship.

I began by exploring the aubade - a poem welcoming or lamenting the arrival of dawn, or the moment when lovers part. Maybe it was the way I was feeling on Tuesday, but they all felt as if the endings were too sad to bring into a workshop. I am looking for particular things when I bring a poem to a group - Will it resonate? Is it graspable in the moment (we don’t spend time analysing poems)? Does it have a clear idea or structure that I can offer as an inspiration invitation? And also, how does it feel?

I turned to a few favourites on my bookshelf and each one (Mary Oliver, Nan Shepherd, Marge Piercy) had a poem about mornings.

I landed with Marge Piercy, an American feminist poet whose book, ‘The Moon is Always Female’, I bought for the title and the cover, and one I’d like to spend more time with.

I found a poem here entitled ‘Morning Athletes’ for Gloria Nardin Watts that was perfect for my groups. Read it here (scroll down).

I love the celebration of friendship in this poem and the slow, regular showing up we do for each other. I haven’t researched this, but I had the thought that poetry is usually written from a personal, individual experience and this poem is very much written from shared experience using the pronoun ‘we’ in the first couple of stanzas and then again at the end.

I noticed that the sentences are long and run on from line to line, mimicking the feeling of steady, slow jogging. I also like this because it feels close to freewriting (which we do in workshops) and the way it unfolds. It also feels close to the way women talk to each other, circling topics and returning always. But along the way noticing the outside world - the third stanza has the presence in the moment to capture the beautiful details of the natural world.

So here is my writing exercise inspired by Margie Piercy:

1. Read Morning Athletes by Margie Piercy.

2. Do some freewriting on activities you do regularly (or have done) with a friend.

3. Pick one. Freewrite and then shape into a poemish piece of writing appreciating friendship using these notes:

Style notes
- use long, run-on lines with plenty of description
- use the pronouns: ‘we’, ‘I’ and ‘you’
- use precise details, including those from the natural world
Structure
- describe the two people doing the activity; describe who they are and who they are not
- describe the location where the activity takes place
- describe the action (what the two people are doing) and the way they look as they do it
- describe what they talk about while they are doing the activity
- mention how they got here (to this point in their lives; share something about the appreciation of friendship)
- end with what they actually love about this regular activity (‘It is not the running I love…but the…’)

Here is what I wrote across two fifteen minute freewriting sessions in workshops this week:

Climbing with F
Some Sunday afternoons, once the morning
tasks are done, I meet you at the climbing centre.
Two women in mid-lives, awkward
in our oversized tops and skinny ankles,
toes squeezed into shoes that protrude
and bend our feet. 

Men in tight clothes or bare chests hang
from one hand then drop onto the mat,
as a parent scoops a small child out of the way
while we drink iced lattes in the cafe first 
to catch up. You have already been to the gym
for an hour, I have not yet warmed up.
I down the drink knowing it will press
on my bladder the minute I engage my abs, 
but I need it for an extra boost to reach
the high holds.

We scan the centre for our favourite quiet
corners. Not the full on display 
of the forty-five degree competition wall
but the hidden from sight bay area. 
And slowly we begin, swishing up 
the red circles and equalses - code 
for how much energy we have that day. 
I am breaking into triangles, you triumphing
squares. We talk about how we want 
to keep climbing for decades 
like the women you saw
at Fossil Fest that time. 

It is not the climbing I love, the huge effort
and strength it takes and the fear 
of falling
every single time, my agility on the wall
appearing only rarely, but the light 
that silhouettes everyone and the plane
that floats across the sky as I touch the top 
hold and the mats that catch me when I fall
and your shouts of encouragement even so 
and the breeze of the fan as we flop 
in front of it and talk, talk and flop
on a Sunday afternoon
striving and strong together.  

Feel free to share your poems in the comments if you give this a go :)

Workshops & Other Events

Click here for a full list. It’s a bit sparse right now as I gather my thoughts to set up my autumn programme.

ONLINE

To join in with the Tuesday Zoom Group (2-3pm UK time) upgrade to become a paid subscriber. The new season of TEND began on 14 April, but you can join at any time.

As a paid subscriber, you will also be able to join in with my monthly Gentle Book Writing Club. Next date: Friday 3 July.

Subscribe now

IN PERSON

The Creative Writing Programme

In the autumn, I will be teaching the East Grinstead cohort of the well-established two-year Creative Writing Programme. Next taster day is on Saturday 4 July in the morning at East Grinstead Library. Book a place here.

Until next time…

As part of our TEND series, we’ll be gently looking at how best to tend to ourselves, our creativity and anything else that calls to be tended to in this spring growing season!

See you this afternoon at 2pm. Love them or hate them, we’ll be writing about mornings :)

Dates

First Date: 14 April

Last Date: 21 July

Breaks (no workshops): 2 June; and 23 June.

Subscribe now

Paid Subscribers - there is a Zoom link at the bottom of this email.

If you are not already a paid subscriber and you’d like to join us at 2pm (UK time) this afternoon, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year (or scroll down to the bottom of this email for the link if you are already signed up). You can join as a one off to see if you like it before committing, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link.

Subscribe now

More about TEND - the Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm) workshops

I will offer one or two writing exercises with prompts (sometimes an object, poem or picture). You will have some quiet time to write, we’ll check in halfway through, then there will be time for sharing at the end if you would like to.

I will be available for 15 minutes before and after the session for general chat and to answer questions.

You will need

Something to write on - no fancy notebooks needed, though if you have one on your shelf that has been waiting for the perfect moment to be written in, please bring. Otherwise a few sheets of paper or old exercise book will be fine!

Something to write with - pen, pencil, crayon - whatever you feel most comfortable using. 

Cameras and microphones

It’s good to be able to see each other during the writing hour, so it would be great if you can leave your camera on in the main. But feel free to switch it off at any time. 

We usually mute microphones when writing, but leave them on during the times when we are talking or sharing writing. 

Feel free to mute my prompts if you’d just like company to get on with your own writing project during this hour.

If there is anything you would like to try or you have any feedback for me, please let me know. 
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.

Zoom link below the paywall for paid subscribers…

Subscribe now

Read more

Mainly because I had such a confusing relationship with feedback myself. On one level, I was perfectly fine with it and used to it because I worked as a professional writer and collaborative documents were usual. On a deeper level though, whenever I got feedback on a piece of creative writing, even if it was positive feedback, I would stop working on that piece!

I didn’t even notice this to begin with, it was only after a few years of not finishing work that I decided to pay more attention to what was going on.

I developed my first workshops to be writing in the moment and sharing only with no feedback. And then, over time, I got more comfortable with allowing space for a response to that shared writing. I usually pick out something I notice about the work or something I loved about it to say in response. And when there is more time in a workshop (than the hour we have on Tuesdays), I encourage other people to respond as well.

And since then, as I have developed my feedback skills, I realised I have a process when I look at someone else’s work and I thought it might be helpful to share it.

Even if you are new to the techniques of creative writing, and you don’t know why something works, you can still give a reader’s response to the work, which is feedback in itself. Often, when someone else picks up on a thing that’s working well, I have made a note of that same thing.

Note that giving feedback is different to editing. We are definitely not correcting people’s work and not checking spelling or grammar, though if a draft is close to completion, you might ask the author if they want any of these small errors highlighted. It is also different to beta reading (though this is a similar process), which is usually done when a draft is complete. Feedback is given on work in progress, uncompleted drafts, or writing that has been worked on but is unfinished.

The process below is for handling written feedback and how to approach the task rather than when you offer that feedback in person in a group or one-to-one situation.

1. First read through

This is when I read the document through once together with any notes on what the author wants feedback on. If the author hasn’t said, I will ask what type of feedback they want. I will also ask what stage the writing is at (first draft or almost ready to send out into the world).

I usually read on a computer, but sometimes, I’ll print out the work and mark it up by hand.

This is to experience it as a reader would. So there is no pressure at this stage to comment or think anything. I may use highlighting if there is something I want to come back to later.

2. Let it settle

Then I won’t look at it for a while. Depending on how much time I have, this could be a couple of hours or a day or two. Not so long that I forget what it’s about!

Often, in the inbetween time, thoughts will come to me as I’m doing something else.

3. Remind yourself what type of feedback the author wants

Before I open the document again, I will reread the notes on what the author wants me to look at and what stage the writing is at.

This affects the type of feedback I give. If it’s first draft, they will need lots of encouragement and big picture feedback such as whether the story work or the characters feel real. But if it’s almost ready to be sent out, there might be more of a focus on language and details.

Then read one more time.

4. Make notes on your understanding of the writing

This might be a line or two or a paragraph. What do you think the writing is about? What are the themes? What is the story? Who are the main characters and what is driving them? What happens? How does the writing make you feel - sad, curious? Or maybe there are parts that make you laugh or resonate with you. Do you feel as if the writing is vivid? Can you imagine it? Importantly, do you want to read on?

5. Read slowly

If the author wants more detailed feedback, then I will read the piece slowly, making comments in the margin (using the Comments feature in Word). I would not use track changes (this would be for editing). I will make comments on things I notice. I am not suggesting changes (this is editing) rather I would say things like ‘I love your detailed description here - I can really imagine this place’. Or ‘this dialogue feels realistic and shows the vulnerability of the character’. I mark up places where I laughed or maybe want to know more, places I feel sad or sentences resonate with me. I’ll look at the opening and closing and ask questions if I want to clarify something, for example, ‘I am not sure where the character is at this point’. Or in memoir: ‘I notice the narrator switches from present to past tense and back again. Is this intentional? I’m not sure what is happening in the present storyline.’

6. Summarise

I usually go back over all of my notes to summarise in one or two really positive, encouraging lines and then offer one suggestion for something that could be developed if the author wanted to develop the work further.

Feedback is an integral part of the 2-year The Creative Writing Programme, which I’ll be tutoring on in the autumn. So in preparation, I’ve been reading The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize The Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez. And this book led me to Liz Lerman’s critical response process, so I’m looking into that as well.

I am no longer scared of giving feedback on people’s writing as they generally find it a helpful part of the process, but I now want to focus on helping others give feedback to each other in a safe, supportive and encouraging way.

What’s your experience of giving and receiving feedback on your writing? What would be the most helpful thing for other people to know?

Leave a comment

Celebratory Anthology

I am publishing an anthology of creative work to celebrate the past 10 years of running creative writing workshops. If you have attended any of my workshops in the past ten years, you are eligible to enter. The theme is: Return.

More details here.

Feel free to reply to this email with any questions.

Workshops & Other Events

Click here for a full list.

ONLINE

To join in with the Tuesday Zoom Group (2-3pm UK time) upgrade to become a paid subscriber. The new season of TEND began on 14 April, but you can join at any time.

As a paid subscriber, you will also be able to join in with my monthly Gentle Book Writing Club. Next date: Friday 5 June.

Subscribe now

IN PERSON

The Creative Writing Programme

In the autumn, I will be teaching the East Grinstead cohort of the well-established two-year Creative Writing Programme. Next taster day is on Saturday 4 July in the morning at East Grinstead Library. Book a place here.

Until next time…

As part of our TEND series, we’ll be gently looking at how best to tend to ourselves, our creativity and anything else that calls to be tended to in this spring growing season!

See you this afternoon at 2pm. No workshop next week on 2nd June.

Dates

First Date: 14 April

Last Date: 21 July

Breaks (no workshops): 2 June; and 23 June.

Subscribe now

Paid Subscribers - there is a Zoom link at the bottom of this email.

If you are not already a paid subscriber and you’d like to join us at 2pm (UK time) this afternoon, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year (or scroll down to the bottom of this email for the link if you are already signed up). You can join as a one off to see if you like it before committing, just reply to this email and I’ll send you the link.

Subscribe now

More about TEND - the Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm) workshops

I will offer one or two writing exercises with prompts (sometimes an object, poem or picture). You will have some quiet time to write, we’ll check in halfway through, then there will be time for sharing at the end if you would like to.

I will be available for 15 minutes before and after the session for general chat and to answer questions.

You will need

Something to write on - no fancy notebooks needed, though if you have one on your shelf that has been waiting for the perfect moment to be written in, please bring. Otherwise a few sheets of paper or old exercise book will be fine!

Something to write with - pen, pencil, crayon - whatever you feel most comfortable using. 

Cameras and microphones

It’s good to be able to see each other during the writing hour, so it would be great if you can leave your camera on in the main. But feel free to switch it off at any time. 

We usually mute microphones when writing, but leave them on during the times when we are talking or sharing writing. 

Feel free to mute my prompts if you’d just like company to get on with your own writing project during this hour.

If there is anything you would like to try or you have any feedback for me, please let me know. 
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.

Zoom link below the paywall for paid subscribers…

Subscribe now

Read more

For me, it is the start of summer. Now my children are no longer at school, it no longer marks half term and so I begin to think about creating my own markers in the year; my own seasonal rhythms. It helps that this long weekend, the weather is suddenly hot and set to continue for a few days. I am so thankful to Weir Wood Sport and Leisure, who have opened up swimming at the reservoir on the edge of my village once more.

I had my first sunset swim there a couple of weeks ago, and I’ll definitely be booking a slot this weekend:

The other thing I’m looking out for right now is when the elderflowers are ready for picking, so I can make elderflower cordial. I’m also gathering bottles, because I know that unless I have things ready, it will be so easy not to do this and I enjoy the annual ritual.

Writing prompts for the Spring Bank Holiday

I am enjoying the new ideas I get for writing at this time of year and the space that opens up in the early mornings and evenings. There are more places for me to write at home - in the garden and my garden office - and it’s easier and more pleasant for me to leave the house as well.

I’ve managed a Wednesday morning rhythm recently of walking up across the farm to a café to work for a couple of hours. And although each week, I’ve felt I have too much to do to take the time for this, each time, it has been worth it, with the extra walk helping my thoughts as well.

So here are some five minute sentence starters I’ve offered recently in workshops to get your ideas going this Spring Bank Holiday weekend (just in case you find yourself with a little pocket of time):

If I took the time to wander, I would…

In my bottom drawer is…

The seed I’d most like to plant is…

If I decided to go deeper, I would…

It’s not fair that…

I’d love to write…

In my garden grows…

I love a good story that…

If I were to ask…

I like to return to…

Leave a comment

Celebratory Anthology

I am publishing an anthology of creative work to celebrate the past 10 years of running creative writing workshops. If you have attended any of my workshops in the past ten years, you are eligible to enter. The theme is: Return.

More details here.

Feel free to reply to this email with any questions.

Workshops & Other Events

Click here for a full list.

ONLINE

To join in with the Tuesday Zoom Group (2-3pm UK time) upgrade to become a paid subscriber. The new season of TEND began on 14 April, but you can join at any time.

As a paid subscriber, you will also be able to join in with my monthly Gentle Book Writing Club. Next date: Friday 5 June.

Subscribe now

IN PERSON

The Creative Writing Programme

In the autumn, I will be teaching the East Grinstead cohort of the well-established two-year Creative Writing Programme. Next taster day is on Saturday 4 July in the morning at East Grinstead Library. Book a place here.

Until next time…