Tuesday 26 July 2016

Farewell to Hut 136

On Sunday the sun set on Hut 136 at the end of a wonderful two weeks.

This time has given me space to breathe. The first week I had Swedish Quilt Artist Tamara Schultz with me for company, we spent lots of time throwing creative ideas backwards and forwards, diving into imaginative ‘what ifs?’ designing artists’ books, and chatting about the inconsequential everyday stuff that is actually very important. I also ran the ‘Write on the Beach’ workshop, which you can read about below.

The second week, after Tamara had gone, was more about quiet reflection and free writing. Staring out to sea, out towards that distant horizon, I could feel my brain begin to unwind and stretch into new directions. I spent time free writing, just scribbling without worrying about shaping things into ‘poetry’, and I now have a lot of raw material that maybe I can polish. It almost doesn’t matter, I can feel space in my head for ideas to grow and evolve, and that was what I really needed.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to People United for the use of their hut, it has been a truly treasured experience.

Saturday 16 July 2016

Write on the beach

I spent Thursday evening finishing planning for Write on the Beach on Friday morning, all the time looking anxiously at the sky and hoping the next day would be sunny. I'd looked at the size of Hut 136 and figured we could only fit everyone in with some serious lap sitting, and that wouldn't help with the writing.

But I needn't have worried, it was a gorgeous day, eight people came along to take part and we sat on the pebbles, listened to the sea and gulls, wrote poetry and drank tea.

There is always something magical about writing in groups, there's a certain energy that inspires creativity, and often pushes us to write in directions we wouldn't usually.  People produced beautiful, thoughtful writing, and hopefully have nuggets they can craft into finished poems.

The beach is my favourite place to write, there's something about the openness, the space, and the ever changing nature of the sea, that just inspires me. And sharing that with everyone yesterday was fantastic. 

So, thanks to everyone who came along to write, I'll try and do another one sometime soon.