…and other good things in June
I’m a sucker for the beginning of a month. Any month, really, though Spring probably has the edge. It’s partly thanks to my grandfather’s desk calendar, which lives beside me on my desk and makes a particularly pleasing click as you change date, or whir as you scroll (left cog) through the months and (right cog) through the days. Each month begins not with a ‘1’ but with a visual drum roll:
Turn top towards yourself.
Click.
Turn slowly.
Click.
Change month.
Click.
Then the ‘1’ appears and time has officially started moving.
And, like a clean journal page (or, even better, the new sheet of stickers each time I start a new edition of my favourite journal), I promise myself I will be each morning from now on. Not journalling on and off, always realising how much better my mental health and productivity is on days when and do than when I don’t, but every day.
I’m not really looking success in the perfectionist, absolute-consistent-progress-or-I- get-to-waste-energy-berating-myself form. Real success is noticing when (not if) my practice falls off, noticing (not judging) why and seeing what makes me enjoy climbing back on. That’s where the real progress and the real joy is.
Speaking of joy, especially the kind that comes from knowing who you are and learning how to empower yourself, that’s exactly why I’m so enormously proud of Writers’ Gym member Stacey Warner. Stacey’s non-fiction piece, Autistic Joy, has been Commended in the South Warwickshire Literary Festival:
“It explores the moments up until diagnosis and how diagnosis led me to holding deep gratitude for how much I get to love things,” Stacey told us in our members’ chat group, “and the other positives of diagnosis. I wanted to write something that highlights the way autism was sneakily always there but wanted something that centred joy, not just the struggle – thought those are valid too.”
It’s not just Stacey’s result that has me beaming as I write this. It’s the whole year preceding it. I’ve witnessed Stacey taking the opportunities for creative confidence building, personal reflection, goal-setting and habit-forming that makes time and space for writing (and whatever ignites joy in life) off the pedestal and into the routine. Instead of waiting to feel worthy, we live our lives now. And the time to start can always be today.
Turn slowly…
Change month…
Powerful Fiction and Memoir: 21 June to 12 July at Olympic Studios
Truthful, powerful writing goes so much deeper than whether or not a story ‘really happened’. My four sessions at the legendary Olympic Studios explore the tools and techniques of powerful prose. Writers of all levels of experience will build creative confidence, explore and express their unique memory and imagination and create truthful, compelling memoir and fiction. Book here.
If you are a member of Olympic Studios or the Writers’ Gym and do not have your discount code, please email info@rachelknightley.com
Coming up online…
Writing Magic Realism: Politics, Morals and Magic | 1pm-2.30pm, Tuesday 3 June
Tour through magic realist texts, and enjoy creative confidence building exercises to master these techniques and concepts, and make them your own. Click here.
Coffee & Creativity | 1-2.30pm, Wednesday 4 June
Hosted by Writers’ Gym staff member, Bella Barbieri. Grab a coffee and have a mid-week chat, a write and then another chat with your fellow creatives. Free for members: type your discount code where indicated. Click here.
Writing Workout and Feedback | 6-7.30pm, Tuesday 17 June
Adding to our programme of regular workouts at the Writers’ Gym, this friendly group workshop is the perfect place to hone your writing – and how to get the best out of feedback. Click here.
The Writing Room is going to be members-only through June, while I’m away for work on Monday mornings. However, we’ll be introducing weekly membership soon so if you’d like to hear about that now, just ask thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com
and in London…
Coffee & Creativity at Olympic Studios, Barnes | 10-11.30am, Friday 6 June
Grow your connections, build motivation and unlock inspiration in this creative networking event with a difference. Dr Rachel’s gently powerful facilitation provides a space to turn curiosity into creativity, wherever you are in your writing journey. Click here.
Powerful Fiction and Memoir (4-week course) | 2-3.30pm, Saturday 21 June
Truthful, powerful writing goes so much deeper than whether or not a story ‘really happened’. Join me at the legendary Olympic Studios to explore the tools and techniques of powerful prose. Writers of all levels of experience will build creative confidence, explore and express their unique memory and imagination and create truthful, compelling memoir and fiction. Click here.
Green Ink Sponsored Write has begun
Every year, a team of published authors and developing writers in the Writers’ Gym(including people who are both) come together to write on a theme inspired by Macmillan Cancer Support’s mission: quality of life for everyone affected by cancer. What happens is this: Writers donate a day of time. They’re not sponsored by their word count. They are sponsored for their time. There’s no obligation of any kind because a writing prompt is a diving board, not a dive (this was the event that inspired that First Draft Commandment in Your Creative Writing Toolkit. Other authors’ Sponsored Write pieces have become new books and other things, after the six-month world-exclusive period where what we write belongs solely to our readers: anybody who sponsors us on this page). Click any of the links to visit the page, and please share the full link with friends, family, followers and whoever is next to you at the bus stop, because literally every donation counts (and gets you an exclusive digital anthology, 48 hours after the writing day ends):
The Writers’ Gym is part of Rachel Knightley Coaching: creative confidence for life, work and art: www.rachelknightley.com
You don’t have to be a member to join a Writers’ Gym session: visit here. But if you’d like to access our weekly programme for free, and receive 30% off all our other events, ask about membership: thewritersgym@rachelknightley.com