Why tastes, scents and colours aren’t a waste of our money or time
During one or other of the lockdowns, I made myself a promise: I would never again buy a drink I didn’t want, or the drink I thought I was supposed to want in any given situation.
I posted a picture of mine and my friend’s cocktails on Instagram on Saturday because a) they were pretty.
But really I posted because b) I want to model the behaviour of investing in the temporary.
Part of the intrinsic pleasure in pretty drinks is they tend to be those I share with friends (at least, friends also like pretty drinks). They represent catching up, connection. They represent being in the moment. Being present. A pocket of slower time within the rush.
Whatever we’re doing, we do better when we take the time to step back into the now, unapologetically.
They’re this reminder to me:
Take the moments. Don’t wait to have finished the next job to celebrate being where – and who – you are already, right now.
Coming up online…
Writing Magic Realism: Bringing the Magic to Life | 1pm-2.30pm, Tuesday 10 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 11 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 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
Coming up in London…
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
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 for Macmillan Cancer Support
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): https://www.justgiving.com/page/somewhere-thats-green
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