The Writing Retreat
The Writing Retreat is a collaboration between me and Kath Morgan, a fellow writing tutor in South Cornwall. We offer 5-night residential retreats, one day writing events, non-residential weekends, live online courses, and video courses you can watch in your own time. Sign up for The Writing Retreat news here and you’ll receive some free ‘taster’ videos to introduce us.
Mylor Writers: the ‘writing gym’
I run monthly Saturday morning writing sessions from 10.00am to 12 noon in Mylor Bridge, on the Cornish south coast near Falmouth. If you are unable to attend in person you can join the Zoom session, which has similar content, on the following Wednesday evening, 7.30pm-9.30pm.
There is no critiquing in our Mylor Writers meetings, but lots of stimulus for new writing with prompts and triggers to get the creative juices flowing. If you want to make time for your creativity and meet like-minded writing enthusiasts, these relaxed monthly get-togethers are the perfect way to make writing part of your regular routine.
The fee is £8.00 per person, payable in advance by BACS or cash on the day. Just bring your pen and notebook. New faces are always welcome, and if you wonder what to write about, inspiration is provided. Dates for 2024 are here.
Contact me here to receive monthly alerts about these sessions.
‘Trevow’, a community novel
I was fortunate to receive funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council in 2017, to carry out a PhD Falmouth University. My question was ‘How can the novel be a vehicle for community participation?’ I found the answer with a group of volunteers who have collaborated on a novel set in Cornwall.
You can read it here and if you would like to know how it was made, please contact me for information here.
Writing for health and wellbeing
One of my passions as a writer is the way writing can help people as part of their health and wellbeing; something which is more important now, as we live through a pandemic, than ever before. I’m a member of Lapidus UK, which runs events to raise awareness of writing for wellbeing, encouraging more people to try it. We have regular meetings in Cornwall with workshops led by Lapidus members, and a chance to share information and inspiration about expressive writing.
I am trained in bereavement support through Cruse Bereavement Care and my book Writing in Bereavement, A Creative Handbook is a guide for counsellors and volunteers supporting people after someone has died. I run training sessions for counselling teams and organisations looking to introduce writing into their methods of support in this field.
I tutor a Special Study Unit in journal writing for personal development with junior doctors at the Peninsular Medical School and I am a Director of Arts Well, a Community Interest Company promoting the arts as part of health and social care in Cornwall.
If you’re interested in writing for wellbeing, find out more here.