I've got a new online shop on Depop  www.depop.com/litwear4u/ selling preloved Lit Wear! This is my expression for items that have stories or poems connected to them or have been at the scene of literary events or poetic escapades!

I've also made this corresponding blog https://litwear4u.blogspot.com/ to give more behind the idea.

In time I'll invite other writers and creatives onto the platform to share a story about an item and then they can also choose to sell that item via my Depop shop and I'll also plan events with writers and creatives reading work and spoken word pieces stemming from items.

Lit Wear, it's a thing!

Dear All

I hope everyone is OK in what is the 7th week of lockdown I think now? I imagine there have been batches of bread, a plethora of Zooms and other manners of activity and also perhaps some longer lie ins and afternoon naps!

I'm going to be letting you know all the Creative Writing news but I'm also bringing a more personal touch to the newsletter.

So, being a self employed person in the Creative industry, lockdown hit me hard economically. The market has become flooded with free content from funded organisations which is great for customers but difficult for those of us who are unfunded and income dependent. However! As a tenacious soul with a mainly optimistic and entreprenurial disposition I began to take two business webinars a week, look at what I could do to grow elsewhere and invest in some website updates and upskill myself in some areas.

One income stream that remained was my work as Publishing Lead for Hypatia Trust, and though only 24hrs per month it is something I am busy with and I also still have 3 hrs per week working with clients with dyslexia and dyscalculia for adult education. Whilst working through my own lockdown challenges I was also helping my 86 year old mother from afar, she's in Manchester, to get onto the vulnerable person scheme and receive some help and support – that took five weeks!

I haven't been hit by any feelings of loneliness - maybe because I am used to living alone and also as a writer I am often inside my mind. But like everyone I have had times where I have felt that anxiety is only a step away and my way of keeping it at bay has been to feel I am doing all I can to help my future and to keep connecting with creative people and my own creativity.

A wonderful thing has been that the week before lockdown I was fortunate to be taken on as a mentee by an literary industry professional who I approached in the first instance and then was able to secure funding for her fee by Cultivator. I am learning a lot under her guidance. Amazing fact: she was responsible for publishing Jeanette Winterson's first book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – so being guided by her is a big deal. Cultivator are also providing me with business support and digital guidance.

Other than this I've been also working on my own writing, looking at revisiting an old project https://youtu.be/cu5iXlK3r14 and enjoying, as ever, all the valued interactions I have with writers and those interested in writing and the arts, all over the world.

So! Let us come to writing news:

Coaching for Writers
I have now added a dedicated tab to my website https://www.freewriterscentre.org/coaching.html where you can read all about my Coaching practice and how I can help and support you in your writing journey no matter where you are on it.

Coaching sessions can take place via Zoom and have been going very successfully using that medium. I worked with a client some weeks ago who is based in Cairo and our session was easy, enjoyable and without any technical issues – it really is a great way to connect! As an incentive to writers at this time Zoom mentoring sessions are one hour at only £15.

You can also read about my full range of Editing Services via that page.


Classes and Courses
In the Online Store
I have added to the menu of downloadable self paced products and now you can enjoy:

• a choice of small exercises for £3, a nifty thing to get your brain working or send on as a gift to someone else
• a 15 minute recording on the Myth of Inspiration only £3 – again wonderful for yourself or for someone you know who may be feeling stuck
• a choice of £10 tutorials with a 40 minute pre-recorded video and an accompanying PDF of five exercises that will give you opportunity for several hours expanded work.
• a choice of six whole courses with great topics starting at 8 hours for £40 to 12 hrs for only £60. All replete with worksheets, handouts, research links, audios and some video links.

See all those items here: https://www.freewriterscentre.org/online-courses.html


Online Live Classes
These can be scheduled as 40 minute classes for groups (minimum 3 people) for £5 each.

OR take a class privately for one hour for only £15.

Follow up sessions for each live group or individual, going over the writing you have produced, can be scheduled as required.

The topics to choose from are below:

Two Part Return - explores the theme of identity, distorted reflections and doppelgängers

Flowers for Frankenstein - ways to create, develop and bring your characters to life, especially anti heroes, also handing over techniques to help improve text and imagery.

Death of the Idea - what do we do when we feel we have nothing new to bring to the table? When we feel our ideas, our ways of being are outmoded or absent? What do we do when they way we thought of ourselves drops away and we have no comfortable new skin to step into? In this workshop we will discuss such experiences and situations and then create (write) characters and scenes exploring the theme.

Spectacular Bridges & Fabulous Beasts - following the theme of creating (in narrative) your own bridge between the worlds, a fabulous creature that travels across it and a love story of those separated in a physical sense but who can communicate between worlds.

Two previous live classes Point of No Return and Mindfulness & Creative Writing are now products in the online store for £10 each.

***Contact me in the first instance if wanting to take a Live Online Class***


Donate
If able then please consider donating a small amount here https://www.freewriterscentre.org/store/p12/Donate.html to help with the everyday costs of marketing, printing, website management, research and development. Your help and kindness is greatly appreciated.


Thank you all and bye for now! Linda

My dear friend, Amira, who is Chief Media Officer for the kickass company womena.com/ did an amazing Instagram story yesterday using one of the exercises from my Descriptive Text, Imagery & the Senses Course

Here is my a section from her story linked from my Insta where she mentions me and gives my Instagram 💗 www.instagram.com/p/B-uYZSuHV1V/ you can also see the video clip below this post 🙂

It might be my exercise but the way that Amira gave it and the digital tools she used were brilliant and all praise to her for that conveyance. I actually need to learn more about how to use those Insta stories!

I first met Amira when I gave my very first writing residential back in 2010 in Fayoum, Egypt. This was a year after I'd moved to live in Cairo, I lived there 2009 to 2015, and apart from giving my writing courses, residentials and literary salons, I was running an arts residency there.

Anyway, here we are now in 2020 and I just want to give some big InstaCONSTANTLove 💗💗💗

Twice weekly 40min #writing class via Zoom - we will follow a theme, in-class exercises plus a takeaway.

£5 per class. Drop in, no commitment to taking all classes.

Tuesdays & Fridays, 1pm, start next week 31st March onwards!

Open to anyone internationally.

Email for more information and to register: freewriterscentre@gmail.com

I am open to new clients and new income streams!

What can I offer you?

You can buy a Creative Writing course at half price, starting at £40 for an 8 hr course! that includes an hour of individual feedback. You can live anywhere in the world and do this! Courses are downloaded. self paced and contain written exercises, handouts, research links, audio and video links. Check out those courses here: https://www.freewriterscentre.org/online-courses.html

You can become a 1-1 client for my editing and mentoring services for writers working on their own projects: poetry, prose, short stories, novels, spoken word and more. We can meet IRL (in real life) or conduct sessions by email correspondence or any Skype/Facetime/Zoom method. Check out those services here: https://www.freewriterscentre.org/editing.html

I can also provide you and your business with services to write you copy(writing) for your adverts/marketing.
I can handle your marketing for you ie your social media/create a blog for you etc

I can do lots of things and so can you!

Contact me now and let's get moving and keep things going and expanding.


#onlineshop #onlinecourses #onlinecreativewritingcourses #creativewritingcourses #editing #mentoring #poetry #shortstory #creativewriting #international #global #local #Penzance #Cornwall #selfisolation #onlinelearning

Online Creative Writing courses
Online shop
Online learning
Global Creative Writing courses
International Creative Writing courses
Worldwide Creative Writing courses
Live Creative Writing Courses Penzance
Live Creative Writing Courses Cornwall
Creative Writing workshops Penzance
Creative Writing workshops Cornwall
Creative Writing classes Penzance
Creative Writing classes Cornwall
Editing services
Proofreading services
Copywriting services
1-1 private mentoring for writers
Literary events

Woo hoo! One hour of feedback/ editing time is now included in all the Creative Writing courses in the online shop - for free!

Watch the short video below for all info!

And take a look at the courses here:
https://www.freewriterscentre.org/online-courses.html
Secure payment, full download of course materials, take at your own pace.

Take a fresh look and make a fresh you - get writing!

I got back from Tallinn two days ago and I have unpacked the suitcase, filled the fridge and I'm now collecting the photographs and writing this post.
Tallinn is a most beautiful city. Its old town reminds me of Paris and Brno – full of charm and magic. And then it has this whole modern part with uber contemporary architecture and urban sass. It also has the sea leading out to two of its own small islands and onward to Scandanavia.

The reading and workshop was held at the Tallinn Backpackers venue and the events were organised by Míša Dlouhá, who organises Tallinn Creative Writers and had invited me to come to perform and host a workshop. There was a strong turnout of people for both my events and you can see the photographs at the end of this post, all kindly taken by Juan P. Ortiz to get a flavour. Unfortunately there were not many taken of my reading but you can still get a flavour from reading the content.

My reading on the 25th January consisted of a set themed on love, revolution and identity. The 25th January 2020 was the 9th anniversary of the Egyptian uprising – a time in history that I was present for as I was living in Cairo between 2009 and 2015. The set content can be read here: https://www.freewriterscentre.org/blog/tallinn-reading-poetry-film-set

On the afternoon of the 26th January I gave a two and half hour Creative Writing workshop themed on 'identity, distorted reflections and doppelgängers, looking at an extract from Murakami and working on characters, scenes and narratives producing pieces of writing within session time and utilising various writing techniques and methods.'

Míša mentioned about my reading and workshop in this blog post: 
https://minuelutallinnas.blogspot.com/2020/01/iv-if-i-stay-silent-long-enough.html?fbclid=IwAR1CaR0Ggh140awJiY3RnBGN2I36Qzmg4AEL7bPt4V7ApFE8YGcj3UZezOA

It was a true boon to not just be in Tallinn but to be amongst so many writers from various parts of the world and throughout my stay to be immersed in arts and culture as I visited many fabulous exhibitions, installations and performances – amongst them Kumu https://kumu.ekm.ee/, KAI https://kai.center/, met people from KORDON residency https://www.kordon.ee/ where I hope to go for a week's writer's residency later this year and saw A Streetcar Named Desire performed by the Estonian National Ballet http://www.opera.ee/en/lavastus/a-streetcar-named-desire/ and I also had a meeting with the backpackers regarding helping set up a yearly Creative Writing festival in Tallinn – watch this space.

I also visited Helsinki for a few days where I saw some further amazing art – you can see this reactions video I made for information about that: https://youtu.be/Fik_p4YmCx4

I wish to thank again all the people that donated to my crowdfunder campaign which enabled me to fund the travel to Tallinn and accommodation whilst there – you are all true gems.

Now back on Cornish terra firma I am looking forward to giving the full course material that the Tallinn workshop was sampled from and all interested can view and book for that here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/two-part-return-a-creative-writing-course-tickets-90009981277

Meanwhile, individual Editing and Mentoring Services are available by appointment. You can read about the process here: https://www.freewriterscentre.com/editing.html So get in touch if you want to check my availability. And the online shop is always open! :) https://www.freewriterscentre.org/online-courses.html