Time to Write

This week, I've been updating the course notes for Time to Write.
     Time to Write is a creative writing course designed for new, aspiring or rusty writers. It's intense and fun and starts on Tuesday 30th April at the American Association of Singapore.
   Over the course of three weeks, students will reacquaint themselves with their creative side and develop ideas in a supportive and helpful environment.
     I've met so many people who have said, "I'd love to write, but can't."
   What they really mean is, "I can't write a best-seller," or, "I don't have the confidence," or worse still, "I'm talentless and unimaginative."  What has caused their passion to be crushed? It's only a pigeon step from that corrosive attitude, to the admonishment of desire and abandonment of ambition.
     Do other creatives do this? Are there thousands of amateur singers, actors, musicians or artists who have disenfranchised themselves because they will never reach professional status? The plethora of amateur dramatic societies, art classes and choirs answers that. So why do amateur writers do it?
     Is it because at school we can fail in creative writing?
     Is it because we assume that every book, play or poem is a first draft, not the 10th, 20th or 30th?
     Is it because writing is private, so few understand the motivation and process?
     Is it because success is not rated in our ability to touch, but our ability to earn?
     Is it because we have crushed our passion with the weight of an endless 'to do' list?
Whatever the reason, this self-harm should cease.
     Everyone with a passion to write, needs to be:-

• encouraged,  
• taken seriously, 
• given permission to write,
• the tools to improve,
• the right to try, and fail, repeatedly. 

     This is the raison d'etre for courses like Time to Write. Indeed, on day one, I will tell my students that we are all creative beings and everyone has an immense imagination. That will be followed by four hours of creating story ideas and characters. Having experienced the intense power and originality of their own imaginations, the students can only advance. Advance towards a more confident and less self-critical future where they don't have to prove they're a Shakespeare before allowing themselves time to write.
     Turning to sometime completely different, thank you for all the wonderful comments on last week's blog.  For those who missed it, it was the story of how our garden changed from this...

 January 2018

to this.  

April 2019

I'll be back again next week when I'll update you on the course and tell you about the forthcoming book talk.

Thanks for dropping by.

Ta-ra.

Latest news from Singapore

I've been gone too long!  The rate of blog posts has nose-dived because it's taking longer to adapt to expat life than I'd hoped. However, I've taken myself in hand and that's all changing so today, I want to share some news.
     I've been asked to teach creative writing for the American Association of Singapore. The course is called Time to Write and starts on 30th April.
    Its been written with aspiring and lapsed writers in mind and over three weeks, I'll be touching on how to write fiction, how to approach non-fiction and teaching workshopping skills. It's an intensely practical, low-tech course and the students will have to shed their inhibitions and dive straight in. I'm just adding the finishing touches to the course material and will let you know how it's going next week. In the meantime, if you fancy joining up, book here. I guarantee you won't regret it.
     The second bit of news is that Blood and Bandages is doing well over here despite its focus on the war in Europe. I had feared that a story set against one of WW2's most neglected campaigns, the Italian Campaign, would sink without trace in SE Asia. Not so. It's being bought by English, Australians, Canadians, Dutch and Singaporeans. Popular glossy magazine, ExPat Living wants to sell them and I'm collaborating with Jane's Tours SG, an award-winning travel company, to present a literary evening on Blood and Bandages on 10th May. If you would like to hear about the extraordinary work of the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW2 book here.
     The event is being held at our home so thank goodness our garden project is almost done.
     You may remember the photos I posted when we first moved in. If not, they showed a pretty colonial bungalow in the middle of a field.

 Not a plant in sight.

      We felt the absence of a garden keenly, so when Richard received his annual bonus, a portion was set aside for landscaping. 

     The remit was to create a pretty garden which gave us privacy, shade, points of interest and colour. Our hard-working and imaginative garden guru, Benson Ang from Chwee Nursery commenced work in January. 

     Stage one focused on creating privacy. 

A Eugenia hedge screened us from the road.

Yellow palms disrupted the view from the path to the bedrooms.  

Sadly, I have forgotten the name of these trees but they provided privacy on our other boundary which bordered a public footpath.

A line of Heliconia Bihai was added behind the trees to add more screening and colour.

 

The piece de resistance was the tree lined path which added a delicate oriental feel. Their branches will eventually join to form a shady green corridor.

      With the privacy almost in place, we moved onto stage two.

Yellow palms were added in front of the study window to create symmetry. I love looking onto these when I'm working.  

A patio was laid in the back garden so we had a firm base upon which to put our dining table and chairs. 

At the same time, we treated ourselves to some new outdoor furniture, of which Richard is obviously thrilled.

Finally, a range of colourful plants and tree orchids framed the path, the path upon which I hope to welcome 20 guests from Jane's Tour's on 10th May.  

     Stage two is now finished so it's time to move onto the final section, the construction 

of a water feature and the addition of wind chimes. I can't wait to see it come together. 

     Well it's time to go now but I've enjoyed this catch-up.

     I'll be blogging more regularly from now on because I have to start following the advice I'll be giving my students on Time to Write. To be a good writer you have to read and write constantly.  

Thanks for dropping by. Ta-ra.