More than Writers

  Auscot Partners - Susa, Wendy and Shoma I love writing retreats. Last year I spent two weeks in Israel writing in Eilat at the hostel run by ACW member Judy Pex and had the most productive time of writing. There's something about getting away from it all and changing one's environment which helps the creative juices flow. This year, at roughly the same time, I was running my own writing retreat in Scotland under the auspices of Auscot Publishing and Retreats, my new company, set up with my partners, Susan McVey in Scotland and Shoma Mitra in Australia. Hence the name Auscot. Anyway, I digress. I learned so much whilst running my first retreat and found there was so much value in spending time away, writing with others.  Retreats come in many shapes and sizes but we made a conscious decision to keep this one intimate as we wanted to foster an atmosphere of friendship and support. This worked as attendees go to know each other well and discussions both in the sessions and afte...

Bardsey Island, photo taken by me In my last post for this blog (6 June), I reported that I’d booked myself a solitary writing retreat in North Wales. And so it came to be. During the final week of June, I stayed by myself in a self-catering cottage called Nant in the picturesque hamlet of Llanystumdwy. Nant belongs to the Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre, the National Writing Centre of Wales. I’d love to tell you all that I did loads of writing. But all I did, one rainy afternoon, was to look at a few poems on my laptop and do some minor editing. I learnt something from this though: it’s always good to edit one’s work, but there comes a time to leave it alone and start something new. I learnt something else – that my introvert soul deeply craves time out. My solitary retreat was a tonic to my soul. One morning, I went for a long walk along the thickly wooded banks of the Afon Dwyfor, the mountain river that flows through Llanystumdwy to the sea. The rushing of the glittering water, bo...

 When I looked ahead to this month’s blog I knew I probably wouldn’t struggle to find a subject matter. After all it would be due out a week after our Writing Kingdom Stories Retreat ended. I was confident that I would have lots of material to draw on. Maybe I could write about how to plan and run a Writers Retreat. Or at least what mistakes to avoid in planning and running a Writers Retreat. Maybe I could talk about what we did, and how much fun we had. What was taught and what was shared. Maybe I could wax lyrical about what a roaring success it all was. Maybe I could reflect on what I learnt personally in co-hosting a writing retreat. Maybe I could tell you that we are definitely going to do it all again, and invite you to be a part of it. But I’m not sure I can do any of those things and I am sorry if that is what you were hoping for. Perhaps I will get to those in future writing, but not today. The truth is I am still very much in recovery mode. As I am writing t...

Shalom. I am currently in Israel where many Christians will say they are walking in the footsteps of Jesus. I certainly did that, who wouldn’t, but I feel like I have also spent time walking in the footsteps of literary giants. I thought this was particularly appropriate as I am in Israel on a writing retreat. You may think this a strange place to write, but did I mention I am now in Eilat which has sun. And heat. 33 degrees centigrade heat to be precise. What did you say the temperature was in Scotland again? I rest my case your honour.  In any case, what about those literary giants? When I was in Jerusalem I went to the American Colony Hotel and did a spot of writing. This hotel is over 100 years old and has hosted a veritable plethora of dignitaries from Lawrence of Arabia and Winston Churchill to Richard Gere and Bob Dylan. On the literary side, Leon Uris and John Le Carre both wrote books there. I would like to think Bob Marley was also inspired to pen a few lyrics while there...

As I write this I am busy packing for a mini writing retreat/holiday in the beautiful Cotswolds in England. I'm not entirely sure if I've ever been there before but I can say I am very much looking forward to my break. I'm a bit of a wanderer and have spent much of my life travelling and visiting other countries and different areas of the UK. This having been stuck at home for the last eighteen months has pretty much fried my brain. I'm still writing but I definitely need a healthy dose of somewhere else to give me a literary  transfusion. So, I'm packing my bags and heading down south for a week. I'm currently feeling frightfully brave not having been over the border in nearly two years.  This has been made possible by friend and fellow ACW member, Maressa Mortimer, who has generously offered me the use of her holiday cottage for a week. This is a real blessing but I am doubly blessed by the fact that the cottage is about a mile from Maressa's home. I am lo...

As I write this, I am in the USA in the middle of a book and speaking tour. It's full on busy and I am enjoying every exhilarating minute of it. However, despite the fact I think I am like the energiser bunny and can run forever without recharging my batteries, this is not the case. Recognising this, yesterday morning I took myself down to a lake, sat on a boat, took in the ambience and did some writing. There is something extremely soothing about looking out at the water and letting your mind wander.  This got me thinking about retreats - writing retreats in particular. There are numerous organised writing retreats that any writer can sign up for. Some of these are secular and some Christian. One popular one in Scotland is Moniack Mhor where you can learn from some extremely famous writers. A Christian retreat many of us are familiar with is, of course, Scargill House in Yorkshire, who run an ACW Weekend each year. These are excellent and a great way to spend time with ...

Firstly, the operator would like to extend her apologies for the late arrival of today's blog, which was scheduled to arrive at 00.30. This was due to the fact I am currently at Scargill House. Yes, I know that shouldn't make a difference but last night I was too busy having - I'm going to whisper this next bit - fun. Yes, you heard me right - Fun. You know when you are at a weekend run by Adrian and Bridget Plass, that you are going to have a boatload of fun. When Nick Page joins in, the laughter levels escalate into the stratosphere. My favourite quote was from Adrian in his letter to the Australians - "You should have thought of that before you started with all the begetting." My sides are aching this morning after laughing so hard last night.  It was also lovely to meet up with old friends and start to make new ones. Scargill is a place where you can relax and be yourself. Everyone is equal and everyone's writing is valued not matter where they ar...