A writing life update & an invitation
And four new poems in the world for you
Dear beloved subscriber,
I hope this finds you inside somewhere bright and warm, watching dark and stormy weather rage outside, with many blankets over you and no draughts whatsoever.
This is a contractually obligated update from me to you on my writing life. It is contractually obligated by Arts Council England, who are generously supporting me to explore writing creative non-fiction with a “Developing your creative practice” grant this year. I promised them that I’d use the newsletter to share some process updates on this project with you. This will help to keep me accountable (am I doing anything?) and reflective (what on earth am I doing?). Scroll down to the end for an exciting invitation.
I also have four new poems of mine now out in the world that you can read and enjoy so I’m sharing these with you too.
Rachel x
New poems in the world for you
I have a poem in a gallery in Bloomsbury as part of the Bloomsbury Festival! It’s a collaborative piece with poet Rebecca Dowman and illustrator Mark Noad. It’s part of an exhibition with a lot of other brilliant poetry and illustration collaborations and you can see a photo of the wonderful golden triptych Mark made of our words here.
If you want to read the poem though, you’ll have to go and check in out in person before 15th Nov.
I also have a poem published by Magma available to read online and for free here.
And finally, I have two poems in the latest Barbican Young Poets anthology From the Ground to the Birdsong, which as an anthology I highly recommend!
Creative non-fiction - a process update
For the structure of this update, I turned to ChatGPT and asked “What should I include in a process update on my creative non-fiction writing?” It suggested the following template, which I have filled in as accurately as I can.
1. Current Progress
Overview: I have been working on writing creative non-fiction about my Northern Irish Jewish family history, drawing on the research I did for poems on the same theme (check out the Magma poem linked above for a poem on this topic).
Milestones Reached: 448 mugs of tea consumed during project working days (8 mugs per working day x 2 writing working days per week x 4 weeks per month x 7 months on project so far = 448)
Word Count: 10,000 words or 60,000 words, depending on whether we’re counting usable words or supporting word soup.
2. What’s Working Well
Strengths: It’s fun writing lots of words!
Techniques or Tools: To support the project, I’ve been reading “Daily Rituals: Women at Work” by Mason Currey which gives little vignettes of the working routines of successful creative women. It’s really relaxed me that there’s no right way to do this. You can be a writer while sober or chain-smoking, in a mansion with your butler serving you or while on the run hiding in friends’ attics, by writing every day or taking years away from writing, by only writing from 4am to 7am or never rising before noon, as a total recluse or as the life and soul of a decades-long house party. You just also have to sit down and write.
3. Challenges and Obstacles
Areas of Difficulty: Creative non-fiction doesn’t need an argument but it does need to go on a journey. I’m finding this a tricky balance to strike between taking the reader somewhere without actually straining to make some kind of facile and unnecessary “point”.
Unresolved Questions: I started this project pretty confident I had enough material for a full-blown book. I’m now less sure - will chat to my mentor in our next meeting and let you all know.
Time Constraints: I’ve taken on more hours at my day job lately which is good financially and a massive pain in terms of finding time to myself to write and think.
4. Next Steps
Immediate Goals: In December I’m going on a solo residency to Belfast, which is very exciting! I hope to write a lot and also think.
Timeline: Project needs to be done in Feb next year because that’s when the grant money runs out.
5. Requests for Feedback or Support
You’re invited: I’ll be hosting an in-person event at the Barbican in London in the evening of Friday 24th Jan 2025 about writing on family history with a host of far more interesting other writers speaking. Put the hold in your diary now and look out for a formal invite coming soon! I would love to see some newsletter subscribers there.