In Writing with Hattie Crisell

In Writing with Hattie Crisell

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In Writing with Hattie Crisell
In Writing with Hattie Crisell
Creative Club #5

Creative Club #5

Plus something to read, and a writing date for your diary.

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Hattie Crisell
Jul 24, 2022
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In Writing with Hattie Crisell
In Writing with Hattie Crisell
Creative Club #5
23
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hand prints on gray concrete wall

Before we get to the action, I have two things to share. Firstly, in a fortnight’s time I’m going to hold another In Writing Creative Hour on Google Meet. 10am BST on Sunday 7 August: put it in your diary. What this means is that we’ll get together online, say hello, and then write in companionable silence for an hour. It’s a lovely thing to do, and a very nice start to a Sunday.

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(You have to be a paid subscriber to join in with the Creative Club. If you’re not one at the moment, I hope you’ll consider it. It’s £4 a month or £40 a year, for which you get audio recordings of the Thursday newsletter plus occasional interviews; writing hours and prompts; and the forum to share and discuss what they lead you to write. Paid subscriptions also give me financial support to keep In Writing going in its various forms, including the podcast, which is available for free, and will return later this year.)

Secondly, if you’re in a creative writing workshop or thinking of joining/starting one, please read this brilliant post by George Saunders:

Story Club with George Saunders
Office Hours
Q. I'm currently in a writing workshop. It's the second workshop I've been in. While I love the friendships that I've developed in these settings, sometimes it seems to lack serious feedback because we are afraid of hurting each other’s feelings. The other drawback is that I start to hear my group's critiques in my head as I'm writing a story and freeze up. So I would love to know your thoughts on writing workshops. Are they the best place to get feedback? What are your feelings about reading work aloud to a group vs getting pages ahead of time and getting critique…
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3 years ago · 135 likes · 302 comments · George Saunders

It is so good on how to read another writer’s work, how to feed back, and the limits of the format.


OK, now down to business. Has it been a good week or a bad week for you, creatively? I’ve written a lot, but mostly in the realm of journalism. On the creative writing front, I’d say I’ve done more fiddling with words than actually producing them. Some days my word count has actually gone down, which I know is a good thing – better to edit out the crap – but it’s also a bit disheartening.

The In Writing Creative Club has been active since mid-May, and I see it as a fortnightly drumbeat that reminds me to sit down and switch on my imagination. I know it’s doing the same for some of you, and if you haven’t joined in before, I hope you might today. What you write in response to the prompt below doesn’t need to be your finest work, and it doesn’t need to be long. It’s just an opportunity to tune into a thought and play around with it, with no pressure.

Today’s prompt is:

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