Creative writing group

My creative writing group had their first meeting on Tuesday. I walked into the cafe not knowing what to expect, hoping I would have some time to compose myself and ready myself mentally for bringing this together, but one girl had already arrived. Thrown right into the thick of it I stumbled through introductions with smiles and an awkward clunkiness to my mind. Thankfully all the people who came were wonderful.
We sat and talked about where we wanted the group to go, and I asked everyone to consider personal goals for themselves to reach by the end of the month.
I had been worried about people being unable to find the cafe, that seems to be the common drawback for nifty cafes, they tuck away too well. A few people did arrive late, but we got them up to speed, sharing what we had done so far and asking their opinions. Seven people, including myself arrived, just enough so, thus far, I have not forgotten anyone's name. The cafe was wonderful, we had a fabulous room to ourselves with vintage designs and wooden tables - a perfect writers' hub. We then went over time just talking, so all together, I think we did well. This week we'll all try to compose our own spoken poem, and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. Our local paper, thus far, has done a story, which again may attract new members, and soon I might put some photos on this blog.
One of the biggest keys to being creative, they say, is to surround yourself with creative people. My biggest hope is that each of us will be able to feed off of each other to enrich our work and come up with splendid pieces.
Should be interesting!

Short Videos

One of the things on the list of ways to stay creative is to watch new things. Movies are one option, but what I love are short beautiful films on You Tube. Already on this blog I have shared a puppetry music video, I'll Forget You in Time, and my own puppet short film, Shadow's Land but now every few weeks, I would also like to add a new short film I've loved from You Tube. None of these will be mine, but just nice things I've seen.
The video below is from the University of New South Wales, hope you enjoy.

Writing Locations

Recently I saw Love Actually - as I'm sure many others did in the lead up to Christmas, and I loved it, but every time I watch that movie my favourite scenes are Colin Firth's, and his villa in France. As a writer, I look at it as the perfect retreat to sit and write, and he even uses a typewriter!
I wish I had a similar kind of get away, but I can say I love the idea of having different, beautiful places where I could retreat to merely to write, particularly with all the distractions and available procrastination opportunities available in everyday life.
My biggest question would be if the character had internet connection there, or even electricity, because in my mind he doesn't. Today between internet distractions like You Tube and social media, a forced detachment from the online word might be exactly what many writers need.

In a beautiful place like that I hope I would be able to sit and write for hours. However, on the flip side, I fear I would spend more time on scenic walks and daydreaming. Scientific studies, however, have also suggested that different and interesting environments are actually very beneficial to attaining focus and concentration in your work.
In any event, it is a beautiful place, and one I would love to live in and write in one day.

Reading Gizmo

I saw this on Facebook, and thought it very appropriate to show on my blog, it would either be the greatest thing in the world, or really annoying to get used to.

Creative Writing Group

Great news, I'm starting up a creative writing group in my local Town of Gawler!
It starts in January and will go for four sessions as a trial run over the Christmas holidays, people can come in and share their work, ask for advice, have coffee, talk, or just sit back and record a few notes.
Hopefully this will be a really fun and casual group to help motivate and inspire young writers, if nothing else, it's got a cool promo!

Book Review

I recently read a beautiful American book called Three Cups of Tea, it is a brilliant non-fiction that fascinated me. If you are interested in Islam, the Middle East, and how education can help a society help itself, this is an excellent book that looks at the issues and misconceptions surrounding the Middle East.

It follows the work of Greg Morrison as he sets up schools in Pakistan, making it highly relevant in to political issues still occurring today. The writing style is detailed and political -sometimes reading like political journalism, and can be hard to follow, but for he most part is a pleasure to read being interesting and often suspenseful in its story. Often it is also emotive as it allows you to sympathise with people we in the western world often have little insight about.

If you do become interested in the politics and work described in the book, donations can also be made to the case.

Words and Feminism

I found this on Facebook and thought it a perfect example of the power of words and their influence in our culture.
Enjoy -
Joss Whedon - Feminism