Hello and welcome! I am Mel Parks and I run creative writing workshops in Sussex, UK as well as online. I began this Substack, Awen, in 2022 as a gathering place for my thoughts about the writing process and to share some stories and creative inspiration along the way. Awen is free to read and share.
I run a weekly Tuesday afternoon (2-3pm UK time) guided creative writing session live on Zoom for paid members. If you’d like to join, click the subscribe button and choose paid membership for £8 per month or £80 per year. We are meeting every Tuesday until 16 July. Then there will be a summer break and we will begin a new season on 10 September with the theme: RETREAT. This will run until 10 December.
Dear all
Last week, I gave myself the challenge of making a tiny video by speaking into the camera. I decided it would be less scary if I made it for someone, so I wished my sister good luck in her job interview today (Good luck, S. - we’re thinking of you!). But I did it!!
I also made a tiny video when I took a little detour to Rottingdean this week to see the sea:
There - now I’ve also uploaded a video. Now all I need to do is to make one introducing myself to you. Next time :)
This detour was following a visit to the absolutely beautiful Sussex Prairie Garden to plan my upcoming creative writing workshop there on 1 August. I cannot believe we get access to the whole garden (as well as an indoor workshop space which is also an art gallery) for the whole morning before it opens to the public at 1pm.
We will meander through the garden pausing to take in the different aspects and experience the natural world with all of our senses. Then I will introduce the practice of haiku and haibun. These Japanese forms are more than techniques of writing, they are a way of slowing down and paying attention, they are a way of journalling, they are a way of life (haiku no michi - the way of the haiku poet).
Sussex Prairie Garden is close to Henfield, near Brighton. It costs £60, which includes the morning workshop as well as refreshments, but not lunch. It also includes entry to the garden, where you can linger as long as you like in the afternoon.
This workshop is suitable for beginners and a good introduction to giving your freewriting or journalling some shape.
Click here to find out more and to book a place.
Space and silence on the page
It’s so good to give ourselves moments of space and silence to breathe, such as the ones I had at the coast and at Sussex Prairie Garden this week.
But what of space and silence on the page?
In workshops this week, we considered this inspired by
’s exploration of ether in her book The Clearing.In poetry, space between lines and on the page is used instead of punctuation. It leaves room for emotions, for the reader to pause, slow down, think about the words.
If you write poetry, explore space on the page, move words around leaving longer and longer gaps between them to see how it feels.
In fiction or memoir, we thought about dialogue and how to represent a conversation between two people in which the unsaid becomes important. What if someone is withholding the truth? What if someone doesn’t want to answer or can’t speak? What if someone doesn’t hear the other or doesn’t understand fully, but doesn’t want to say? What if someone is lying through silence?
If you write fiction, write a dialogue in which someone is withholding the truth and using evasion or silence to do so.
What does silence and space between things mean to you? What happens in the ether?
Creative Writing Workshops with me (Mel Parks)
Haiku to Haibun: The Japanese Way of Nature Writing
A nature-based creative writing workshop at Sussex Prairie Garden (in-person) on 1 August 2024. 10-1.30pm.
Book a place by clicking this link.
Tuesday afternoons on Zoom (2-3pm UK time)
£8 per month or £80 per year with a paid Awen Substack subscription.
Next session: Every Tuesday until 16 July and then restarting with a new season on 10 September.
You can come to as many as you are able to.
If you are not able to subscribe (or don’t want to!), then please email me for alternative ways to join.
Becoming a Writer
Monthly Tuesday evenings in East Grinstead (7-9pm)
A monthly creative writing workshop for beginners. Plenty of fun writing prompts, games and activities to get your creative juices flowing.
The Writer’s Notebook
Thursday mornings in East Grinstead (10-12noon)
Series of five weeks beginning on 19 September (19 Sept; 26 Sept; 3 Oct; 10 Oct; 17 Oct)
If you attend my face-to-face groups regularly, you can also attend the Zoom group for no extra charge.
Until next time…
This newsletter was created by Mel Parks, a writer, researcher and workshop facilitator based in Sussex, UK. Mel runs writing workshops locally and on Zoom and researches creativity in midlife as well as her personal connection to nature. She has been widely published and is currently working on a series of moon and plant-inspired essays.
It is free to read and share, but if you value my work, please do stop by my virtual honesty box and leave a handful of loose change.
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