So, we’re in the midst of August and you may well be on holiday right now, relaxing and recharging. If you are – have a wonderful time!
A quiet period of downtime can give you a chance to revive your dreams and stock up on fresh energy. It’s a peacefulness that’s purposeful and productive. Then there’s a different kind of peacefulness: stagnation. Stagnation is flat. Stagnation is often born of fear. It seems easier to stay with the status quo, however dull and unfulfilling it is, than to strike out. I’ve been thinking about this over the weekend because of the Big Change I am triggering in the way I present Fictionfire to the world. And it is scary! I’m no technological genius and my natural inclination is to opt for the known, the safe. Yet as I look back over the past eight years Fictionfire has been in existence, I realise that I have struck out from calm water time and again – from setting up Fictionfire in the first place, to creating day courses and workshops, to running retreats … and I have more plans for the future.
Right now, though, I’ll be honest with you: it is a challenge to strike out again, especially with months of full-on hard work at my back. Yet, there is also a hunger, an excitement in my belly, because I do want transformation rather than stagnation.
There may be times when you are frightened to move, whether in your career, your personal life or your writing. But there comes that moment where something inside of you says, ‘Right, that’s enough! Whatever it takes, I need to change things. I can’t go on like this one minute longer.’ Do you recognise this? Have you been poised on the brink of something for longer than you care to admit? Are you ready to take the first step – or does that step still feel like a step too far? I’d love to hear from you: tell me about areas in your life where you feel you’re stagnating and share with me what you are thinking of doing to take you out of your comfort zone.
Website update
Well, the Big Change is now under way! As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I’ve been feeling for ages that it’s time to move on from my original website host and create a fresher new site for Fictionfire. I am now at the Scary phase – where fear nearly outweighs the excitement of being able to transform my site and get ready for my autumn projects.
So here’s a quick update: I have now moved the hosting of my domain away from the website host. It was never a good idea to have one company fulfil both services, so now the domain is independent of that host – and of the new website host I’ll have.
I have also notified the current host that I won’t be resubscribing to their service (which ends on the 22nd) and behind the scenes I’m creating the new website. I’m hoping this will all go smoothly, but in case it doesn’t I thought I would let you know that there may be times when the site is down or, more importantly, when my email doesn’t work (I have to work that through G-suite once the new site is up), so remember that if you need to contact me, you can do so via the Facebook and Twitter links down below, or phone me at 07827 455723.
William Morris and more:
Last Friday I came to the end of the second of the Oxford University creative writing summer schools I teach on every year – and I’m already signed up for both programmes again next year. I had a class of highly motivated, extremely talented students, all keen to Fine-tune their Fiction (the name of the course). Exeter College was such a beautiful environment in which to teach: the Morris Room where I held my tutorials and seminars is dedicated to the artist William Morris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris . A portrait of that extraordinary man (who certainly didn’t believe in any form of creative stagnation!) looked down on me during the three weeks of the summer school. Morris took as his motto ‘If I can’ – which seems appropriate to the theme of this newsletter!
The rest of August will involve finishing novel edits for clients, getting that new website up, and making plans for the autumn. On September 1st I am teaching a free workshop on using your life as a source for stories, as part of Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education’s Open Days. Visit https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/events/view/continuing-education-open-day-2017 to see over 60 workshops, walks and talks on offer.
Staying with Oxford and Oxfordshire, remember that if you’re resident in Oxfordshire and are aged 18-30, you might like to enter Writers in Oxford’s Young Writer Competition, which we’ve set up to celebrate WiO’s 25th Anniversary. There are cash prizes and winners will be announced at the joint WiO and Society of Authors party in November – our chair Philip Pullman will make the announcement. Please spread the word far and wide! Full details are here: http://www.writersinoxford.org/the-wio-young-oxfordshire-writers-competition/
Other competitions of interest:
Mslexia magazine’s Women’s Novel Competition closes on the 18th September. This year’s judges are novelist Philippa Gregory, agent Sarah Such and journalist and editor Alex Clark. Entrants must not have previously published a novel, but may have published other types of books such as memoir, poetry, or non-fiction. The prize is £5000, plus the winners and runners-up receive manuscript feedback and the chance to meet agents and editors. To find out how to enter, visit www.mslexia.co.uk/novel.
Visit http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/creative-writing-award/ to find out more about the 11th year of Aesthetica’s Creative Writing Award, closing at the end of this month. The prize is £1000, plus publication and a consultation with Redhammer Agency for prose fiction writers.
Quote of the week:
‘Procrastinators love planning, quite simply because planning does not involve doing, and doing is the procrastinator’s Kryptonite.’ Tim Urban
Wish me luck as I handle that Kryptonite!
Warm wishes,
Lorna
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