Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Retreats, short story events and workshops

So much to cram into one blog post! My hands are much better, partly due to Dragon NaturallySpeaking, although I don't really like talking to myself. Partly due to excellent osteopath! The nice news is that I have won a fellowship to the Hawthornden Castle Writers Retreat for next summer, am very excited. I am finding it so hard to find any time to write, I've realised I need to set up these retreats well in advance to actually get it done!

What's taking up my time? Well, The Short Review, for one - which is 3 years' old this month! No, I never would have believed it. If I'd known what it would grow into, I think I might have been too daunted to start at all. But I am so happy I did, and am very grateful to all my reviewers, past and present, all over the world, for making it happen every month.

Talking of short stories, it's National Short Story Week next week, and I've organised an event in Bristol, readings by many local writers, special guest Vanessa Gebbie, and a short open mic at the end - Wed 24th, 6-8pm, at the Blackwell's bookshop in Park Street - more details here, come along if you're in the area!

Talking about Vanessa, she's not just a wonderful writer but a great teacher too, and now you have the chance to experience that in the most wondrous setting, Anam Cara Writers' and Artists' Retreat (to which V and I and Sue are off shortly!). Here are the details, it will be a small and intimate retreat, so book your place now!



Short Fiction: So Much More Than It Seems...

Led by Vanessa Gebbie

One-week Residential Workshop Retreat

Arrival: Saturday, 28 May 2011

Departure: Saturday, 4 June 2011


A chance to explore in depth the craft of short fiction in all its challenging guises, in one of Ireland's most creatively exciting venues. A chance to focus on acquiring skills that will maximise the chances of your work rising to the top and standing out for the right reasons not only in publication slush piles but also in competitions.

In the company of a well-published, multi-prize-winning short storyist, who is also an experienced tutor, this will be a focused, collaborative workshop retreat during which you will create not only complete new work and the seeds of many new stories, but you will also discover tried and tested strategies for editing and revising your existing work to make it as good as it can be.

Although biased towards the art and craft of short fictions, we will also be able to explore the relevance of the craft issues to poetry, prose poetry and longer works.

6 comments:

Vanessa Gebbie said...

Congrats on the Hawthornden, T - marvellous marvellous. Space and peace to write. SO necessary.
Thanks for linking to the workshop - I cant wait - I first went to Anam Cara as a workshop attendee, and it literally changed my life. Nice to put something back.

Snapper said...

Many congratulations on the Hawthornden Fellowship, Tania!

Sarah Hilary said...

Congratulations on the Fellowship - how wonderful to have that space and time to write. And happy third birthday to The Short Review!

Anonymous said...

hey Tania

Sorry to hear about the hand thing, I used to get that too, and eventually it let up. (one irritatingly simple tip from a writer who also suffered: think more and write less). Anyway, hope you get over it soon. Congrats and best of luck to you and V for trip to Ireland

Lane

Shruti said...

Hey Tania,
Congratulations! I hope a lot of writing gets done.

I wanted to post this suggestion for your aching hands. It's a simple and very safe self-cure accupressure thing:
Which hand aches, right or left?
If it's your left hand, then the corresponding area on your hand is the uppermost section of your index finger, from the tip to the first bend/line, and if it's your right hand, then it's the uppermost section of your little finger--on any one hand.
Based on the hand that hurts, massage the relevant section clockwise and anticlockwise for a while with the thumb of your other hand or a little seed like a green gram, or a pencil point(nothing too sharp that can hurt). Do this for a while and I guarantee you, you'll start to feel a reduction in your pain in minutes. When you massage, you'll find a point/points that painful themselves on the finger section--these are the points corresponding to where the pain is in your hands. Continue to massage and the pain in these parts and your hand that hurts will start to reduce. Do it several times a day upto a minute or 3 mins at a time since your pain has been around for a while.
This is an amazing korean accupressure therapy called su-jok where all the parts of the body are connected to the hand, proven and stuff and safe. My disc-prolapse/slipped disc was healed by a practitioner of this years ago, adn what's great about it is, it is actively taught/passed on for self-cure. ANd it Is safe, no need to worry. You're only removing energy blocks from the area/organ etc that hurts.
You can look it up on the net, there's lots of helpful material with charts etc.
I hope you try it, because I know it'll help. I remove all my niggling and chronic pains through this these days.
It's a LONG thing to post but I couldn't not, when I saw a second post by you talking about your hands in pain.
good luck!
love
Shruti

Tania Hershman said...

Thanks V, Paul and Sarah!

Lane -excellent tip!

Shruti, thanks SO much for this, haven't replied because I was taking a break, but I will definitely try this. Much much appreciated!