Archive for October, 2010

Me and Jo!

Friday, October 22nd, 2010
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Tuesday before last, me and Jo Gillot (or Jo Gillot and I if we’re going to be grammatical, though why start now…) played at the Dukes’ Chill-Out Tuesday. We’re indebted to Rob who valiantly provided PA and did the sound, but also recorded our sets! It was an exciting gig for us because it was the first (but hopefully not the last) time we had collaborated on songs. We’re really pleased with the results and thought we’d share a couple.

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Spectacular
‘Spectacular’ is Jo’s song, available on her ‘Songs to Say I Sung’ CD. Her Myspace page is here.

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Alma Garrett
And Alma Garret is mine, but here Jo is singing and playing violin too! I love this recording!

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Wordspark #010: Changing Seasons

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
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Well, it’s pretty obvious summer is over and autumn is here. Everyone’s sneezing, snuffling or coughing; the temperature has dropped along with the leaves and the air has that smell: Worm Cologne.  And it’s not just the trees and the weather that have been changing – people seem to be in flux too. Maybe it’s because we’re coming back to work after summer holidays, if we’ve had them, or the sense of needing to knuckle down, bury nuts and prepare for winter, but aside from all that I’ve noticed that people have seemed kind of unsettled – not in a bad way – but we’re in (there’s that word again) flux.

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Today’s Wordspark is inspired by this. The initial exercise is simple and straightforward, but has enough potential for variation to adapt it to suit your needs, and I’ve included a few spin-offs in case one of those takes your fancy more.

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Write a poem, or a short prose scene where you focus on one character who, on a symbolic level is moving from one season to another.  That might be the maturation of spring to summer, the slowing of autumn to winter, or a new start moving winter to spring.

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You can start with a new character if you want, but if you’ve been wrestling with an ongoing piece of writing, you might find it useful to use this exercise as an ‘offshoot’ to explore a character further. What is happening within this person on mental, emotional and physical planes? How to they influence each other? How might you express that with subtlety – showing rather than telling? Could a single moment of change mark the transition from one season to the other, or is it a gradual and imperceptable process?

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And, in an age of increasingly unpredictable weather, how about messing with the seasons a bit? Could a character move from spring to winter in one sudden drop?

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Or, you might want to break down the seasons a little further – after all, the start of winter is very different to the end. Could you slip in a couple more seasons and if so, where would they be, how would they be characterised, and what would they be called? And we needn’t just stick to this planet.You could imagine another world and build their seasons from scratch…

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Copyright Mollie Baxter 2010

You are welcome to use these exercises in your writing group or class. I just ask that you acknowledge the source i.e. verbally and on the handout if you use one. I’d also love it if you would let me know how it went!

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Do feel free to post any responses or extracts of writing that you have written, but bear in mind that I am unable to give any feedback in this forum. Please see details on my freelance teaching or one-to-one mentoring. Thanks for reading!

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Pumpkin Soup!

Saturday, October 16th, 2010
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Found these lights on www.ubergizmo.com

This is actually about next Tuesday’s Wordsoup, which as you can see has been given a Halloween twist! But their calling it Pumpkin Soup has got me thinking of my valiant annual efforts to get creative with pumpkin carving, best respresentative quote being, ‘But what is that?’ (It was Gromit) and making a disappointing soup out of the leftovers.

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This year I think I’ll limit my pumpkin efforts to the fabulous Wordsoup Halloween special. I’ll be performing the collaborative monologue written by David Riley based on a short story of the same name by Norman Hadley, so I’ve donned my rehearsal socks to get into the character of a young postgrad astrophysicist (Norman will probably correct me shortly on the true nature of her specialism…) who makes an amazing discovery whilst shooting lazers into bits of Mica.

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But there’s all sorts going on that night (see the corking line-up below), including an open mike, so get your fangs in and join us!

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Word Soup goes all Pumpkin flavoured for a Special Halloween Edition -
at The Continental on Tuesday 19th October, 8pm.

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The Lancashire Writing Hub are more than a little excited to announce
that multiple Award-winning Horror Meister Conrad Williams will be
headlining the next Word Soup Live Lit night – Pumpkin Soup – at The
Continental in Preston.

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Peter Straub said about Conrad:

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“This is horror literature unabashed and entire, at full imaginative stretch, beautiful and blazing. Williams possesses a fearless heart and an absolutely gorgeous soul.”

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Joining Conrad for a fantastic literary set will be the fabulous talents
of Mollie Baxter, Rachel McGladdery, and Nick Garrard, plus there’ll be
an Open Mic session, of course, so feel free to bring along a 3 minute
set of your own, and it’ll be a magical evening – with Mark the Magician
offering delightful sleight-of-hand moments throughout the evening – and
music from Three Four. We’ll also be showcasing some suitably sinister
short films from the Version Film Festival to round off a fantastic
night.

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Word Soup’s Pumpkin Soup, Tuesday 19th October at The Continental, South
Meadow Lane, Preston PR1 8JP, £3.00 on the door – don’t miss it!

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Looking Back from 2030 – Creative Writing Workshop

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
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Competition and Workshop

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A Creative Writing Workshop with a difference:

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Mollie Baxter, on behalf of Transition City Lancaster, is running a writers workshop with a difference.

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“Since Bacon’s fiction shaped the birth of science in the 17th Century, science fiction has influenced reality. We live stories and we are led by them. Where are our stories taking us today? Can your stories help take us to a better place? How do you imagine your own future? And how can we, when all we know is that it won’t be like the past? We need to fire up our imaginations.

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“Transition City Lancaster is a community initiative that aims to support a positive, humane response to the interconnected challenges of the 21st century: climate change, oil and resource depletion, unemployment and debt ,  extinction and destabilising ecosystems.

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Because of these issues, we know that the future we will experience will be unlike anything  we have known  in our past, but its difficult to really feel this and to explore what this might mean. We invite you to do so. Whatever your interest in these issues, however passionate, experienced or novice you are in creative writing or however strong or vague your idea of the future, we encourage you to get creative and write it down: be provocative, be hopeful, be playful, but most of all inspire your audience to think about and connect with their future – its challenges and its possibilities.

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This workshop offers a uniquely creative and supportive way to explore these issues and/or, depending on your interest, a most unusual format to develop your creative writing.

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Help us imagine the transition.  Without vision we have no plans. Without imagination we have no vision. Inspire others with your vision of what’s possible.

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Saturday October 30th 2010

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10 – 2pm

Lancaster Library  Meeting Room

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£7.50 / £5 concession. Book in advance to secure a place.  01524 60497

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Follow up sessions for private tutorial on final submissions. date to be confirmed  – £7.50 / £5

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Final Submissions will be appraised for reading on the Transition City Lancaster’s Radio programme on Diversity fm radio broadcasting out of Lancaster on 103.5fm and on the web www.diversityfm.co.uk. These will also be published on the TCL website.

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Organisation: Transition City Lancaster www.transitioncitylancaster.org

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Mollie Baxter, co-author of ‘Before the Rain’ (Flax 2008) has taught and facilitated workshops for many years, at University and out in the community. She has worked with Litfest, They Eat Culture, University of Cumbria, Lancaster University, NAGTY, Passport, Aim Higher, and Spotlight, amongst others. She has a relaxed, but enthusiastic approach and loves working with people of all levels of experience. www.molliebaxter.com

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WORDSPARK #009: Charity Shops

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
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Charity shops saved my life. It’s not my fault, I’m a Taurean; I need a certain baseline in order to be able to function. I need a potato masher or the universe seems out of conk. But I’m also into the whole creative vocation thing, so material concerns have to take a back-seat.

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When I was at university and setting up, a trip to town was incomplete without a visit to Wilkos or the charity shops. It’s because of charity shops that we have double-insulated the house with books and my beloved is reduced to three changes of clothes max.

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This exercise requires a bit of legwork, but it’s perfect if you need a break from your writing desk.

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The Tigger on the right is upset because the Tigger on the left is getting all the hugs.

Take a pound coin to a charity shop. Take your time. Browse. If you want to try on the 100% polyester tiger jumper, go for it. I guarantee that most people will find a ‘Find.’ But you’re looking for a very particular find too. Something for 99p. Something that draws you to it, delights you, baffles you, reminds you of someone you once knew. When you’ve chosen, buy it and take it back to your writing desk.

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Write a poem draft or a one-sitting flash fiction piece that is sparked from the object. It helps to hold it in your hands, feel its weight, its textures. Whose is it? And remember Wordspark #006: First Thought Best Thought? – the seventh idea might be better than the first… What is the most significant event in that objects history?

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Go!

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And while we’re at it – if you’d like to tell us about your best Charity Shop find, or even post a photo, please do! Here’s mine. I’m not sure, but I think it’s a perfume/posie necklace? But I can’t help thinking of all the different things someone might place in there… a scrap of paper, a tooth, a harpy… and that gets me thinking about why…

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Copyright Mollie Baxter 2010

You are welcome to use these exercises in your writing group or class. I just ask that you acknowledge the source i.e. verbally and on the handout if you use one. I’d also love it if you would let me know how it went!

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Do feel free to post any responses or extracts of writing that you have written, but bear in mind that I am unable to give any feedback in this forum. Please see details on my freelance teaching or one-to-one mentoring. Thanks for reading!

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Moll Baxter and Jo Gillot return to Chill-Out Tuesday!

Monday, October 11th, 2010
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That’s right, and this time we’ll be collaborating on a few songs too!

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You probably know this already, but Chill-Out Tuesdays take place at in the Bar of the Dukes Theatre on Moor Lane and Lancaster from 6-7pm – so it’s a shorty and you can be back in home for tea, or you might decide to stay on and see the evening movie.

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Jo and I had a practice yesterday afternoon and we’re really excited about the songs. We hope you can come and join us!

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