Category: Workshops

2021- Thanks for your support

Thanks to everyone who came to the events I organised in 2021. I was just checking through and found I have been pretty busy! To summarise, I ran a regular international weekly generative with feedback, flash fiction group (with breaks) most of the year, a series for flash fiction based on dreams, free weekly sessions on writing Hermit Crab flash fiction stories, a workshop called Flash Fiction Fireworks on November 5th, for the US based Culturama event organised by John Brantingham, a workshop entitled Happy and Hopeful, for the Crow Collective organised by Sage Tyrtle. I also devised and hosted the full programmes for the eight online flash fiction festival days sponsored by Bath Flash Fiction Award and Ad Hoc Fiction.

With the help of co-director, Diane Simmons, I have been organising an in-person flash fiction festival in Bristol for the weekend of 8-10th July. We’ve a fantastic line up, a brilliant caterer. And other details are nearly ready for booking to be open by the end of January.

And think of this tree pictured as a metaphor. If you want to grow some spring leaves on the bare branches of your writing, come to my on-going Tuesday flash fiction group in 2022, it begins again on Tuesday 11th January, from 1.30 pm – 3.30 pm GMT. £15 for a two hour sessions. Pay as you go.

And I’ve organised three more flash fiction festival days in January, February and March. The first is on Saturday 8th January with workshops, talks, two contests with cash and other prizes and readings. Only £30 for the whole day with videos sent afterwards. Free places for those for whom cost is a barrier. Book now at flashfictionfestival.com

Other things I have been involved in are the Bath Flash Fiction Award I founded, the short short fiction press, Ad Hoc Fiction, I direct and the Novella in Flash Award for Bath Flash Fiction. It was a privilege also, to be asked to judge the Mslexia Flash Fiction Prize, this year and have the opportunity to read more great flash fiction.

I’ve also been writing. Lots of rejections but fifteen flash fiction pieces published and a couple forthcoming. Listed here. Plus my first nomination for Best Micro Fictions.

Looking forward to meeting you again in the New Year at one of my 2022 events

Flash Fiction Tuesdays

Join my international group of flash fiction enthusiasts on Zoom.
Every Tuesday 1.30 pm – 3.30 pm BST. I’m offering the same format as I used to in my face-to-face groups in Bath:

  • Two in-class writing exercises and a chance to get first-draft feedback;
  • group feedback on a few micros submitted in advance by participants;
  • a weekly focus on some angle of flash with examples;
  • And now the added feature of drop-in flash fiction writer guests offering more ideas and insight.

    • First session free for you to try. Thereafter £15 a session. Payable on a weekly basis by bank transfer (contact me) or Paypal here.

    All welcome. Contact me for more details

    Dreams Into Fiction, workshop for National Flash Fiction Day, UK

    Picture by Royston Hunt.
    www.earthnotes.co.uk

    Join my free workshop for National Flash Fiction Day UK on Zoom from 3.30 pm – 6.00 pm, Saturday June 6th. It’s for up to 50 people. Lots of prompts and ideas to turn your dreams into fictions. I’ve run versions of this workshop before at three Flash Fiction Festivals. There will be new ideas and some old ones. But you are sure to produce at least four new drafts from your one dream. All you need is to do is to bring a tiny dream or dream fragment and be prepared to play. There’ll be small groups in between the large groups sessions, for you to share some of your drafts (only if you want) and chat with flashy friends or make new ones.

    The beautiful dream-like photograph here was taken in Arizona last year by photographer Royston Hunt who is selling this picture and many other landscape shots as greeting cards or notelets from his website. Do have a look, they are all amazing pictures. If you haven’t got a dream ready to bring, you can also use this picture in the workshop for inspiration, as if were your dream.
    Contact me on this email by Thursday 4th June if you want to come and I will send you a Zoom link.

    Notebook Writes, May 5th

    It’s the fifth day of my posts colour-co-ordinating outfits to my old note books and offering prompts. This series is going to be happening all month, so there are plenty of ideas to choose from. Do remember that if you write a story inspired by any of the daily prompts and that story is published, at any time, I will send you a free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award (for another story).

    Today I am holding a notebook I used when I was about eleven years old in the early 1960s. In it, on one page,I have listed the pocket money I would have saved,from October to December and the Christmas presents I was going to buy for my friends. All bubble baths at one shilling and nine pence each.

    Your writing challenge is to write a story about pocket money, losing it, saving it, not having enough for a longed-for item. Or maybe not even childhood memory-based stories. Maybe the money you find in your pocket and how you don’t want to use cash anymore.
    Include word(s) from the list and item(s)from the table. Go for about five hundred words. Time yourself for a fast write. Twenty minutes.

    Notebook Writes. May 4th

    Day 4 of my series of pictures of me colour-cordinating clothes with my stash of old notebooks and throwing in a daily prompt. A good distraction for me. And hopefully, you might feel inclined to write a flash.

    To remind you, I am running this series of prompts all May leading up to a big birthday at the end of the month. There will be occasional extra fun things where you can win prizes. And continuing every day, I am offering a free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award for a different flash fiction (£1460 prize fund), to anyone who writes a story to the daily prompt and gets it published. Many places are open for submission either now or regularly and I will shortly make a list to go on another page.

    Today, I have a notebook patterned with dragon flies.They don’t sting, but the writing challenge is to write a flashfiction based on a time when you were stung by an insect. Use the memory details and go off piste by choosing a word or words from the list and an item or items on the table. Let me know how you get on

    And for more flashy fun, my new Zoom group taking place on Tuesday mornings 10.30 am to 12.30 pm still has some places. The first meeting tomorrow is free. More prompts, feedback, focus and fun.
    Contact me ASAP if you are interested.

    Notebook Writes. May 3rd

    It’s Day 3 of my Notebook writes series. Because May is my birthday month I am offering daily prompts and colour coordinating with outfits. I found a shiny red notebook in my unfinished notebook stash and it was fun matching it to some of red clothes I’ve had for years with a touch of black thrown in.

    Today is International Dawn Chorus Day and I went out at 5.00 am down the lanes to catch the first songs. Several blackbirds at full warble, always perched on the apex of roofs. Lots of other birds and many songs I didn’t recognise.

    The prompt today is to write a story based on a time when you were up at dawn, maybe recently, maybe a long time ago. Include a word or words from the list and one or more items from the table. I’ve placed ‘The Roster’, by Debra A Daniel, the novella in flash highly commended in the 2019 Bath Flash Fiction Novella in Flash Award, on the table as it has a nice splash of red on the colour. And it is a very good book. You can read more about this in the interview with Debra on the Bath Flash Fiction Award website. And there’s some lovely songs her husband wrote, inspired by the book linked there too.

    Remember that if you write a story inspired by this prompt or any of the others already posted, and get it published at any time, let me know and I will give you a free entry to Bath Flash Fiction Award (for another story).
    As an added bonus for the rest of the day (I am posting this in the afternoon) here’s another challenge. I’ll give a free Ad Hoc Fiction anthology to the person who guesses the number of marbles in the yellow vase ( to the nearest amount).

    I am running my trial Zoom writing class on Tuesday 5th May from 10.30 am to 12.00 pm. If you haven’t yet got Zoom fatigue, do have a go. It is suitable for beginners and experienced writers. During the class I’ll offer more prompts and feedback and we have Alison Woodhouse dropping in to talk about writing a winning drabble (100 word story). Contact me on my email asap.

    Notebook Writes. May 2nd

    It’s the second day of my Notebook writing prompts series where I colour co-ordinate an outfit to match one of my stash of unfinished notebooks. A purple/mustard combo here with my banana paper journal.

    Why not dig out one of your notebooks and write some flashfiction in longhand? Today’s challenge is to write a 100 word micro, using my prompt, for the National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand Micromadness contest, which ends on May 15th.There are two contests actually. One is for ‘Lockdown’ micros, the other is on any theme. It’s free, so give it a go. Include one word or more from the list pictured and also include an item on the table. National Flash Fiction Day New Zealand publishes a story a day from the beginning of June up until June 22nd. If you get a micro published using this prompt, let me know, and I will send you a free entry (for another story) for Bath Flash Fiction Award

    The notebook I am featuring today is made from banana fibre. I have hardly written in it but the paper is lovely and smooth, just right for longhand in fountain pen ink. It’s fun trying to match outfits to books of any kind, because it makes you consider different colour combinations you wouldn’t normally wear. I really like the mustard and purple mix.

    I am running a trial Zoom session on Tuesday 5th May 10.30 am – 12.30 pm following the structure of the classes I have run face-to-face in Bath. Flash fiction prompts for in-class writing, feedback on stories from a couple of participants submitted in advance, a focus. Next week that will be on very short flashes. What works. Alison Woodhouse who won National Flash Fiction Day UK, micro competition in 2019 was commended this year and has been successful in several other contests since, is popping in for a guest spot to talk about writing to a very short word length. It’s all fun. Contact me asap if you want to join.

    Notebook Writes, May 1st

    As a distraction during the last weeks, I have been having fun colour coordinating outfits to flash fiction books published by Ad Hoc Fiction,the small press I direct, which focuses entirely on publishing short fiction. Check out the gallery of pictures I posted on the Bath Flash Fiction Site of Series One: The Older Writer/publisher Dressing Up To Go Nowhere

    Series Three, which I have just begun today, will continue all May, and I will colour coordinate outfits to some of my large stash of unfinished notebooks. I will also offer a daily prompt. I know others like me who are enticed by the lure of a new notebook but never fill up the pages. Today’s notebook is one I bought in 1995 to record dreams. Plenty of blank pages in that one and some interesting dreams, many still on the same themes as today!

    As it is May 1st, a day steeped in ritual and tradition, the prompt is to write a flash fiction story based on a superstition. Include some or all of the words on the list pictured below and any of the items on the table. If you are interested in taking up this writing challenge and you complete the story and get it published, I will send you a free entry (for a different story) for any round of the Bath Flash Fiction Award. Just send me the link to the story or your email with the offer of publication. It could be from any online or print magazine, or a flash fiction competition.
    For anyone wanting more prompts and story feedback, I am shortly beginning a two-hour Zoom class following the structure of the popular face-to-face classes I ran in Bath before lockdown began. Two writing prompts and in-class fast writes. Feedback by the group on two or three first drafts of flashes submitted in advance. A story example to study. Fun. We’ll have a trial go at this, and then subsequently it will be £15 a session. Maximum ten people. Contact me via my email asap if you are interested.

    Celebratory Flash Fiction Readings and Book launch, 28th September, Bath

    I’m hosting hosting a celebratory evening of flash fiction readings on 28th September from 7.30-10.00 pm at St James Wine Vaults, Bath where we will be launching ‘All That Is Between Us’ the stunning new collection of Flash Fiction by Bristol based author and writing tutor Ken Elkes.
    I’ll be reading here too, along with Flash Fiction Festival team members, presenters and volunteers Diane Simmons, Santino Prinzi, Alison Woodhouse, John Wheway, Grace Palmer and Carrie Etter who are all widely published flash fiction writers. Free entry, free glass of wine, nibbles, late bar, Ken’s book and other books published by Ad Hoc Fiction for sale with cash or card. Do come! There’ll be a great variety of flash fictions to listen to and you never know, you might just get hooked!

    New Year Flash Fiction Series in Bath

    Want to find out more about writing short short fiction this New Year? I’ll introduce you to different styles of flash fiction, (stories of 1000 words and under), we’ll write drafts in the session and you can bring pieces for feedback from a supportive group of keen writers. The sessions take place on Wednesdays 12.00 pm – 2.00 pm at The Ram Public House in Widcombe, Bath. We meet in a quiet room, take a short break for lunch, and have fun. The Winter/Spring series begins Wednesday January 16th and meets weekly, ending Wednesday 17th April. Payable by paypal or via any card
    £96.00 for the first eight sessions, then decide if you want to join the block of seven sessions continuing until Easter. Maximum twelve people.
    Dates of first eight: Jan 16th, 23rd, 30th, February 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th, March 6th.




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