How to Fire Up your Poetic Inspiration - this workshop is the perfect way to jumpstart your creative process in the new year!

Often the beginning of a poem seems to arrive out of nowhere. But everything comes from somewhere. How might we locate and encourage inspiration, so that poems come more readily? And how can we sustain our inspiration through the process of editing in order to keep our drafts vital and immediate? How can we deal effectively with writer’s block and what exactly is meant by reader’s block?

John Glenday will discuss the dynamics and origins of inspiration, lead you through a variety of approaches, offering tips and tricks to help nourish the life in your writing and the writing in your life. There will be quick-fire writing exercises to illustrate how inspiration isn’t a passive, receptive process, but an active element in a poet’s working life - one that works more effectively if the poet is reading widely and writing regularly. How can we let inspiration lead and prioritise engaging the reader as much as possible? What’s the difference between ‘reducing’ a poem and creatively refining it? How can we be confident we’re keeping what needs kept and removing the rest?

He’ll talk us through an example of his own editing process tracking a poem from first notebook entry to the final draft, and show how clarity can be found in the clutter of inspiration, and how despite repeated edits, the poem can retain its energy and immediacy.

1.5 hours long

Start time: 9am UK time // 5pm Perth Australia // 7.30pm Adelaide // 7pm Brisbane // 8pm Sydney, AEST // 6.30pm Darwin // 10pm NZ

Advertised times on this site are in London, UK Timezone, but when you add the event to your calendar it should be correct for your local time zone.

You can check your timezone against London UK time here: https://greenwichmeantime.com/time-gadgets/time-zone-converter/

Zoom link and materials will be sent by email at least 2 days prior. If you don’t receive it get in touch with me.

More events here https://www.cathdrake.com