It is lovely to be back at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts. This is the anniversary year for the Sainsbury Centre, it is 40 years old! And looking just as youthful as the day it was built. It is the most wonderful building with so many fascinating artefacts and an exciting programme of special exhibitions and events. Occasionally I come across people in the county who have never visited, I would urge them to so, we have the most extraordinary collection on our doorstep and the building itself is an icon.

I haven’t made any New Year resolutions, given that statistics show that most people have broken them by mid-January, they serve no real purpose. I do however have a folder entitled 2017 The Plan and soon to be renamed 2018 The Plan. It has a number of categories, ten in all, beginning with the overall plan it features domestic plans (such as the conversion of the studio in 2017) and then a number of work categories. I check it throughout the year and adjust accordingly; it gives me an overall picture to the scope of my yearly ambitions and acts as benchmark.
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I’m inveterate list maker although these can be a horrible ball and chain as items frequently get dragged from one day’s list to the next with no satisfactory sense of completion. A yearly plan is different, when a project hasn’t got off the ground I can assess the reasons why. Often it is entirely out of my hands, perhaps dependent on the cogs of an organisation to turn; there were three failures to launch in 2017.  Some domestic projects, like six months in design and planning and then a twenty weeks build can set back or derail any number of winning ideas.

Interestingly, as I look down the 2017 categories not one is writing. You may find this extraordinary for someone who is a writer, but this is because the writing gets done whatever. It is my life blood, the written page is one area I have control over, at least in the early stages. So immediately after turning out the detritus thrown haphazardly into my study during the festive period I will, once again be happily settled at my keyboard tapping my way into a creative 2018.

On the theme of writing may I pass on this interesting Ted Talk by Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown Literary Agency ‘How to Write a Best Seller’ -  with thanks to Katherine Gregor for sending me the link.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v+mDuP2BsVy4
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Prose in Progress at Anteros Arts, Norwich on 28th Oct 10-4pm has just 3 places left, please scroll down for booking details.

FRAGMENT - an exhibition by Mandy Rogers, continues at Nunns Yard 23-25 St Augustines St Norwich until Oct 8th.
Below is an image from the exhibition which combines art and text in a fascinating show.

Many of you know that I rarely mention the C word until after bonfire night, but this workshop might be just what you need to survive the festive season. It's run in part by one of my mentees Lyn, and sounds just the thing for those in need of a seasonal survival strategy. 

How to Survive Christmas?
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A Writing for Wellbeing Workshop
Norwich Wellbeing Centre
 
Saturday 11th November - 10am - 4.30pm - £55
 
This is a one day workshop for those who want to approach and experience the Christmas and New Year holiday season in a more authentic way and free themselves from the expectations, constraints and pressures that may be felt during this time of year.
 
This is a workshop for those who want to benefit from exploring their thoughts and feelings about Christmas and the holiday season using expressive writing.
Facilitators: Jacqui Empson-High and Lyn Hazleton.
Booking and further information from Lyn on 07719 736600 or email lyn.hazleton@btinternet.com

You will have noticed that blogging has been put on the back burner for some time now. Editing my novel, teaching, mentoring and a major building project at Meadow Cottage have been my enjoyable time thieves. I have been working with one of my mentees, Mandy Rogers, whose forthcoming exhibition FRAGMENT opens in October at Nunns Yard, Norwich.(See the flyer for full details.) Working with Mandy has been a fascinating journey, because of our shared passion for writing and our background in art the sessions have been alive with flashes inspiration; acting as a guide to this exhibition has been a privilege. FRAGMENT will be intriguing and beguiling, I urge you to see it.

You can read Mandy's experience of the mentoring process below.

Scroll down to read details of my 'Prose in Progress' workshop Oct 28th Anteros Arts. Norwich. Limited places - book early.

Mentoring and Me by Mandy Rogers
 
Meetings with Patricia have helped me focus, prioritise, time manage and stay on track. The discussions we have had had revolved around preparing for a planned exhibition, in which I had set out to explore a relation between the visual and my recent ventures into writing. Patricia is an ideal person to help with this, as she is an artist and a writer.
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As well as valuing her experienced and more detached eye and great practical help in establishing a framework and timetable for various tasks, my experience of our meetings was one of bouncing ideas around - a kind of collaborative journey, which felt exciting, and creative in itself. Patricia has been an affirming presence. She takes what I am trying to do seriously, does not allow self effacing apologies for the work, and gives clear constructive feed back about ideas and particular details of written work. This has helped me take it seriously, and to commit to the work, even when I am feeling very unsure about it. Patricia is also a mine of information about museums, creative resources and a very skilled writing tutor/facilitator. In short, these mentoring sessions have been immensely helpful.

Prose in Progress Part 1 - Saturday 28th October 2017 10-4pm Anteros Arts Foundation, 11-15 Fye Bridge St. Norwich. NR3 1LJ

A one day workshop for prose writers and multi-disciplinary arts professionals. Designed to empower writers and creatives to sustain longer projects over time, be they a short story collection, novel, memoir based fiction, art, illustrated fiction or a multi-disciplinary creative project. 

Prior to the workshop you will share your work with the group for discussion on the day. You will develop the tools and structures to take responsibility for your own autonomous learning and creative practise, through exercises, analysis and group discussion and form a plan and structure to keep the world at bay sufficiently to sustain creativity and consistently build your project to completion. There will be a follow up workshop in February.

Because of the focused nature of this workshop places are strictly limited to 8 participants.

Fee £65.00 - Booking essential and early booking advised. Email: mullinpatricia@gmail.com for booking information.
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Two quite disturbing issues regarding writing and imagination were recently been brought to my attention, one by a student, the other in the press.

At my recent Prose Progression course a member of the cohort told me that they had come across a writer being heavily criticised for writing as the opposite gender. This it was considered an appalling subterfuge, in modern parlance sometimes termed ‘cultural or gender appropriation’.A few weeks later Anthony Horowitz claimed that an American editor has ‘warned him off’ including a black character as it would be ‘inappropriate’ as a white writer. The editor was from the US and I should point out that his publisher denies this was said. Horowitz responded ‘Taking it to its logical extreme all my characters will from now be 62 year– old white Jewish men living in London.’

When writing a novel, writers invent people, creatures, aliens and other worlds, it’s called making it up and it stems from cleverly employing ones imagination. I don’t think the majority of readers will be surprised to find that novelists make things up; when we embark on reading a novel we suspend our disbelief, just like going to the theatre or watching a film. I don’t know of anyone who believes that Maggie Smith has spent many years living in a van outside Alan Bennett’s home in North London.

Now reader, I hope that you won’t be too shocked to learn that my writing often contains people that I have imagined, people who are not myself, or like me in any way. Some of them are also children, I have been a child, some are very elderly, I am not yet elderly, some are men, I have never been a man. Others come from cultures unrelated to my own Scots/Irish/English heritage. Some of them are bad, they do dreadful things and one short story character in particular is a misogynist and consequently this has been hard to place and I am quite certain that this is because he has unpalatable character traits. Which brings me to another point, it is often thought that the writer shares the opinions of their characters, they do not, writers are quite capable of convincingly portraying unpleasant folk with great truthfulness this is one of the reasons we enjoy reading.


 
Ex-Cathedra is the name chosen by many of my former students from the Norwich Cathedral courses who went on to form their own writing group. They have recently published this splendid collection ‘Ten Minute Tales’ specifically written for those suffering from dementia and those that read to them. I was cautioned by one of the writers as the stories ‘…had to be ones that would not raise anxiety often associated with dementia…hopefully there is enough range to engage reader and listener, rekindle memories and promote conversations.’ Well there certainly is; WWII land girls, the abdication and recovering from grief through travel are just some of the stories that will engage readers and those reading to them, as will the scattering of poetry and photographs that aid memory.
​
My mother suffered from vascular dementia in her latter years and a book with short stories of restricted length, some poetry and illustrations would have been perfect for her. All the proceeds from the book are going to the Alzheimer’s Society. I will be donating my review copy to the local Docking care home. Perhaps some of you might purchase a copy and donate it to someone suffering with dementia or to your local care home, helping those affected and the great work of the Alzheimer’s Society in one modest purchase. Oh, and do tell your friends. Details of how to purchase a copy are at the foot of this post.
 
Ten Minute Tales — Graham Porter writes on how this project was realised.
 
Imagine the surprise of discovering that a drawer full of dross is really a drawer full of gems.  That was very much the experience of Norwich writers’ group Ex Cathedra recently. Every week, Ex Cathedra members bring a short written piece to their meeting and share it with their fellow writers.  It’s occasionally a poem, but usually a story.  So, over the years, all the group members have accrued a store of flash fiction, not quite knowing what would become of it.
 
Then one of the authors encountered a neighbour living with dementia and discovered that her reading of novels had been curtailed by the inability to retain characters and plot from one read to the next.  Thus was spawned the inspiration to select and edit the best of the group’s poems and flash fiction into an anthology, specifically aimed at those living with dementia.  Norfolk County Council’s Public Health Team and the Library Service were supportive in trialling some of the material at Care Homes and Cafés, and with financial assistance for the initial publication.  Thea Abbott, of Smokehouse Press was brilliantly helpful with editing and formatting, and on 15th May this year Ex Cathedra published Ten Minute Tales.
Ex Cathedra have their roots in a creative writing course at Norwich Cathedral between 2008 and 2010, tutored by none other than Patricia Mullin.  When the course was completed, several participants remained together and started their own group, choosing a name that reflected their origins.  Five of the seven authors of Ten Minute Tales took part in one or both years of Patricia’s course. 
 
The authors:
Shirley Buxton; Brenda Daggers; Lea Jamieson; Stuart McCarthy; Graham Porter; Avril Suddaby; Valerie Turner.
 
Profits are being donated to the Alzheimer’s Society and below are the ways of purchasing a copy.
 
The most cost-effective way for the charity is to purchase direct from The Smokehouse Press @ £7.50 plus postage (Jarrolds of Norwich have a few copies). ISBN 978-0-9576335-6-8 You need to click at the end of the blue link below to get it to take you directly to the company.
thea@smokehousepress.co.uk     The Smokehouse Press

​Two quite disturbing issues regarding writing and imagination were recently been brought to my attention, one by a student, the other in the press. At my recent Prose Progression course a member of the cohort told me that they had come across a writer being heavily criticised for writing as the opposite gender. This it was stated was an appalling subterfuge, in modern parlance sometimes termed ‘cultural or gender appropriation’.A few weeks later Anthony Horowitz claimed that an American editor has ‘warned him off’ including a black character as it would be ‘inappropriate’ as a white writer. The editor was from the US and I should point out that his publisher denies this was said. Horowitz responded ‘Taking it to its logical extreme all my characters will from now be 62 year– old white Jewish men living in London.’

When writing a novel, writers invent people, creatures, aliens and other worlds, it’s called making it up and it stems from cleverly employing ones imagination. I don’t think the majority of readers will be surprised to find that novelists make things up; when we embark on reading a novel we suspend our disbelief, just like going to the theatre or watching a film. I don’t know of anyone who believes that Maggie Smith has spent many years living in a van outside Alan Bennett’s home in North London.

Now reader I hope that you won’t be too shocked to learn that my writing often contains people that I have imagined, people who are not myself, or like me in any way. Some of them are also children, I have been a child, some are very elderly, I am not yet old, some are men, I have never been a man. Others come from cultures unrelated to my own Scots/Irish/English heritage. Some of them are bad, they do dreadful things and one character in particular (a man guarding a rare stamp) is a misogynist and consequently this, has only ever been shortlisted in a competition and I am quite certain that this is because he has unpalatable character traits. Which brings me to another point, it is often thought that the writer shares the opinions of their characters, they do not. But writers are quite capable of convincingly portraying unpleasant folk with great truthfulness, which is one of the reasons we enjoy reading. 
 
Ex-Cathedra is the name chosen by many of my former students from the Norwich Cathedral courses who went on to form their own writing group. They have recently published this splendid collection ‘Ten Minute Tales’ specifically written for those suffering from dementia and those that read to them. I was cautioned by one of the writers as the stories ‘…had to be ones that would not raise anxiety often associated with dementia…hopefully there is enough range to engage reader and listener, rekindle memories and promote conversations.’ Well there certainly is; WWII land girls, the abdication and recovering from grief through travel are just some of the stories that will engage readers and those reading to them, as will the scattering of poetry and photographs that aid memory.

My mother suffered from vascular dementia in her latter years and a book with short stories of restricted length, some poetry and illustrations would have been perfect for her. All the proceeds from the book are going to the Alzheimer’s Society. I will be donating my review copy to the local Docking care home. Perhaps some of you might purchase a copy and donate it to someone suffering with dementia or to your local care home helping those affected and the great work of the Alzheimer’s Society in one modest purchase. Oh, and do tell your friends. Details of how to purchase a copy are at the foot of this post.
 
Ten Minute Tales — Graham Porter writes on how this project was realised.
 
Imagine the surprise of discovering that a drawer full of dross is really a drawer full of gems.  That was very much the experience of Norwich writers’ group Ex Cathedra recently. Every week, Ex Cathedra members bring a short written piece to their meeting and share it with their fellow writers.  It’s occasionally a poem, but usually a story.  So, over the years, all the group members have accrued a store of flash fiction, not quite knowing what would become of it.
 
Then one of the authors encountered a neighbour living with dementia and discovered that her reading of novels had been curtailed by the inability to retain characters and plot from one read to the next.  Thus was spawned the inspiration to select and edit the best of the group’s poems and flash fiction into an anthology, specifically aimed at those living with dementia.  Norfolk County Council’s Public Health Team and the Library Service were supportive in trialling some of the material at Care Homes and Cafés, and with financial assistance for the initial publication.  Thea Abbott, of Smokehouse Press was brilliantly helpful with editing and formatting, and on 15th May this year Ex Cathedra published Ten Minute Tales.
Ex Cathedra have their roots in a creative writing course at Norwich Cathedral between 2008 and 2010, tutored by none other than Patricia Mullin.  When the course was completed, several participants remained together and started their own group, choosing a name that reflected their origins.  Five of the seven authors of Ten Minute Tales took part in one or both years of Patricia’s course. 
 
The authors: 
Shirley Buxton; Brenda Daggers; Lea Jamieson; Stuart McCarthy; Graham Porter; Avril Suddaby; Valerie Turner. With the support of Norfolk County Council Public Health Department and Norfolk County Council Library Service.
 
Profits are being donated to the Alzheimer’s Society and below are the ways of purchasing a copy.
 
The most cost-effective way for the charity is to purchase direct from The Smokehouse Press @ £7.50 plus postage (Jarrolds of Norwich have a few copies). ISBN 978-0-9576335-6-8

​www.thesmokehousepress.co.uk