The Writing Squad

Squad 10 Mini Goals
2021-09-20 18:00 - 19:30 UTC | Online
Squad 10 mini goals session.
Email billie@writingsquad.com to get the link.

Poets Mini Goals
2021-09-15 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-09-08 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Poets mini goals.
Email billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Prose Mini Goals
2021-09-14 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
Prose Mini Goals.
Email billie@writingsquad.com for the link.

Ripples of Hope: Jay Bernard 2
2021-09-13 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
For SQ10 poets. There are 2 workshops – one on Friday 10th Sept, one on Monday 13th Sept (both 6pm-7.30pm) and you must attend both.
An opportunity to reflect on and write in response to Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right to a free and fair world which states that “everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in the Declaration can be fully realized.”
In the first workshop Jay will lead us in unpicking the article and we will begin to respond to it as poets. In the second workshop we will share and develop our initial responses. You will then have a week to finish your poem for distribution by the Ripples of Hope Festival which takes place in Manchester the following weekend (17th-19th September). All participants who deliver poems will receive a fee of £100.

Metaphor: Writing With Impact
2021-09-11 11:00 - 16:00 | Leeds
LEEDS – VENUE TBC
Are you looking for ways to make your writing more striking and memorable? This relaxed, hands-on workshop explores metaphors, and how we can use them to create enduring images, and to see things afresh. Unpicking this key aspect of writing, the workshop will lead you through some writing exercises that will push you to play with imagery in new and unexpected ways.
You’ll leave with a greater understanding of the potential of metaphor, and with ideas, exercises and inspiration for using more powerful metaphors in your own writing.
(Suitable for prose writers and poets)
This workshop is for Squad 10, if you are in Squad 1-9 and would like to reserve a place, email Billie on billie@writingsquad.com

Ripples of Hope: Jay Bernard 1
2021-09-10 18:00 - 19:30

The Home Concert 3
2021-09-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Online
ZOOM, OPEN TO ALL SQUADS
The Home Concert is a friendly and informal open mic for Squad songwriters, musicians, poets and more, organised by Louise Essex (Dear Wife).
To sign up for a slot, drop an email to billie@writingsquad.com.
Sign up to the Eventbrite to attend.

SFF Mini Goals
2021-09-06 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Mini goals session for science fiction and fantasy writers.
Email billie@writingsquad.com to receive the link.

SCRIPT MINI GOALS
2021-08-30 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-16 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-02 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
We are seeing how we have done with the mini-goals we set ourselves last week, and maybe renewing them or setting new ones.
This is open to Squad 1-9. If you haven’t been to a previous meeting, you are welcome to join, just let steve@writingsquad.com know you want to come.
You will be sent a link before the meeting and you can go on Zoom from your computer or phone.

POETS MINI GOALS
2021-08-25 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-18 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-11 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-04 17:30 - 19:00 | Online

PROSE MINI GOALS
2021-08-24 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-17 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-10 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-08-03 17:30 - 19:00 | Online

SQUAD 10 MINI GOALS
2021-08-23 17:30 - 19:00, 2021-07-26 18:00 - 19:30 | Online
Setting goals and sharing recommendations. Email billie@writingsquad.com to get the link.

SFF MINI GOALS
2021-08-09 17:30 - 19:00 | Online

SHORT STORY: FIRST DRAFT, FIRST EDIT with Leone Ross
2021-07-31 14:00 - 16:00
An uncompromising workshop in which Leone will explore how to edit the first draft of a short story and offer some hard golden rules that will last you forever and invite a lifelong relationship with the underlying idea. An hour of listening hard, an hour of activity.

Step Change: Applying to DYCP 2
2021-07-29 19:00 - 21:00
NOTE: By signing up to this Eventbrite, you are confirming attendance to BOTH sessions involved. The first on 1st July (7-9pm), the second on 29th July (7-9pm).
Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) is Arts Council England’s funding scheme that aims to provide financial support to individual artists in order to facilitate a step change in their career. In this workshop successful DYCP applicant, Stevie will help you to think strategically about your career as an artist and help you to consider how DYCP funding could best support you in achieving your aims. DYCP is a very competitive funding programme and while it is important to note that attending this workshop will not necessarily guarantee you success in the application process, the aim will be to increase your chances of writing a strong application with support from Stevie and the other workshop participants.

POETS MINI GOALS
2021-07-28 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
This Zoom meeting will last maybe about an hour and not longer than an hour and half.
We are seeing how we have done with the mini-goals we set ourselves last week, and maybe renewing them or setting new ones.
This is open to Squad 1-9 with a focus on poets, there are other groups for script and prose writers. If you haven’t been to a previous meeting, you are welcome to join, just let steve@writingsquad.com know you want to come.
You will be sent a link before the meeting and you can go on Zoom from your computer or phone.

PROSE MINI GOALS
2021-07-27 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
This Zoom meeting will last maybe about an hour and not longer than an hour and half.
We are seeing how we have done with the mini-goals we set ourselves last week, and maybe renewing them or setting new ones.
This is open to Squad 1-9 with a focus on prose, there are other groups for script and poetry writers. If you haven’t been to a previous meeting, you are welcome to join, just let steve@writingsquad.com know you want to come.
You will be sent a link before the meeting and you can go on Zoom from your computer or phone.

FLARF 2021 with Lenni Sanders
2021-07-22 19:30 - 21:00
Flarf poetry – which uses found text from internet sources and plays with intentional ugliness and daftness – was on the up 20 years ago. The internet was a very different place. What does it feel like to write flarf now? The raw materials are different. Are we saying different things?
In this workshop we will play around with text, incorporating the aesthetic, language and moods of the internet, creating new writing that may feel jarring, silly, repetitive, knowing, sly, exuberant, or all of the above. We will draw inspiration from unexpected places, and make ourselves laugh.

Awesome Poetry - Terrance Hayes
2021-07-22 17:30 - 19:00 | Online
One of the very best ways to become a better writer is to read widely and thoughtfully. Building on Emma and Matt’s great work in establishing the Awesome Play Text / Screenplay Reading Club, and Francesca’s prose club, Malika and Stevie are hosting the Awesome Poetry Reading Club to focus on how we can read as writers.
If you want to join us, then here’s what you need to know:
This session will focus on Terrance Hayes’ American Sonnets for my Past and Future Assassin. The book is available to be bought online.
“In seventy poems bearing the same title, Terrance Hayes explores the meanings of American, of assassin, and of love in the sonnet form. Written during the first two hundred days of the Trump presidency, these poems are haunted by the country’s past and future eras and errors, its dreams and nightmares. Inventive, compassionate, hilarious, melancholy, and bewildered – the wonders of this new collection are irreducible and stunning.”

AWESOME PROSE READING CLUB
2021-07-20 18:00 - 19:30
One of the squad’s 3 Awesome Reading groups – designed to think about how we can read as writers. We will be reading Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone’s novella This is How You Lose the Time War – an epic love story spanning time and space.
