We were extremely fortunate to kick off our June Event with a guest speaker, Kathryn Hitchins who gave an inspiring account of her recent journey to becoming a published author with her debut novel, Girl at the End of the Road. She told of how she had always loved to write from a young age but had put it to one side several times thinking she just wasn’t good enough. Adopting a dog and finding time to think again during her daily walks, words popped into her head which couldn’t be ignored. Tentatively and secretively for fear of yet more failure, she began to capture her thoughts and in no time the first draft of her novel was complete. She encourages everyone to write if they have something to say. Not for fame and glory but for the soul enriching experience in itself. To be published is not an easy task; nor is the self promotion expected of today’s authors in the fragmented and multi-channelled, social media fuelled world. Yet Kathryn showed us that, rejection can make you stronger, more determined and more likely to succeed, if you are prepared to step outside of your comfort zone. I’d like to extend a big thank you from everyone who attended.
This event also gave me an opportunity to open the doors to The Writers’ Pod. It was a great success, with a full room of writers and aspiring writers getting to know one another, enjoying Kathryn’s talk and the delicious cakes on offer at The Courtyard Café
The Writers’ Pod organises a mixture of face to face and online events, supported by a closed Facebook group for us to build a virtual coached community where members will gain lots of value from sharing each other’s challenges and from supporting each other, day by day, week by week, with the added structure of a weekly writing challenges, goal setting and coaching support. I understand that many of us, as writers, feel the need to meet face to face, to counter balance the necessary isolation of our profession. Equally many of us are juggling our writing around work and family commitments and benefit from feeling connected without always having leave the house for meet-ups.
Following it’s success, there are plans for further workshops coming soon. Watch this space.