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Garrie Fletcher

~ writing and all that

Garrie Fletcher

Tag Archives: creativity

2020 Vision

27 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by fletcherski in Birmingham, creativity, get published, Publication, Short Stories, Short Story, The Arts, workshops, Writers, writing

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2020, creativity, fiction, shortstories, writing

Hmm, let’s start by looking back.

My last post was concerning the huge boost to arts funding that would become a reality after Labour won the 2019 general election – well, that never happened. A bit of a shock if I’m honest. I’m a bit of an optimist, and I was convinced that Labour’s argument couldn’t fail, but it did, so what does the future hold? Well, not a lot if you’re going to sit around waiting for someone to do things for you. It seems that the right-wing have public opinion sown up, thanks to their super-rich media-moguls, but that doesn’t mean we can’ bring about change in our own lives – just look at the huge impact Greta Thunberg has had upon the world simply by going on strike!

We need to make things happen ourselves – don’t worry, this isn’t the part where I hurl internet platitudes at you, ‘Be the lobster you want to be!’ So what am I doing, apart from displaying my fondness for the word lobster? A few things. Me and a talented friend are putting together a book. We’re both fed up of being at the mercy of literary gatekeepers and decided we’d do it ourselves, but this isn’t some self-publishing vanity project – to be fair, much of the self-publishing world isn’t. This will be a labour of love to a part of our city that means a lot to both of us. We’ll be documenting in words, both factual and fictional, and images, a part of this glorious place we live in that could soon be no more. Some of you may even buy it – now there’s a thought.

I continue to scratch away with my own writing. I will have a short story out this year in a Birmingham themed collection from Dostoyevsky Wannabe, and I continue to send words out to potential publishers – chin up, no man’s put me down yet…

There are opportunities out there for creative types like me and I shall be doing my best to snag a few of them. I enjoy working with others, and unlocking other people’s potential, so I’ll be looking out for more stuff like that as well as stand alone projects. A few are already on my radar – it must be this 2020 vision.

I’ve also agreed to climb Snowden in the dark – climbing it in daylight is too easy! That last statement is something I’d never say. I’ll post some more info regarding this soon.

January has nearly gone and I’ve not done half as much as I intended to. I will do more in February. See you there.

Four Towers Walk

18 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by fletcherski in writing

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Art, Birmingham, Birmingham Literature Festival, creativity, Drawing, Lost Districts, readings, short stories, uk, Walking, West Midlands, writing

I’m walking and talking this Saturday the 19th of October, tomorrow. The wonderful people at Overhear Poetry commissioned me to create a walk that would be a writerly response to my home city of Birmingham, so that’s what I’ve done.

This is not a facts and figures tour. It’s a creative look at a city you think you know, an interpretation of space, environment and architecture. But it’s not all me. I’ll be asking you to respond to points on the walk with snippets of poetic text in the style of Ian McMillan’s daily tweets.

Join me tomorrow at 10:30 outside Birmingham’s Roundhouse and delve into the heart of the city. There are a few tickets still available and you can get them here.

Sketchtember

31 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by fletcherski in Art, Drawing, Event, writing

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creativity, Drawing, fun, september, sketching, worldwide

You don’t need to be confident about your drawing, or even feel that you can draw – everyone can draw, to enjoy sketching. Get those pencils out and recapture the freedom and joy of mark making. Sketchtember is a great idea.

Dr Kevan Manwaring

033-Janeys-Airstream-by-Kevan-Manwaring.jpg Janey’s airstream by Kevan Manwaring (Medium: water-soluble pencil) 2017

The artist Paul Klee once wrote that “Drawing is taking a line for a walk”. Well, how about talking a line for a month-long walk, by rising to the challenge of Sketchtember (AKA ‘Septpencil’) and attempting a pencil sketch every day throughout the month of September? Sketches can literally five minute doodles or two hour masterpieces, in graphic or coloured, on any subject you fancy – the main thing is to have fun!

The idea came to me while undertaking Jake Parker’s great initiative ‘Inktober’ last year. I enjoyed the challenge of doing an ink sketch a day for a month immensely, and really noticed how my drawings improved over four weeks. I thought a natural predecessor would be a month of pencil sketching (I love the sensitivity of pencil and I’m huge fan of masters like Burne Jones and Alan…

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Writing Begets Writing

11 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by fletcherski in creativity, Mental Health, Short Stories, teaching, workshops, writing

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Birmingham, creative writing, creative writing workshop, creativity, Hearth, Mental Health, mental health practitioner, short stories, uk, workshops, writing

I’ve recently been involved with the wonderful Hearth organisation. Founded by Polly Wright, the artistic director, Hearth aims to use the arts to animate key issues in mental health, social care and the humanities, and to promote well-being. I’ve been enlisted, as part of the Writing Begets Writing initiative, to deliver a creative writing workshop in a mental health setting. I’ll be working alongside a mental health practitioner who will continue the work that I start, promoting creative writing as practice to promote well-being and who will encourage the service users to submit work to a short story anthology.

workshop

Fellow writers (left-right) Eugene Egan, Andy Cashmore and Vim Ayadurai

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m really looking forward to working in this field as a writer. I have some experience of working with people who need mental health support but this will be the first time I’ve worked in this setting as a writer. The feedback from mental health service users regarding the benefits of creative writing were incredible.

You can find out more about this project and Hearth here.

Creativity and work.

15 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by fletcherski in creativity, work

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creativity, management, productivity, uk, work

20131215-102208.jpg

A fine piece from Henry Potter in the Guardian on how we only use 15% of our brains whilst at work. Creativity is important in the work place, especially in non creative areas. Take a couple of minutes to read it and then go and make a Christmas Tree out of staff meeting minutes. Click on the link below.

Conformity is killing creativity.

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