I spent last week with members of the National Association for Writers in Education (NAWE) at Ty Newydd, the writers’ centre in Wales. The set up is rather like an Arvon Foundation course, where you are required to help prepare one meal during the week and you’re free to attend workshops/concentrate on your writing project, depending on the programme you’ve chosen. (The courses at Ty Newydd are well worth considering, if you’re interested in training to develop your writing.) My week in Wales was a delightful retreat, hosted by NAWE’s Anne Caldwell.
To get us going, Sarah Hymas offered a workshop on ‘starting points’ which provided a range of activities that got me thinking about how to use childhood memories, dreams, music and other art forms to inspire writing by drawing upon the senses. With that rich beginning, I managed to polish off two pieces of flash fiction I’d been struggling with and bash away at the re-write of Manipulation. You may remember from a post about the New Writers’ Scheme earlier in the year, I have until 31 August to sumit the whole manuscript for feedback. I now feel confident that I’ve made enough headway to keep going and hope the draft will be in reasonable shape by the end of the summer. All I need to do now is keep the momentum going!
the writer is a lonely hunter 
Sounds like it would be a good boost to anyone struggling to develop a regular writing habit.
Absolutely! Hope you’re enjoying your holiday!
Good luck on fostering your momentum! The workshop on starting points does sound interesting.
Sarah gave a good session – she’s going to post the activites in her website.
Glad you enjoyed your time at Ty Newydd, Gail. I went to a writing retreat there last year, also led by Anne Caldwell. It was a great week in a beautiful setting. I’m still in touch with the poets I spent time with, and we continue to support each other with our writing.
I think Anne Caldwell is a wonderful retreat leader.