Creative Workshops 2007 September Writing
Newsletter
… a noncausal …relationship between
physical and psychic events… Synchronicity takes the events of space and time
as meaning more than mere chance… (Carl Jung)
Dear writer
Synchronicity
Last week I was browsing at
I return Richo to the shelf and we share
a coffee and a Hasidic story from the book about a niggun. Margot is able to
elucidate - the niggun
is a tune that induces a prayerful attitude. She talks animatedly of last
week’s Jung conference. (That man again.)
Then I find that the
He prefaces a poem for his son, Josh, on how nature teaches
paradoxes. Part of it reads:
running …to the edge of the pond
with the bread you kept carefully broken -
duck bite size - your face … fell.
not one white feather anywhere.
the choice: keep your bread
or cast it upon the waters anyway.
tardy ducks might come
some other-Joshless-day.
a toss - and suddenly…
an arrow of
ducks
came gliding single pointedly, to your feet…
from thin air,
from nowhere, from everywhere.
So writing and the writing life leads me day by day into such
places – where what mediaeval mystics refer to as unus mundus (one world) arrives as epiphany
to remind that in this one living body, matter and spirit are ever in
conversation.
Spring Workshops
I’m joining old friends Zanendaba (Bring
forth the story) and some Gogos at their Indaba 12-14
Sept south of Egoli. What a telling this
will be. (storytelling@zanendaba.org.za)
Wakkerstroom 21-
24 Sept
Over the long weekend - two events at
the Wakkerstroom Country Inn (2,7 hrs
drive SE ex Egoli) Why not
stay over at the
A Wakkerstroom
Creative Writing Workshop R190
Sat 22 Sept 09.30 – 12.45 (registration 09.15)
The good news? Everybody has a story to tell and anybody can
write. Writing is not a talent. It is a learnt skill. This workshop gets
you started so you can glide across the page. Connect to your creativity and
imagination and be at home with words. The workshop shows you how to reach your
readers.
Beginners are welcome. Dorian has shown many people how to find the writer hiding inside
them. Come and learn
to ‘dance.’ Bring writing materials.
Wakkerstroom Bosman & Boerekos Evening R150.00
Sat 22 Sept 19.00 (repeated Sun 23 Sept)
It is not the story that counts. It's
the way you tell it (Oom Schalk
Lourens)
You are invited to join us for an evening of fun, laughter and
great food & wine, with Herman Charles Bosman
stories. Listen to Oom Schalk
narrate stories of love, leopards, peach brandy, concertinas and psalm
singing as you savour traditional South African cuisine. And sip a farmer’s thumb of mampoer.
Payment for Bosman eve: Wakkerstroom Country Inn ABSA Acc no: 4059567695
Branch: Volksrust ( ‘Bosman’ plus your name as reference)
Proof of payment fax: 017
7300621 email: stay@countryinn.co.za
Egoli
: Learning to Dance: Crafting
your Writing R450
Sun 30 Sept
09.30 – 16.00
True ease in
writing comes from art not chance
As those move
easiest who have learnt to dance.
(Alexander Pope)
Writing involves creating a text then crafting it. Peter Elbow (Writing with Power) compares creating to sailing from the harbour
into the blue beyond. He likens crafting to plotting our way home to the
harbour.
In
this workshop we sail out and we sail home. We create our first drafts. We
craft shape and structure them. We balance what is said with what is implied.
We ask the questions “How can I encourage the creativity of the reader?” “How
can I be present in the text and find my voice?” “How can I let the text sing?”
Beginners
are welcome. Come and learn to ‘dance.’ Venue to be
announced.
coming in Octember…
a mini-workshop for Book
Club Members and anyone who loves reading
2 Oct 19.00 - 21.00
…for book club
members who love words, enjoy reading and want to talk about
books. The talk is also for those who might be closet writers. Dorian draws some of his ideas from Francine Prose’s
Meadowridge Library. contact Donve Lee donvelee@iafrica.com 021 7853738
13 -14 Oct. Sat 09.30 –17.15 Sun 09.30 – 15.15 (Dorian & Peter Fox)
The seasons of the year, like the seasons of our lives, prepare us
for changes. These changes confront us with loss as we make the transition to a
new stage. We explore, discover and reflect these realities as we write and
meditate on the transformations in our journey. We consider how writing helps
us dip the oars into dark water so we may cross the river safely. (repeat of Ixopo workshsop)
Port Elizabeth
The Achilles Heal: Metaphor and Therapy
(a workshop for Therapists)
Fri 19(eve) and Sat 20 Oct (morning)
When it’s over, I want to say: all my lifeI was a bride married to amazement
I was the bridegroom
, taking the world into my arms….(Mary Oliver)
I’ll be looking at how metaphors connect us
to ourselves, to others and to our healing.
and how poetry, rich in metaphor, leads us to the source.
Gillian Smale is kindly organizing this. smale@wol.co.za (therapist friends elsewhere…set one up?)
and November…
Hogsback Poetry Retreat… R1950
Wed eve 21-Sun lunch 25 Nov (accommo,
meals and travel own expense)
Join East Cape poets Cathal Lagan and
Brain Walter and
Poem Poem Poem (PPP) Making Poetry (Dorian andBob Commin )
There are seven poets-in-the-making on the adventure. Two of the travellers respond
to the process
of a poem. “Life is poetry in process. After ten years of trying I finally wrote
what Caroline Myss terms ‘a prayer that is equal to
your life.’” (Solva Burger) “Writing creates, calls forth reality, and it does seem to me that
the process of really getting into a poem or writing one does somehow enlarge
ones sense of the real” (Sheena
Mann.) Next course Feb.
08.
The Poet’s Voice: Advanced
Writing Course (Dorian and Bob Commin)
Six poets have joined us on this four month email apprenticeship. Their poetry
journals are vital to the
process. Our concern is not an academic
but a holistic approach where a meeting of reader and poet takes place in and
through the text. Kathy Lewis writes:
If I am going to take an
impression from another poet, I want it to be a deep and lasting one. When I
rebel against the teacher, I want to know she is still great. I never want to
despise him, just grow off on my own tangent, and come back to her works with
fondness and the chance of finding fresh visions in the deep pools of his work
that come from the sharpening of my own sight as a poet-person.
Flyer on request. Next
course Feb. 08
Write Write Write: Writers’ Development: Email Course (WWW)
Elma Pollard, who writes a weekly earth column in the Bolander, facilitates most of this course. A participant, Roger Seeman writes “my wife phoned our daughter
in
Book
in Progress
Elma is working with Fern Yates who has been on our WWW course.
Fern is assembling short stories for children for submission to a publisher. She
writes, “ We could choose aspects of life and each
of us writes different facets of that particular aspect e.g. appreciating
oneself ; overcoming obstacles; dealing with bullies. We are all treasure
chests of experience.” (FernY@ihd.com)
Book Celebration
Krystyna Smith’s A Music Strange
and Manifold, A Song of Healing Sun 2 Sept is out
in the world. Elma Pollard mid-wifed and I mentored
the book. Congratulations Krystyna. She will be a
guest on Dr Eve’s radio show on Good Hope FM,
Pillow Talk, Sept 5 8.30-9.30pm
I will be working in stories with Morten Nygard whom I mentor. Morten explores body types and natural strengths in the
context of leadership and development.
Workshops/Literary
Events with other Folk
Bob Commin (poet, creativity coach , storyteller and
pastor) runs
poetry courses/events in the Southern Suburbs (Obs to
Fish Hoek) (h)
021 447 9550 082 2025303 bcommin@netactive.co.za www.making-poetry.com Shed some old skins
Aneta Shaw (psychologist) is running a workshop, Love And Be Loved, combined with a
meditative yoga session presented by Jennifer
at the yoga centre, Sundara, in
Gilly Southwood (Story-teller/Creativity Coach) (021-7882568) and artist Cynthia offer
a work/playshop Sat 15 Sept. Imaginings - the Gift of
the Future- “We through
the power of story, pictures and paint, look forward to exploring, the talents,
gifts and opportunities that you might uncover in the days that lie ahead.” R400.00 - materials included.
Tredicis
in the
If you are wanting to write, seek the
company of writers. Paul and Fadelah host Hugh Hodge’s Off the Wall Poetry readings once a month on Weds. (hahodge@gmail.com). and Thurs 6 Sept is story night … theme? Myths of the God and Goddess with
Dorian
As you cast your words on the water, may ducks land ever at your feet. May story time intersect with tick-tock
time.
Dorian
PS Thank you to all those
who circulate this letter. Sign off if
you need to. (I need your name please to deregister you)
Dr Dorian Haarhoff
021 855 3937 / 082 873 6802/ fax 086 511 4751
http://dorianhaarhoffwriter.homestead.com