Wild Lines

A writing group for stories of the wild, the weird, the dark and the dismissed

The sky is grey. Heavy and full, it presses down, a lid with no sense of ending, no sense of all the blue sky that must be up there, somewhere, if you go high enough. This week it has rained, and I have been indoors too much, working in a studio on an industrial estate where the air smelt of biscuits from a factory and everything was concrete, and yet as I walked from the station to the big grey shed where I spent my days, I listed things - wild things, weird things, dismissed things.

One single brown leaf left on otherwise bare branches. The day getting light, slow, impossible to pinpoint, one moment blue, they grey, then day. The treacle-thick leaf mulch in the gutter, already halfway to gone, no longer made of many separate things, close to becoming one. Tarmac cracking around the roots of trees it cannot help to contain, the great swell of the ground. The round balls of seed pods, strung like baubles overhead. The red of leaves of a hedge pressing through the blue bars of the fence. Heather in planters outside the factory. My breath in a plume in front of me.

Again and again I confront this writing life and how to make it feel right, feel full, feel mine. So much of it is, for me, this noticing of small wildnesses, of the overlooked, of a kind of dark beauty, and sharing these things, making them matter by pointing them out. Last week’s post was concerned with being ‘good’ at something. This week I am focused on the bigger picture - the things that make all the striving beautiful, that bring inspiration and solace and light. I am convinced so much of this lies in creative community - others to work alongside, who are consumed by the same thoughts, who are striving on as we are, devoting ourselves to people who live on a page. We need to find the others.

First meet up has now passed, but our next one will be this coming Saturday, 14 Feb - more dates below!

In aid of this, Jess Glaisher and I have begun the writing group we have always wanted. An in person writing group for writers of the weird, the wild, the dark and the dismissed. With a focus on Feminist and Queer stories, and a commitment to the chaos and joy of the writing life, we invite you to join us to work on your own projects.

We will meet for two hours, on the second Saturday morning of each month - that’s next Saturday the 14th for our next one! - by the entrance nearest the Nelson Mandela statue at the Southbank centre London. We will begin with a 15 minute catch up, followed by 45 minutes quiet writing, then a 15 minute break/chat, followed by a final 45 minutes of feedback on each other’s work if wanted, or further writing.

Writing is its own peculiar madness, and only other writers understand. There are many set backs, doubts, and challenges, but still we persevere. The way to stay sane is to find the others - a community of support, respect, and understanding for why you are devoting yourself to people who live on a page. Together, we can hold the madness at bay. Come and join us. We’d love to have you.