INKSPILL 2017

Welcome to the 5th Annual Online Writer Retreat here at AWF. As with previous years I will be announcing our Guest Writers and full programme. Dive into the posts as they arrive in real time (GMT), or read and use them at your leisure. The INKSPILL posts remain unlocked and can be utilised at any time.

Simple RULES
Please FOLLOW the blog to take part in the weekend.
LIKE the post when you have read it.

I would appreciate this because I am offering you this weekend free of charge and hope that you will spread the word of the retreat to others. Also from a pure admin point if you LIKE each post after you read them I can see who’s taking part

The statistics always shoot through the roof so I know that there are a lot of people logging in and having a read. Join in, comment, send your writing, thoughts and feedback.

Here is a whistle-stop tour of the history of INKSPILL, which I created the same year as the blog 2013.

 I created a page on the blog which is updated annually with the COMING SOON information. https://awritersfountain.wordpress.com/inkspill/ The INKSPILL posts appear on the main blog.

The first year I ran it for 3 days and did it all by myself. Subsequent years have been 2 days and I have involved Guest Writers, who have all kindly given their time and expertise free of charge.

I owe the conception to Iyanla Vanzant who runs a Wonder Woman Weekend in USA, something I couldn’t afford to attend. I thought about the money retreats cost and how good it would be to access some material for free. As with all things in life this may change slightly in the future, for now it remains free.

Our Guest Writers were: William Gallagher, Charlie Jordan & Heather Wastie 

Our Guest Writers were: David Calcutt, Alison May & Daniel Sluman

Our Guest Writers were: Deanne Gist, Gaia Harper (Foyles Young Poet 2015) & Roy McFarlane.

SpeakEasy – 14th August – Homegrown Talent

SpeakEasy this month was packed, much to the relief of Maggie Doyle who was hosting whilst Fergus McGonigal (current Worcester Poet Laureate) is away over the summer. It had never crossed my mind that Maggie would panic about attendance.

There were no open mic spots left, so I settled back to enjoy an evening of poetry. I went with Claire Walker who was performing, I love her work. There were many other talented poets as well as some first timers.

It is unusual for me not to take part, sometimes it is refreshing to just breathe and listen. The flipside is the adrenalin doesn’t kick in and you go straight to bed, when you get home.

The headline act was Ben Parker, an Oxfordshire poet who comes from Worcester. Fantastic poetry and a refreshing set that was enjoyed by everybody.

INKSPILL 2013 – Thanks and Credits

 

Thanks to everybody who has dipped in or taken part in the INKSPILL Online Writing Retreat 2013. It has been a very successful initial venture and awritersfountain will definitely host an annual INKSPELL event.

 

The initial idea came when I found out about Iyanla_Vanzant’s Wonder Woman Weekend.

 

I couldn’t afford to go, although it would have been a great event to attend, I decided I could facilitate my own special weekend in place of this.

And Inkspill was born.

You voted for the name (although it was my favourite choice) and some of the content of the weekend and statistics show that this has been the busiest weekend all year, somewhere at the beginning of the life of the blog (February) we hit 116 as the busiest day, this was slam dunked with 162 hits/ visitors on the first day of INKSPILL and it hasn’t dipped much since.

We hope that everyone who came has gained something from their visit. Many of you will have produced new writing or discovered something new. Made connections or found some great websites and resources.

 

Many thanks to everyone who kindly gave permission to have their work reproduced and sites linked to the INKSPILL event.

 

 

We would appreciate you spending a few minutes to feedback here

Until next year…

Hay House World Summit 2013

I only found out about this event today, it is the first time Hay House have done a free online summit. It was held between October 12 -18th and 35 interviews from the original 100 are still available to listen to for the next 10 hours.

Well worth a look. You may find some guidance very useful.

http://www.hayhouseworldsummit.com/listen/

 

The Cost of Peace and Wellbeing

I have nearly completed my Nano mission – so as with all writers when we are working on ‘overload’ and steps away from achieving our goal – I venture onto Social Media – just for a quick glance at everybody else’s lives today!
I came across a couple of links which inspired this article.

I am a fan of Iyanla Vanzant   her visions, methods and books! I have a few and have read many others. During the depth of my illness last year her book on Empowerment really helped me survive.

I found out about the ‘Wonder Woman Weekend’ –  in Washington DC at the end of October. My interest was peeked and I went to check it out at the website – the workshops and ideas for the weekend look fantastic and if I lived anywhere near I would probably find a way between now and the autumn to raise the funds. However, I would have to factor in a flight as well.

I am tempted. But it raised this question of expense. The only comments on the Social Media link so far have been from women begging her to bring the cost down.

Now I bet it will be worth every cent – but it is a little on the ‘Oh My – How Much?!’ side of things. Anyway whether I go or not I have bookmarked the website. This year we aren’t having a holiday because we have just bought the house, moved etc. and this is more than I would budget for a week’s holiday for us.

However, I can’t help but be inspired and she has inspired me to run an event for writer’s and followers of this blog! So SPREAD THE WORD – more information coming soon.

Some quotes from the great lady herself;

“So many of us invest a fortune making ourselves look good to the world, yet inside we are falling apart. It’s time to invest on the inside.”
― Iyanla Vanzant     

“When you stand and share your story in an empowering way, your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else.”
― Iyanla Vanzant

“ choice is a divine teacher, for when we choose we learn that nothing is ever put in our path without a reason.”
― Iyanla Vanzant

“Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self-esteem. We cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth.”
― Iyanla Vanzant