Author: Pearse & Black

Pearse & Black was started by Josie and Penny, two women who met in a writing group in the early 1990s. They were published together in the first anthology of that group. Josie says Penny wrote a poem that she will never forget. Penny says Josie taught her to ignore that internal critic until the writing is done.

Finding Your Voice (Again)

Finding Your Voice (Again)

The sign up details are here…

The course now begins on 26th September with a small band of us writers who will be able to stay right at home and connect across the world. Miraculous!

There is a test session on 19th September at 9.30am. email Josie for the link. You need a computer but all you do is click… and arrive in a room with other writers. It’s a visual, virtual conference room so we will all be able to see as well as hear each other.

The course will cost £80 for four weeks. You can use your PayPal account, to send payment to PearseandBlack@gmail.com

We will be a small group  – 6 at most – and the idea is to play with ideas and build support for your precious work. The next stage of the journey, should you want to carry on may in longer courses later in the study-year where we will look at techniques for developing work.

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Finding Your Voice

Finding Your Voice

I am planning a live online group on a Thursday starting in September 2019. So a small band of us writers will be able to stay right at home and connecting across the world. Miraculous!

I’ve been testing it out and although it takes a few minutes to get used to, it’s viable writers’ group. You need a computer and we can practice before the course begins. There’ll be a Zoom link and all you do is click… and arrive in a room with other writers. It’s a visual, virtual conference room so we will all be able to see as well as hear each other.

Without having to hire a room, I can make the course inexpensive.

The main focus of this group is to find out what you really want or need to write next.  What do you want to say? What has been bugging you? What comes out when you write freely? We will be doing some exercises to discover what’s there at the moment.

In this short course we will try different forms. What suits your voice now?  Fiction? The personal essay or memoir? Poetry? Script? Song? Nothing is off limits in this experimental phase. Lets push the boat out and see where we go. All I ask is that you take the writer inside of you and our room-mates seriously.

Lately, I’ve been working on something I can only call  a hybrid. After editing my historical novel this spring I am beginning to throw myself into something different. I don’t quite know what to call it yet except experimental.  It could be an essay. The word comes from the French Verb essayer meaning to try.  All we can do, right?

The course will cost £80 for four weeks and there is one concessionary place. Please email Josie Pearse to ask about that.

We will be a small group  – 6 at most – and the idea is to play with ideas and build support for your precious work. The next stage of the journey, should you want to carry on may in longer courses later in the study-year where we will look at techniques for developing work.

To join Finding your voice please email  Josie Pearse with a sentence or two about yourself and what makes you want to join this.

Specialist writers’ groups for sustaining momentum while you write a long piece of work.

Specialist writers’ groups for sustaining momentum while you write a long piece of work.

Why is writing so difficult to get down to at times? In our groups you get the space for your work to breathe, whatever stage it’s at. Writers get inspiration, feedback from other practitioners on problematic areas… and discuss ideas which may still be tentative.

Using our long experience, we put the groups together carefully, to make the most of their potential for peer to peer help. In these writerly environments  you find ways forward, bringing your work into existence. Sometimes we just write together. We have successfully mixed screenwriters, playwrights and memoirists with the core of novelists who make up our groups. We look at what stories have in common and, in our longer groups, we invite visiting specialists in these fields. You get the chance to hear other peoples’ work, and when you’re ready, read out your own. You also learn strategies for sustaining momentum and get at least one private block-busting session.

Eight-week groups

Small groups of writers, mostly novelists, serious about finishing a longer piece of work, who get together weekly  in Central London (Tottenham Court Road). Next group begins September 2017.

Writing a long piece is arduous, and the momentum is more easily sustained when others commit to you and your work, and encourage you.

There is a taught aspect each week of the course. You  learn in-depth about  sentences, scenes, plot, pacing and rhythm, among other things. … and each week at least one member of the group reads their latest piece of work. So the combination of accountability and stimulation helps you stay with it.

Workshops

We do one-off workshops at festivals, shows and in places with an interesting feel.

Coaching

Josie  offers phone coaching for blocked or stuck writers

 

 

 

 

 

 

Write & Meets

Occasionally we just get a group of writers together without a theme to explore things they are working on and may be a bit stuck with. If this kind of group would interest you, let us know.

“Penny is a narrative chiropractor.” Sarah C., writer and director.

“… the focus is on the process of writing, what helps, what hinders me from being creative… and figuring out what my own process is …. thank you for everything. I truly believe in myself as a writer and feel confident in telling people I’m a writer and what I’m working on.”

Karen M.,  Getting it Written.

A Sense of Place…a taster workshop in central London on November 13

A Sense of Place…a taster workshop in central London on November 13

We think we’ve have discovered a gem of a place to write. It’s very central –  near Tottenham Court Road Station – and steeped in writing history. The room is very quiet and we’ll be writing around a huge 400 year old table. Just for this taster, we are focusing on place, and giving you a sample of what Josie and Penny  can offer as teachers and mentors to your writing. Does place matter to your writing life? Writers often have a favourite place to write. We can be quite attached to our rituals.  Nothing wrong with that but is the perfect place essential for a writing session, or is it just habit? Does it matter? It is a revelation to see that one can write on trains, in cafes, anywhere. It frees up the process sometimes. And what does it take to evoke place in writing? Do we have the same associations as our readers? Unlikely perhaps. Then how do we take them to where we want them to go? Our workshop is rooted in practical exercises, and there will  also be a bit of block-busting should you need it, in the good company of other writers. This session costs just £10 as it is a taster for the 8 week course we are starting in January. See the courses tab for more detail about that. Hot drink and a biscuit provided and writerly networking of course. To book email us at: pearseandblack@gmail.com

Watch This Space….

The first full-length course with Pearse & Black starts on Thursday, 9th January 2015 at a venue near Tottenham Court Road. The times of the course are 7pm to 9pm.

For information, please fill out the form below and we will get back in touch with you.