It feels so clucking good to be back!
Thank you for joining us last night, plus prompts, community events and more
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In other non-pluggy or future plan news…
It felt so good to be back at our home Lost in Leith last night for the latest installment of The Chicken Coop Writing Group.
I had an egg-ceptionally good time welcoming new and familiar faces to our writing group yesterday. It was egg-xactly what I needed and I hope you had a great time too!
For those of you who couldn’t join us, let’s take a look at…
What we got up to yesterday!
Some of you may have seen this on my Instagram Story…
This little clue informed our first writing task, which was inspired by this post by @arhcaeology___ with photos by Alex Maridashvili on Instagram.
The post text reads:
‘Pareidolia, that delightful quirk of perception, finds its artistic haven in architecture. As the sun's embrace graces facades and rooftops, it illuminates hidden wonders within the lines and angles. Faces peer from windows, and figures dance in ornate details, offering a playful connection between the human mind and the built world. Architects, like conjurers of the extraordinary, orchestrate this dance, turning bricks and beams into a canvas for the imagination. In this enchanting interplay, structures become storytellers, and the mundane whispers secrets of the marvelous.’
Task 1:
Using the photos from this post, I asked our writers to write a piece from the perspective of the building they were given.
This could be anything from a conversation between two of the buildings or a poem from the perspective of the building to a story about one (or two) of the buildings or a comic strip.
As always, the form or medium you choose to write in is entirely up to you.
I’m really pleased that some people took me up on the comic strip writing this month! I knew it’d work someday…
Stretch task:
In this stretch task, the writers were challenged to use the post’s text as inspiration or incorporate any words and phrases they liked into their writing.
Here’s the quote again:
‘Pareidolia, that delightful quirk of perception, finds its artistic haven in architecture. As the sun's embrace graces facades and rooftops, it illuminates hidden wonders within the lines and angles. Faces peer from windows, and figures dance in ornate details, offering a playful connection between the human mind and the built world. Architects, like conjurers of the extraordinary, orchestrate this dance, turning bricks and beams into a canvas for the imagination. In this enchanting interplay, structures become storytellers, and the mundane whispers secrets of the marvelous.’
This is a great technique to use if you’re feeling stuck with writing. It’s part of our practice at the Chicken Coop because sometimes you need to borrow someone else’s words to find your own (and it takes some of the pressure off if you haven’t written in a while).
Task 2:
I tasked the writers with pairing up with someone at their tables to create a conversation between their buildings from task 1. They could choose to write love stories, horrors, comedies, or whatever their hearts desired!
If you’ve joined us before, you’ll know we’re no strangers to collaborative writing at the Chicken Coop and this task encourages people to work together (and it has the bonus of getting everyone to talk to each other).
Stretch task:
Our stretch goal with this task was to trade forms or mediums with their partner. For example, if they usually write poetry, they were asked to write a short story instead. If they write long-form work, they were asked to switch to short-form instead. And so on.
The point of this is to encourage you to try new formats for writing and explore how your skills transfer. The benefit here is to play and discover without the pressure that comes from a familiar format.
Community events
June is fast approaching, so here are some of my top event picks for the start of the month!
Cymera, Scotland’s festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror is this weekend from May 31-June 2. They have loads of writing workshops, panels with authors, plays, role-playing games and a quiz. You can find their programme on their website.
Sad Song Club is back at Sketchy Beats on Wednesday, June 5. Host Dan Collins welcomes poetry, spoken word, and music at these fortnightly open mics - and I don’t think you’d be out of place if you had some sad clowning to show either. Sign-ups are open on the door and you can find more information and updates about future events on Facebook.
The Loud Poets open mic is on Monday, June 10 at The Canon’s Gait. They welcome poetry and spoken word. Their sign-ups are open now, sign up quickly as spaces fill up fast! (The same goes for audience seats on the day) These open mics happen twice a month, get updates on future dates on Facebook.
Join host Anita Govan at our home Lost in Leith on Sunday, June 16 for Spoken Word and Music. Anita curates brilliant line-ups showcasing poetry, spoken word, prose and music. Previous line-ups have included comedy and clowning, so pop along to see what this month’s show will bring. More information and updates about ticket sales and line-ups are available via Anita’s Instagram.
Lost in Leith is fast becoming a creative hub and if you’re looking to get creative in a different way, you can join artist Beck Hunter for the Easy Art Club on Monday, June 17. Follow Easy Art Club on Instagram for more updates or get tickets for June here.
After a successful first show, the Hame-ish Cabaret is back at The Snug at Assembly Roxy on Friday, June 21. In April, I had the pleasure of performing at their curated show and in May, community member James Stedman joined Hame-ish’s first cabaret where we got to see the magic of a Hame-ish devisement happening LIVE! Free tickets are available here and more information about the event or sign-ups to perform are available via Facebook, Instagram or the Hame-ish Linktree.
If you’d like to learn more about regular events in Edinburgh, take a look at this post which is available to all of our subscribers.
And before I forget to mention our next date (again), The Chicken Coop Writing Group will be back at Lost in Leith on Tuesday, June 25. Pay-what-you-can tickets will be available soon, so keep your eyes peeled or consider becoming a paid subscriber to get early-bird access to tickets and join our online community where you’ll get access to two monthly writing groups, our Discord Server, writing prompts, professional and creative resources, and writing feedback.
Do you have any event recommendations for us?
Whether you’re hosting a writing group or open mic, or there’s a show you can’t stop talking about, or you’re launching an EP or album, we want your event recommendations!
Part of my passion for The Good Egg Project is to support your work and make sure you all know what’s possible on the page, the stage, the screen, and through your headphones!
Share your event details with us via this form to be featured in our next community events notice!
I’ll be featuring community events at least once a month, so make sure you submit your stuff before the last week of the month.
Community notice
One of our community members got in touch this month to ask about swapping manuscripts for review and feedback. If you’ve got a full manuscript or chapters that you’d like feedback on, please let me know and I’ll connect you with community member Rosalie who has a manuscript that she’d like someone to review.
The one thing I ask when you’re seeking or giving notes on someone’s work in our community is that you remember to be kind and constructive in your feedback. Sharing your writing can be a very vulnerable process, so as per our community guidelines, please share your feedback and critique with the kindness and respect that you’d like in return.
Thank you for reading!
It is such a joy to be back and I’m looking forward to seeing what June brings. As this is a queer-run community (hi, it’s me, in case you’re wondering), we’ll likely be doing something Pride-related.
What that looks like will depend on a couple of things, and if I’m being completely honest, it might end up being a bit more politically orientated than usual. Especially, as we’ll be much closer to the UK General Election which is on July 4.
Which reminds me, as the arts and creative industries are facing funding issues and education programmes are being cut across the country, it’s worth sharing that the deadline to register to vote is June 18.
This is not a politically motivated group, but as the creative industries continue to face funding cut after funding cut, we have to listen to politicians debate the worth of art, and struggle against the deafening silence or outright disdain from our cultural institutions about divestment from fossil fuels or ongoing genocides, it’s hard not to see creativity and writing as political acts.
I’m raising these concerns and ideas because as writers and creatives, we need to make sure that the people we put in charge understand the arts aren’t optional luxuries. For many of us, they’re lifelines, ways to form connections or imagine a better world as well as our professions and passions.
If you’re feeling a little helpless or hopeless, I can highly recommend following Campaign for the Arts or Fossil Free Books for more ways to get involved in organising and demanding better for us and future generations of writers and creative people.
With that, I’m going to get off my soapbox, and go talk to my partner, plants and fur baby.
Take care of yourselves and each other!
Speak soon,
Naomi
P.s. Taco says hi, she’s been enjoying the sun and rolling in the grass, and she encourages everyone else to do the same.