As someone who has been writing for 25 years – first short fiction, now also poetry, novels and all sorts of uncategorizable hybrids – I know well how we can get in our own way and listen to those voices telling us we “shouldn’t” be writing that, or “shouldn’t” be writing it like that.
I’ve had to find all sorts of ways to keep those voices quiet in order to give myself permission to write what I want to write in the way I want to write it – and, for the past ten years or so, I’ve tried to pass along that permission in every writing workshop I teach. I’ve seen the joy that can come when a writer realises that the genre or shape they thought they “had” to work in isn’t set in stone, that we make up our own “rules” so we can break them – and how to play until you find just the write form, shape, rhythm of words to tell the stories you want to tell in the way only you can tell them, whether they be poems, fictions, non-fictions or other forms!
This is where my new monthly venture, Unbox Your Words – Give Yourself Permission to Play! – comes in. Not a writing course, Unbox Your Words is a monthly shot of writing provocation, inspiration & stimulation designed both to encourage you to write new pieces and to help you find different & exciting ways to approach your works-in-progress, whether they are shaped like flash fiction, poetry, short stories, novels, non-fiction or hybrids! Every month, you’ll get two emails either in your Inbox or the Substack app: on the 10th of each month, I’ll send you a short writing provocation/prompt/exercise to tempt you to break writing habits and dance in new ways with your words. Then later in the month I’ll slip you another email with something to read that I think you might like, something you might never have come across yourself! You can come to the emails in any order, whatever is helpful for you, dipping in and out in your own time – and you’ll have the opportunity, if you like, to share and discuss in the comments on Substack what’s working for you, how you’ve taken and run with the provocations & prompts, how you’re giving yourself permission to play!
There will also be occasional exclusive Zoom workshops for Unbox Your Words subscribers and discounts on other events I am involved in and any new books I have published (more on that soon). To join the adventure for the special monthly price of £3.50, (less than a fancy cup of coffee or your beverage of choice!), sign up on Substack here https://taniahershman.
If £3.50 a month is a struggle, message me, I have a few gift subscriptions, no questions asked. I can’t wait to go on this journey with you!