Hello!

Happy International Day of Birmingham!

In this edition of Writing Well you’ll find:

• a writing exercise

• lovely news from a B-Writing community member

• booking details of the next block of workshops

A writing exercise

We used the prompt, ‘There’s one thing I’ll never tell you,’ in our opening exercise at Writing Workshop this week. I also gave everyone a photo at random. (Having a photo chosen for you can stop you spending too much time seeking out the perfect image.) If you’d like me to send you a photo to pair with the prompt, just hit reply!

Finding a sustained way back into writing

There are plans afoot to run 'Grow-your-own: how to cultivate, nourish and sustain your creative writing practice’ at The Core, Solihull from January 2027. Let me know if you’re interested. Kel has this to say about the course:

Although I’d previously completed a screenwriting course at university, life had very much got in the way of writing. While I knew I needed to write, I was finding it difficult to find a sustained way back into writing.

Through creative exercises and opportunities for reflection, this course really developed my understanding of why I wanted to write and helped me to identify what I needed to put in place to support my writing.

Kel went on to join Writing Workshop, and says,

The support and encouragement of the B-writing community was vital in progressing my writing. Receiving feedback from fellow writers suddenly felt less scary and I was able to use the feedback to develop and improve my writing when redrafting my work.

Kel can’t make Tuesday nights any more because of all the writing schemes she’s won places on! (Her writing is primarily for screen and stage, but we welcome all forms and genres.)

Attending B-Writing courses gave me the confidence to pursue my writing ambitions again and I started to explore ways I could put my writing out into the world. I was selected to be part of the BFI Network Midlands/BFI Film Academy Stories to Shorts programme, where I worked with a professional script editor to develop a short film script. Through this programme, I met with a producer at a networking event, who took the script forward to the Breakthrough Film Fund, where it reached the finalist stage and the project was pitched at the Manchester Film Festival.          

Having identified that I would also like to explore writing for the stage, I applied for and was selected for Birmingham Hippodrome’s CRAFT programme for beginner playwrights. I have recently completed On The Write Track Birmingham Rep, which included a script-in-hand performance of my work as part of a showcase event in The Rep’s The Door space.

Booking open for Writing Workshop

If you want to know more about what happens at Writing Workshop, please drop me a line. ([email protected])

• Tuesday 3 November to Tuesday 8 December, 2026, 6.30-8.30pm

• Birmingham & Midland Institute.

• £180 for the block. (Discount codes winging their way separately to current attendees, who get the block for £150.)

• Contact me direct to avoid the booking fee, or get your tickets from Ticket Tailor. (If you can’t pay all in one go but really want to come along, email me about paying in 2-4 instalments.)

Please let me know if you have any questions, and drop me a line if you want me to send you a prompt-photo.

Very best wishes,

Anna