Highly Irregular Newsletter #9
Hello!
I thought I’d slip in a Newsletter just before August leaves us. (I did tell you it would be irregular!) I had some thoughts I wanted to share about how, when you’re asked to teach something, that first requires you, as the teacher, to put your ideas into words that can be transmitted. And that teaching, for me, is a way that I keep learning, too – both from formulating my thoughts into writing exercises and discussion topics and from my amazing students, in person and online. What I learned from the course I just taught for the first time, Poetry for Prose Writers, was that what might make a piece of writing feel less “poem-like” (I say this reluctantly as someone who is not a fan of labels or genres) is not necessarily about breaking the line, but because the writer, whose background is in fiction or other prose, might still be focussing on the sentence as the basic unit, rather than the line, which tends to be poetry’s building block. This was quite the revelation for me, and an enormous relief because it then enabled me to comment on the pieces that they submitted for my feedback in a way that I hope was helpful to them.
I wanted to offer it out to you too, in case this sentence-or-line thought is useful to you in any way, although, as with everything, it's never a rule and never a binary either-or. I’d love to hear anything it brings up for you! It’s changed the way I see my own work, too. This is part of why I love teaching so much. (I will be teaching this course again in some form at some point, if you’re interested…)
On another note, a reminder that fuel poverty is still a very real concern, especially as, here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are moving into winter. You can help us raise funds for 4 fuel poverty charities by picking up your copy of the Fuel Flash anthology today - as well as £10 per copy going to charity, you get 75 amazing prize-winning flash stories! It’s only available to buy here https://fuelflash.net and makes an excellent present for the writer or reader in your life, as well as the writing student!
Here's a little round-up of what I am up to:
Events
*NEW* Mon 30th Oct, 6.30pm, Blackwell’s Manchester: Is there anything better than helping bring a talented friend’s first book out into the world? Join me and Abi Hynes in conversation about her brilliant short story collection, Monstrous Longing – grab your tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/monstrous-longing-abi-hynes-in-conversation-with-tania-hershman-tickets-695868279757
Courses and workshops
*NEW* Sun Oct 8th 1-3pm,Science-Flavoured Writing Workshop, Poetry Pharmacy, Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire: Come join me in the gorgeous Poetry Pharmacy to play with using science in poems, short stories, flash fictions and hybrids! Space is limited, tickets are £30, bursaries are available: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/science-flavoured-writing-workshop-with-tania-hershman-tickets-687220423787
ONLINE Fairy-Tales-Meet-Crime-Fiction Flash Fiction workshop Sat Oct 14 4pm-6pm UK Time: I am teaching this mash-up workshop a for Retreat West, all welcome, no fairy tale or crime experience necessary, tickets £10! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fairy-tales-meet-crime-fiction-tickets-671476272607?aff=oddtdtcreator
*NEW* Jan 10th 2024, Lumb Bank, W Yorkshire: I’m delighted to be the guest tutor on the amazing-sounding Arvon course “A cross-genre feast to feed your poems”, tutored by Helen Mort and Glyn Maxwell. More details and bursaries for the whole course here: https://www.arvon.org/writing-courses/courses-retreats/residential-writing-week-poetry-17/
Coming soon: A Zoom hybrid writing course, and flash fiction for poets….
Reminder: Mslexia’s Flash Flash Fiction Competition closes on Sep 18th. I’m judging Mslexia’s flash fiction competition this year and would love to read your wonderful, odd flash stories of 300 words or shorter! Surprise & delight me, I'm open to all forms, shapes, styles, weirdnesses, send me the odd & tiny stories you think no-one else will love! Details here: https://mslexia.co.uk/competitions/flash-fiction/womens-fiction-competition-flash-fiction/
Happy reading and writing!
Tania x
PS You can still use the coupon code “tinyletter10” in the shop on my website to get 10% off signed copies of my new books and a few others I still have some copies of. You can also pick up a copy of the FUEL anthology but that won’t be discounted because it’s raising money for fuel poverty charities.