Today’s date: 1 Nov 2024

Hello Reader

This is the November newsletter for Special Projects members. Thank you for being one.

Several new members have joined recently (hello 👋) so I thought I'd include a few introductory notes, dates and links (scroll down).

But first, a bit of news about October...

• In tiny fragments of time between everything else, I’ve been slowly collaborating with Andrew Clover on a children’s book. The idea for the book was entirely mine, prompted by drawing silly pictures for my mother during the Olympics. And I could have done it all myself, but I thought it would be more fun to write it with someone else. Andrew is a charmingly funny writer and performer, and we had a terrific 90-minute chat on Zoom a couple of months ago before sending drafts and ideas to each other. In the middle of October, we met at Marylebone High Street in Central London to examine some cafe interiors, for me to use as reference in the drawings. The interior of Fischers was nice, but too opulent. Paul, the French bakery/cafe, threw up a surprisingly exciting opportunity to develop the story, involving its rather splendid stairwell. Afterwards, we went for a walk in Regents Park.

​

• Wrote a (SHORT!) short story for an anthology, raising money for Macmillan. I was part of a group, sponsored to write over a very short period (one day, basically). I do like a deadline, and I LOVE the chance to write fiction. With opinion so polarised, these days - on everything - I wonder if short fiction may be the best possible way to write about the world (link to a New Yorker story). And I say that with regret, having spent decades writing NON-fiction.

​

• I was invited to talk at the Hampshire Writers Society about "How to Make Your Writing More Delightful". I did touch on that, briefly, but circumstances conspired rather brilliantly to make me talk about something else instead: The Convosphere.

​

• Menka included me in a members-only Just Looking newsletter!

• I ran an online workshop, for the Arvon foundation, about how to run an online workshop. Specifically, I was teaching would-be Arvon tutors and to prepare myself, I enjoyed looking back at things I’ve learned, teaching at Arvon in person and online over a decade or so. The programme of online courses had been planned for years, but only started (inevitably?) in lockdown (link to a video made, at the time, by me). In May 2020, I was lucky enough to teach with Elise Valmorbida the first ever online week-long “residential”, and I’ve done several other things since, including a two-hour masterclasses where I couldn’t see the audience, a day-long course (ditto) and another where I could see people but which stretched over five weeks, thereby introducing a whole new dynamic. Thank you to everyone (perhaps including you?) who answered my two survey questions earlier this week, about what DOES and DOESN’T work in online teaching. I included it all in a PDF handout for attendees. You’re welcome to read it too.

​

​

Till next time.

JPF

​

​

This is the members-only
newsletter for my Special Projects.

You're getting this email
because you paid for
(or were given) membership.

​