Listen here as I chat with Writers’ Gym co-host, Emily Inkpen about my new audio drama: Winter Spring.
For someone running late with her autumn newsletter, there’s a pleasant irony to how the seasons have been shouting at me in art and life this week. A few Writers’ Gym members have heard how Hell Bunny’s advertising campaign really spoke to me: Summer’een, a time I certainly experience when I’m ready for the run-up to my default wardrobe’s season – Halloween – but the weather just won’t be told. Hell Bunny are using it to advertise (fabulous) summer dresses with spiders and bats on, but for me recognising Summer’een isn’t about buying anything. Instead it’s about ‘matching to the seasons’, a brilliant speech topic created by my LAMDA student Monica, recent recipient of Bronze Medal with distinction in Public Speaking (well done again, Monica!). My friend Natalie Leon’s new book, The Japanese Art of Living Seasonally, came out shortly before Monica’s speeches. Simultaneously, my first audio drama with Alternative Stories, Winter Spring launched last Friday (on the second spookiest day I could have hoped for, short of Halloween itself: Friday 13th September).
Winter Spring takes its name from two fictionalised family names. In the attached interview which I’m sharing with permission from the Alternative Stories podcast, I talk about the questions its characters and plot lines evolved from, and how the best and worst aspects of my life experience fed into those questions.
I do hope you enjoy listening to the interview, and if (as I hope above all) it gets you asking your own questions and ready to write your own “what ifs” in response, do come and join me on Saturday 28 September for the Writers’ Gym’s next Saturday retreat, Fiction, Memoir and Truth.
The Writers’ Gym Podcast with me, Emily Inkpen and Chris Gregory returns in October (photo below from our recent recording sessions, with Emily teaching me the difference between a Millennial heart and a Gen Z heart – I’m sticking to the Vulcan salute) but in the meantime there are many ways to get involved:
Listen to Winter Spring…
on Spotify (below), Apple Podcasts (above), or any podcast platform:https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/2gBu6Bqmc7CiC8zwXTYIPZ
Come to the Writing Room for free, every Monday…
Drop in any time from 11am to 1pm, or stay for the whole two hours. We unmute at 12.50pm for a chat about art and/or life. Weekly links on Substack every Monday.
Join the Writers’ Gym, as a member or guest. Anybody can join any session, and our weekly programme is free to members. Monthly calendar at www.writersgym.com or book any event here.
Book a one-to-one creative confidence session. Whether you want to start that story, finish that book, build your freelance or personal life and career, this is the space to get to know what you want and how to make it happen. Email info@rachelknightley.com or read more here.
