Mirrorball at AyeWrite Festival – happening now!!
The Glasgow network of poets and poetry lovers
6th to 15th November
In our birthday month of November Mirrorball is hosting three events at Aye Write, Jim Carruth is in conversation with Robyn Marsack, and there is a Mirrorball showcase. Please come along and support our events, meet old friends and new, poets and poetry readers alike . . .
Creative Writing for Creative Living
with John Glenday
 An Online Guide to Facilitating Creative Writing Workshops for Health and Wellbeing with John Glenday Wednesday November 26th, 7.00pm to 9.30pm We’re delighted to offer online this training session with John Glenday. John will run this session similarly to how he runs writing sessions, combining discussions around craft and technique with looking at sample poems, and then sharing writing exercises with subsequent feedback. Here however he’ll also explain everything as he goes along, covering topics such as how to do introductions; basic tips on technique; how to format discussions; etiquette around read backs, and so on. John will present a range of exercises throughout, though writing is just one small part of this session – a point of focus for the other supportive and enlarging elements. Cost: £25 For full details including how to book, see here. |
Getting On: Understanding & Writing Love in Later Life
Dec 1 from 10am to 3:30pm GMT
Lord Hope Building – 141 Saint James Road – Glasgow G4 0LT
Linda France‘s Writing Hours Thursday 20th November 4 to 5pm
I find the New Moon Writing Hour on zoom – a boost to my commitment to free-write everyday. . I also recommend Linda’s Startlings, which are rich with ideas, books, and reflections on her life as a writer. She reaches out to other writers and readers inviting comments and seeking mutual inspiration. A recent Startling was a list of What ifs . . . including: ~ what if living is a rehearsal for dying? ~ what if not-knowing is just not-knowing?~ what if imperfection was the holy grail? ~ what if the living world & everything in it are a bubble, a wave, an illusion, a dream?
Let Go on 28th December
Day Retreat 28th December, online, 10am – 4pm, with Ratnadevi
Let Go of the old year; tiredness; the stagnation of unfulfilled promises to yourself and others; too many things in wardrobes, in your diary, in your head; drivenness, resentment, craving; etc
Give yourself some Space
For the New Year; to rest; to celebrate what is going well; to focus on what matters most; for the bubbling up of fresh inspiration; to approach life with ease, openness and a generosity of spirit.
Spend a day in the supportive company of other meditators: meditating; moving; writing/ reflecting and some sharing. more info and booking
I know some of you have her book Bringing Mindfulness to Life. After a couple of print runs it’s sold out at PlaySpace Publication, and can now be ordered at Amazon – a good present for someone maybe? Rick Hanson kindly describes it as “Bringing Mindfulness down to earth and into the heart”. She is now working on a second book, watch this space……
Letting Go: Three Writing Workshops on zoom
Tuesdays 13th, 20th, 27th January 2026 plus a reading on 3rd February 7 to 8:30pm
facilitated by Sukhema aka Larry Butler The theme of ‘Letting Go’ is taken from the book Autumn Voices by Robin Lloyd-Jones:
Much of our younger lives is about acquiring – acquiring partners, children, a good job, a house, material things. There comes a period in our lives when the scales tip and much of life becomes about letting go – downsizing, coming to terms with loss, letting go of what you can’t change and of unrealistic hopes and plans; and letting go of grudges and hatreds because it’s now or never. In letting go we help those old doors to close and the new ones to open.
As Robin outlines, while ageing involves loss, it also brings opportunities to let go of what we don’t need, whether that’s material belongings or emotional baggage, and to discover what in life is truly essential.
“I can shake off everything if I write” Anne Frank
Everyday throughout our lives we are shaking off, shedding, shredding. Letting go of things, of skin, hair, nails! Letting go of thoughts, hopes and dreams. Letting go of friends and loved ones. Letting go of future plans. Letting go of past regrets. Letting go of anything can be made easier when we write about it. It seems that the older we get, the more we need to shake off. The aim of these writing workshops is to become more spacious, resolved and freed up to let go of more and more until nothing’s left to do but play!
In these three workshops we will write about all and everything we want to let go of or get rid or have done with. Between each weekly writing session, we will keep a daily journal. Keeping a journal because it can provide a private place to express thoughts and feelings. Our writing can inspire and help us through difficult choices. By week three we will choose one thing from our scribbles to make into a poem or short story, memoir or a letter, maybe a song, which we would be happy to share with a wider audience.
If you’d like to take part in these workshops (which are free), please e-mail projects@autumnvoices.co.uk with your name, postal address and an indication of your writing experience. You need to participate in all three workshops.
Glasgow to Edinburgh Return Renga
Glasgow / Edinburgh return
22nd October 2025
Andy Goldsworthy / 50 years
an open blue sky
whirring tapping train tracks
pushes the day along
aftertaste of coffee
staying present living now
surrounded by long reeds
inside one of Andy’s rooms
an outside smell
palms squishing brambles
white skin slowly turns blood red
orange pigments seep & swirl
he rubs hands on smooth rock
releases its true nature
pencil pens paints charcoal
conjuring ideas in sketchbooks
expanding outwards
bursting from a single point
energy reaches every corner
pigeons make leaves flutter
we pause at makar’s court
strolling the royal mile
buskers gie it lauldie
quiet near Arthur’s seat
here’s a one hand biro swivel
as we roll back home
participants
Darcie Kane
Ratnadevi
Sukhema
PS: I Am Because We Are
You are warmly invited to read my never ending story and add your own story and comments. You can subscribe free for monthly chapters.
PlaySpace Publications 