Thank you for joining this online workshop I hope you have fun and enjoy exploring the ways in which movement can inspire and energize your writing.

I love to move but I’m not a professional dancer and neither do you have to be, this isn’t about being good at moving, but about playing around, enjoying using our bodies and seeing how the body can help us as writers. We’re used to being in our heads and writing from our heads, but this workshop is about letting the body lead your writing.

I’ve always been a physical person – I like all sorts of physical activities like running and cycling and playing tennis, but I guess my favourite is dancing. My debut novel Live Like Your Head’s On Fire is the story of wanna-be dancer Pen Flowers. When I was writing the novel I worked with a professional choreographer and dancer to workshop some of the dance scene. Since then, I’ve been experimenting and exploring ways in which movement can enhance writing.

I’ve drawn on my experience as a yoga teacher and a keen martial artist, as a dog walker, and an extremely slow runner, as well as my enthusiasm for dance. I’ve discovered that bringing movement into my writing keeps the words moving and that helps to move readers.

I’m sharing my discoveries and some of the exercises I’ve developed so that you too can experiment with the joy and freedom of dancing with words.

Before we get started check out the short film, we made to promote Live Like Your Head’s On Fire – in this video fifteen year old Pen Flowers uses her body to work her way through some difficult feelings and experiences a sense of freedom.