Hello! I’m Gemma Seltzer, writer and founder of the Write & Shine programme of morning writing events.
What is ‘Writing with the Seasons’?
We’re moving to our fourth year of Writing with the Season and allowing this Substack to go deeper. This is a place where I will share ideas about the writing life that feel unusual, intimate or tender—and would love to hear similar thoughts from you, too.
I’ll tell you how I find inspiration for my writing and the workshops I host: the two entwined parts of my creative work. Expect lovely seasonal writing prompts, things to read and explore, and plenty of reflection, guiding us slowly through the year.
My hope is you’ll take away things that will be useful for your own writing and ideas.
Write & Shine
In 2015, I set up Write & Shine, a programme of early morning writing events and online courses. From the beginning, our aim has been to offer time and space for creative ideas to surface during the first part of the day.
On waking, we're often incredibly sensitive to the sights and sounds of our environment. In the morning, sounds are soft. It's the best time to think, dream and imagine. Writing early captures all kinds of ideas before your inner critic rears its head.
Tell me more about seasonal writing
Tuning into the seasons in our writing, I find, is about the practice of paying close, careful attention to the external world around us—how the face of a springtime flower follows the sunlight during the day, how light on an office block window in winter seems to shift and flow like water.
But it also allows us to connect with what’s felt inside our bodies and minds. How the taste of cherries lifts you from the present straight back to your grandparent’s kitchen table and your tiny, sticky fingers. The late summer moment when you feel a cold hint in the air, touching your cheeks, and you know autumn is on its way.
This approach of writing alongside the seasons can lead to more unexpected ideas, a feeling of possibility. More vulnerability and connection, both on the page and in our relationships. That’s what I’m reaching towards in both my writing and the workshops—and what I’ll share with you all in these essays.
The Writing with the Seasons illustration is created by Polly Lindsay.
