2014 Writer's Workshop

This morning I left home for five days. I've come up to a retreat centre about 150km north of Tokyo. Until Wednesday lunch-time I'm running a Writer's Workshop/Retreat. I'll tell you on Wednesday what happens next!

We are a cosy group of six and  it's working out really well so far.

I drove and didn't get lost and even got us here on time.

After we arrived we settled in, set up our seminar room and got to work. We've been talking about how to "write better". Particularly going through things that seem to trip up writers, like:

• unclear writing
• cliches
• flabby or cluttered writing
• unnecessarily complicated words
• long sentences
• passive or indirect writing
• repetition

Now, I'm really tired. Three hours of driving and then teaching this afternoon has taken its toll. I didn't include anything after 7.30pm on the programme, and it's a good thing, I'm pooped. So I don't think that I'm going to do much except take a Japanese bath, grab a fun book to read, and go to bed.