On Wednesday 3rd October 2018, I took a momentous decision: to register as a self-employed writer!

Of course, anyone who is a regular visitor to my blog or Facebook page will know that this has been a long time coming! I joined Lockerbie Writers in spring 2015 and have been an active member ever since, being promoted to Events Manager earlier this year and next month, it will be two years since I graduated from the University of Glasgow with my postgraduate MLitt Creative Writing degree. Although mummy duties have meant that I’ve been a little quite on the publishing front this year, I’ve continued to work on my own writing in the background.

To me, self-employment means flexibility: the option to choose working hours and days around what is best for my family, but also the freedom to focus on the topics which interest me the most. Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about what workshops I would like to run and the words that keep jumping out at me are motherhood and mindfulness. Not necessarily at the same time! (In fact, in my experience, the two do not often go together!)

I am also really enthusiastic about helping beginners to gain confidence in their own writing skills. Recently I have had the pleasure of working with a handful of writers who have needed a little boost, whether that has come in the form of a proofread, a thorough edit and nudge in the right direction, or just a chat and a reassurance that they are doing better than they think they are! It is so rewarding to see others finding the confidence to call themselves a writer.

Next steps?

There may be too many to list! At the moment I am in the midst of business plans and to-do lists … who knew that starting up a business would involve so much paperwork?! But in the meantime I have been positing on Facebook with a few suggestions of future courses, and I have been overwhelmed with the positive response. Thank you for that! Your support is invaluable. I’ve also been looking into venues and doing a bit of reading and research, so that hopefully once I run my first workshops in the new year then you will go away saying, “Wow, that was brilliant, I’ve written so much and I can’t wait to go to another!”

Fingers crossed!

My first workshops will take place in January/February 2019. If you’d like to be first on the list, either follow this blog or my Facebook page. You can also get in touch with me at kerrie_mckinnel@hotmail.com. I can’t wait to welcome some of you to a creative writing workshop in the new year!