Dearest Woofenberrys,
Welcome to the first-ever Woofenberry meeting. If you are unsure of what exactly you’re doing here or what a Woofenberry is, then fear not; everything is about to be explained. My name is Ash Raymond James (aka Captain Woofenberry), and I have been running workshops and coaching for many years. After a very successful first season of the ‘Weird Table’ podcast, I thought about the future of this platform and how I could extend my hands even further and help people become better at the craft of writing or even begin writing. I want to clarify this early on: the Woofenberry Writers Club is not poetry-exclusive. The aim is to connect and build a community of writers of all levels and all areas of the craft. I believe poetry can help novel writing, script writing can help poetry, etc.
To begin, I would like you to dedicate a notebook to the writers club. Inside this notebook, you will write all of the Woofenberry prompts and challenges; this will also be where you can keep your badges. You will earn badges for completing the writers’ challenges. There will be at least one writer challenge monthly for those on the paid subscription, but I will set challenges for everybody sporadically throughout the year. The badges will then be printed and stuck into the notebook. I hope to eventually send physical badges to everybody when the writers’ club grows, but we are going the arts & crafts route for now. If you sign up to become fully-fledged, you will receive an introductory letter, sticker, and poem in the mail. You will also receive extra printable assets, a fully fledged badge and official stamped postcards with prompts throughout the year. Yeah, it’s pretty freaking cool.
In the notes section, I will share prompts and poems of my own and ones that I love. I will start a Discord very soon so all of the Woofenberrys can be connected consistently. As always, if you become fully-fledged, there is Instagram content and close friends. Phew. Now that all the details are out of the way let us get into the writing. If you have questions, then reach out either here or on Instagram. This newsletter is free for all, but typically this would be a paid-only post.
If you have attended my workshops before, you will know I typically begin with unlearning. I strip away everything and get writers to express from a fresh slate. I contemplated doing this again as it is one of my favourite things, but instead, as this is a new adventure, I am using a new first challenge to warm everybody up and get into Woofenberry mode. I was reading ‘Urbanshee’ by Siaara Freeman, an incredible poet (and the current poet laureate for Cleveland) and in the book, she begins with an introduction in a unique style. As we are only just beginning, I thought it would be great if we could get to know one another. This lets us practice poetic techniques and the art of saying something indirectly. Despite the introduction asking for personal things, Siaara steps back and addresses it poetically. Here is the poem:
As you can see here, she has displayed many personal details that we don’t typically discuss, but instead of saying, ‘I weigh 165 pounds,’ she has turned it into the weight of her problems. Below, I have shared my notes, my first attempt at this, followed by an in-depth guide to each individual point. You can skip any that are giving you trouble, but I encourage you to write through the challenge. You can use this exercise for fictional characters if you are writing stories which could help flesh out a character. You can also write these in any order and take as much time as you need. I say it below, but I will also say it here: Do not worry about being good and do not compare yourself. There is no definite completion time; some might take an hour while others take ten minutes, but it isn’t important. Allow yourself to have fun with this and delve into each point. There is no harm in beginning in notes and then expanding either. If you want to read these poems in a document and have a printable template then click right here.
Age
Sex
Height
Weight
Skin Colour
Eye Colour
Being
Other notes
If you can write to music, then this is what I would listen to while writing this. If you have any questions or concerns or want to say hello, sound off in the comments. To get your ‘ball roller’ badge, leave a comment or DM and tell me you have completed the challenge.
Can’t wait to give this a go!!