Out On A Limb - Finale

Here's a picture of me doing my reading at the Queen's Hotel, Birkenhead last night at the private sneak-preview of the official website. If you look carefully, you can also see my newest project sleeping on the back row!

It was brilliant to see everyone again and catch up with how the blogs and stories have developed since the workshop element of the project ended. The venue, overlooking the park where so many of our stories were set, was perfect - and Louise, Doreen, Jensen and Robbe shared their stories with us which was a brilliant way of rounding off the project. There was a real sense of achievement and solidarity during the evening, and I felt pleased to have worked with such a varied and talented set of writers and bloggers!

What's next? I think our project will have a lasting legacy. Even though we were a small group, I know that several of the participants plan to continue blogging about their lives, their stories and what is important to them. I hope they'll use their blogs to keep in touch, and join in the online writing community. The stories will be on the blogs, on the website and available for anyone in the world to look at, comment on and interact with. I especially like Barbara's idea of inviting readers to submit their own alternative endings to her story - I wish I'd thought of something like that myself!

If you've found this blog through the project promotion on twitter, facebook or elsewhere - here are a few links to get you started:

The story I wrote as part of this project is here: Wirral Voices: A Chorus. You can also read a commentary I wrote about the way my ideas developed during the time I worked on this story here.

The story was commissioned by Elaine Speight as part of the Out on A Limb project, which she project managed and I helped to deliver. You can read about the project, the workshops and the background to the project at the offical website, here.

And of course, I wasn't the only writer working on this project. Each of the participants completed a short, blogged story set in the Wirral during the time we worked together. You can access their blogs and project diaries and read their stories, which are a constantly evolving and interactive web of tales set in The Wirral, through the official project website, by clicking on the links in my story, and by using the links in the side bar of this blog.

If you'd like to submit your own Wirral-based story, film or photography, you can by going through the official site.

This will be my last post on this blog, but if you'd like to keep up to date with news about my writing and other project, you can find me at my personal blog: Every Day I Lie a Little.

Have fun!