03 March Recap

Welcome to Meraki 2019! This year we’re doing things slightly differently by focussing more on the workshop aspect of the group. This means that although there will be plenty of time to write during the Sunday sessions, they’ll be slightly more geared toward teaching/exploring a certain aspect. The continued exploration of the themes covered will therefore be everybody’s homework – applying what was discovered in the workshop to writings done over the weeks between workshops.

05 August Recap and Homework

Meraki is back in full swing for semester two. Yesterday, we did two exciting, yet very different, exercises.

FAQ: Meraki Mag Online

Who can submit work to Meraki Mag Online?

1. Those who took part in Meraki workshops on Sundays.
2. Literally anybody else, no matter what part of the world they’re in.

What themes/prompts/questions must the work that is submitted adhere to?

We ask that the works you submit be based on one of the themes/activities we did during one of our Sunday groups. They can all be found under our Homework Prompts category, so even if you weren’t at any of the Sunday group meetings you’ll be more than able to create pieces based on those themes. Also don’t despair — the themes are all very flexible and bendable, so they will not restrict you as much as you fear they will, I promise!

May 13: Recap and Homework.

Hard to believe, but today was Meraki’s last session for this semester. Until July 22, we’ll be focusing on getting the first issue of Meraki Mag Online together. Read more about that here.

Today, we did two really fun exercises.

April 22: Recap and homework

Today we held part two of two in our character creation series.

Using the character we started developing last week and with the homework, we did two very exciting tasks this week. The lesson went as follows:

*For five minutes, read over your character sheets. These include all questionnaire questions answered, the rule of fives, the ‘why’ game, their motivations and looks etc. Feel free to edit anything that you find needs editing.

Recap and homework: 15 April

This Sunday was part one of a two-parter on character creation. In this session, we went through one of the thousands of ways to create a character.

18 March: The Exciting April Vacation Happenings

Meraki is hosting an exciting prompt bingo this holiday! Prompt bingo gives you a list of 25 words/phrases that prompt you to write something/a bunch of somethings and to stretch your creativity and show you that everybody has a story – whether fiction, fact or a mixture of the two.

For simply participating, you’ll go into a draw to win R100 cash. Skill, spelling, language etc will not be judged, so please feel free to sign up no matter what your age, vocabulary, skill set or current level of rustiness.

You don’t have to be in Grahamstown or in our church (or any church at all) to participate. Just contact us via the contact page and sign up. More extensive instructions will follow in the email that’s sent back to you.

The deadline for the written pieces to be sent back is APRIL 08 11:57pm, so please sign up soon to give yourself enough time to write to your heart’s content.

04 March: Recap and Homework

Session two of Meraki, and the excitement is only growing! I hope that those of you who are keeping up with us via the homework will touch base with us; I’d love to hear what you thought of the prompts, and what you thought of what came out of your brain onto the screen or paper. Don’t be a stranger, in other words!

18 February: Recap and homework

Meraki has officially had its first session!

This Sunday, we started off with three rounds of freewriting. Freewriting is, as the name suggests, when you simply write for a set amount of time. The trick with freewriting is that you’re not allowed to stop for more than five seconds during the time you’ve set to freewrite: you must keep writing, even if all you write is ‘uhm, I’ve run out of ideas. That sentence was not supposed to go that way. I’m so hungry. Is it time to end, yet?’ No going back and editing, either. Just writing whatever comes to mind.