Activating your writer self with Shelly Beamish

Reset, refocus, activate! As part of the 2025 Regional Writers Rise Festival, Shelly Beamish’s workshop invited participants to step away from distractions and into the mindset of a writer. We all know that feeling: the blank page waiting, but suddenly the skirting boards desperately need dusting. This gentle, practical workshop explored how routines, rituals, boundaries, and silencing the internal critic can help us enter our writer selves with more ease and confidence.

Through a series of writing activations and thoughtful discussion, Shelly encouraged us to reframe how we see ourselves as writers: a small but powerful shift that can help unlock creativity and keep procrastination at bay.

Dr Shelly Beamish is a poet, writer, and experienced workshop facilitator. She holds a Doctorate in poetry and a Masters degree in professional writing, with work published by Westerly, Australian Poetry, Ship Street Poetry, Wingless Dreamer, Liquid Amber Press, and most recently, Oystercatcher One. Shelly also writes and presents academically on how poetry gives voice to psychological trauma.

This event was made possible through the generous sponsorship of Delburn Wind Farm, with thanks to the Gippsland Writers Network and Latrobe City Libraries for their support.

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