Our #WinteringWorkshop with @_katherine_may_ as part of #CleanProseTalks starts in a few minutes. We'll be live-tweeting so follow this thread for updates!

@_katherine_may_ "It doesn't matter how rich you are or happy you are, difficult things outside of our control will happen at some point and we'll experience a 'Winter'. We should allow ourselves to feel that pain and acknowledge it."
#WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

Our director @cleanproseshar1 has just asked @_katherine_may_ about the public face we put on when we experience a 'Winter' or 'Wintering'. "Do you think that Wintering always leads to feeling like an outsider?"
#WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "We're all experiencing wintering but we're wintering in different ways. We're arguing about the different ways we're suffering. I'm loving the relative isolation of this crisis but it's making some people miserable. #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ : "Writers are trying to say interesting things and suddenly the world is more interesting than we are." @cleanproseshar1: "Yes, I'm reading a lot of different news about how much truth is currently stranger than fiction!"
#WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@cleanproseshar1: "My sleep is so different during lockdown. I love your discussion in 'Wintering' about how when you're dealing with a crisis of any kind our sleep mode changes. Have you been thinking about that in this current time?" #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ : "Yes, I'm hearing that some people are sleeping less, and some people are sleeping more. People are talking about their dreams more! In 'Wintering' I talk about how we've stopped trusting our natural bodily feedback..." #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ : "...and we're wearing gadgets that make us worry about how much sleep we're getting." #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

One of our audience members Janet has just asked @_katherine_may_ what positives can come out of 'Wintering'. #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "I'm hesitant to frame the discussion around positivity as I don't think we should feel pressure to feel positive about difficult situations..." #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "...but we can gain wisdom and learn from difficult changes, especially if we don't try to resist the change. Although [Covid] isn't the change any of us would have chosen it will change us in a profound way as a society..." #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "...and some of them - not all of them- will be good changes." #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "If I want to learn about a new thing I write a book about it. I write about the distance past and I also love writing about now. " #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ Questions you should ask yourself during a 'Wintering' period: What can you teach? What can you learn? What should you keep? What should you burn? #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ And the last question you should ask yourself, what's the next thing that will get you excited? #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "If you're struggling to read or write right now, turn back to your interests. I turn back to children's books. In terms of writing, if you can only focus on what's happening right now then write about it. #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "If you don't feel like writing right now, then don't! I don't think you have to write every day." #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

@_katherine_may_ "Winter is not the death of the lifecycle, but its crucible." #WinteringWorkshop #CleanProseTalks

And that concludes our #WinteringWorkshop as part of #CleanProseTalks with @_katherine_may_! Thank you for coming! If you have any more questions for Katherine please send them our way with the hashtag #CleanProseTalks!