We are not long back from our 14 day writing adventure in Morocco! View pics here and read what our participants had to say about our incredible Fes – Tissardmine – Marrakech journey.
Thank you for a superb Moroccan Journey. The desert was deeply satisfying with its heightened sense of space and silence making a wonderland of nothingness – and everything. Your fine organisation of this unique trip, in conjunction with Karen Hadfield at Café Tissardmine, incorporated serious writing while revealing the marvels of the desert, its dunes, camels and Berber people. While it energised and replenished me, it also brought peace and restfulness too.
Jan, you are a true writing teacher and educator. You don’t just tell, you show by example with your own application to writing, and have the ability to lead us into our own awakenings, finding our personal self and individual writing processes, leaving us with personalised hands-on hints and practices, and the energy and motivation to implement them.
I set goals and achieved them, and brought home heightened focus, momentum and determination to keep on with what I have discovered about myself in the stillness of the desert, journeying with other writers, and from your inspiring classes.
Lorraine McLoughlin, Yankalilla, South Australia.
Author of Barbara Robertson: an Australian artist’s life
www.robertsonbiography.com
My trip to Morocco with Jan Cornall was a unique undertaking.
In Fes we saw the making of fantastic arts and crafts, camped out in traditional Berber tents in the desert, trekked through the depth of the Moroccan Sahara on camel and explored the dazzling night markets of Marrakech.
As such this trip truely offered everything one would assume when thinking “1001 nights”.
Writing, jotting, and scribbling whenever and where ever – even on top a a camel – bookmaking, meditation techniques, which take you deep into you creative space as well as progressive and well structured daily writing workshops, all of these have lead us all to surprising climaxes in our writing journey.
Jan is a fabulous and personally my favorite writing teacher. Her generous, laid-back, humorous and also adventures spirit make her a delight to be with and you never want Jan’s trips to come to an end – but your story surely will and it may surprise you… :o)
Thanks, Jan, for it all!!!
Ilka Schroeder, Germany.
Ilka ran her wonderful Barfuss Yoga classes for us on the road, each morning and evenings. Find out more here.
Jan is always calm and unflustered, with a way of getting to the heart of the matter. She is inspiring, not only through what she has herself created, but also how she goes about imparting her knowledge and support towards others. The use of the Moroccan Star as a motif throughout the workshops helped to concentrate the mind in a way which was both creative in itself, and also extremely practical. I look forward to using this for other pieces of work to give plots and characters clarity, and to aid the creative process.
Jan was generous in sharing her time, experiences and knowledge, and also in sharing a lot of her personal experiences. She was fair towards us all in terms of her time, and has an ability to be critical in a very supportive way! Her knowledge of Morocco and the culture helped us to acclimatise quickly, and also helped to make things run smoothly. I was not sure what to expect of a writing retreat which moved about so much, but whatever it was, this has surpassed everything I could have imagined!
Ailsa Thoms, short story writer, Scotland
