Virtual Open Mic night

Do you have a passion for poetry and the spoken word? Then Stephanie has some exciting news for you.

Around this time last year I was lucky enough to stumble upon the beautiful spoken word piece ‘If I should have a daughter’ by poet Sarah Kay. To say I was blown away is an understatement, if you have yet to experience this moving piece of work I urge you to do yourself a favour and check it out, you won’t regret it.

It was my first encounter with spoken word poetry and I was curious to find out more.

The next few months were spent in a whirl of frustration. I have two young children so couldn’t just skip off to open mic nights or poetry events when ever I fancied it. Then I moved to a more rural location and all the events were out of reach both physically and practically. I was sure I couldn’t be the only mother in this position and I felt strongly that this was a real problem.

Mothers are incredibly creative with a unique perspective on the world and I believe they have something important to say. I wanted to see more women having an opportunity to perform their work and I wondered if I could do anything to solve the barrier that childcare, location and often a lack of confidence can sometimes cause. And thus the Virtual Open Mic Night was born.

The Virtual Open Mic Night is an opportunity for mothers to perform their work from the comfort of their own home without the need for a babysitter. Participants simply join in with a google hangout which is broadcast live across the internet and later posted on You Tube so friends and family can see you perform. So far we have had three events with the first 2014 Virtual Open Mic scheduled for Thursday 30th of January.

Each night has been a great laugh, I have connected with other mothers who are passionate about creative writing and made some lovely friends. We would love to see some new faces either as performers on the night or as audience members to cheer us along as we share our work.

You can find out more about the Virtual Open Mic Night over at my blog Beautiful Misbehaviour. Please do get in touch if you want to chat through any questions that you might have. I appreciate it takes guts to make the decision to perform your work out loud but many of the women who have participated have spoken of the confidence boost it has given them. All you need is a google account, a computer, your work and a glass of wine! The night is friendly, relaxed and great chance to meet other writers, we would love to see you there.

Stephanie blogs at Beautiful Misbehaviour where she runs a number of projects for mothers who like to write including the Virtual Open Mic Night, Mother Hens and the Writing Warriors. Find her on Twitter @StephArsoska

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