Imaginarium Time

Online. Sunday mornings 0930-1130 (British time).
First Sunday of the month, 7th Feb – 4th July 2027

A six month programme exploring how time can be constructed and reframed – in our writing, as writers and beyond.

We will spend each session writing, talking, thinking and playing with notions of measuring time, experiences of time, politics of time, philosophical and spiritual approaches to time and some. And tying these to a writing practice by thinking around punctuation as timeframing, pacing, time as structure, and other temporal devices and resistances.

Because of the timings of the sessions, they will be spacious, receptive and gently provocative, aiming to open us to the day ahead. More on my current thinking around time can be read here

There will be the opportunity to gather in time and space in person in Cumbria on the afternoon of the final session (accomodation not included).

Who’s it for?

Open to anyone with a word-based practice: of all genres and experiences.

The sessions will support you to:
* become aware of time-bound habits within your writing practice
* explore the complexities of temporal dynamics in your writing
* open up your thinking at any stage of a project, or find news ways into new experiments towards writing
* connect with other writers in a supportive and inclusive community
* open up to alternative experiences of time beyond words
* have fun and play

Format
We’ll meet monthly, online for 2 hour sessions.
You’ll be sent a Bundle of Time before the programme, then ongoing digital worksheets / provocations full of questions and invitations in advance of each monthly meet.
A one-to-one coaching/mentoring session with me can be face to face (in Lancaster / Kendal area), online or phone during or after the programme.

More info on the ethos of an Imaginarium is here

Cost
There are three self-selecting bands:
£270 full; £190 mid-range; £90 concs; 1 free bursary place is available.
This includes all sessions, resources and an optional one to one tutorial.
Please choose whichever band feels most affordable to your current situation

To sign up*
There are 10 places.
As usual, to collate a diverse and engaged group of people I ask you send a brief email with an Expression of Interest.
Please email – sehymas@gmail [dot] com – by 3rd January 2027
with:
1. A couple of sentences on your experience and interest in participating*
2. Which fee band you’ll be paying
3. Any access needs
4. Any questions
*This is not about me deciding how good your work is, more an ambition to create a mix of genres, experiences and perspectives for the group.

Suggested Reading
If you’re interested in time, you might be interested in the following books. We will be touching on some of these over the six months

Time Lived Without its Flow – Denise Riley
Timecode of a Face – Ruth Ozeki
Sea Change – Jorie Graham
Gathering Moss – Robin Wall Kimmerer
The Order of Time – Carlo Rovelli
Undrowned – Alexis Pauline Gumbs
On Time and Water – Andri Snær Magnason
Saving Time – Jenny Odell

Please add any more books you’d like to reccommend to the comments

Listening

As a coach my aim to enable you to clarify exactly what it is you want and how you can best achieve it.

As a mentor I’ll be your objective eye, your literary companion, your cheerleader.

I’ve worked as a coach and mentor for over twenty years, working with writers and artists all over the country, at all stages of their careers. I love the connection and the conversations that rise in both roles.

For more info on my coaching practice, go here.

To find out more about mentoring, head here

Imaginarium Homing

Imaginarium Homing is an in-person and online programme that encourages you to come home to yourself.

Run by Sarah Hymas and Katherine Zeserson from October 2026 to March 2027, this Imaginarium is inspired by noticing how the cycles of nature enable us to notice cycles in ourselves.

All life begins in the dark. The light stimulates growth.

The present multi-crises call on us to ground ourselves and honour our place in the world, in the face of dissonance, violence and despair. By tapping into your embodied knowing, you’ll become reacquainted with your passions, skills and capacities. You will be guided through a process which will refresh, reorientate and renew yourself within the world. This reacquaintance builds confidence in what you can offer yourself, your community and the wider world, without overcommitting or feeling guilty. The aspiration is to enable you to live with a ‘firm persuasion’, as Blake has it.

Working with our creative, physical and spiritual bodies, we will write, make, sing, move, reflect, discuss, walk, explore and unpack what rises within us as we travel.

Our work draws on the knowledge of Joanna Macy, adrienne maree brown’s thinking around Emergent Strategy, and bell hooks, as well as permaculture principles, coaching techniques, improvisation and other creative loosening practices.

Details
The process begins with a four night retreat in Yorkshire. There you will be given space and a mix of directed and free-style activities to remember what you love to do and how to be, and begin to build a small community of like-minded people who want to support others as part of their learning.

Over the following four months we’ll spend three sessions together online, embedding new habits into our daily / weekly practices, and nourishing our connections with ourselves and the others in this Imaginarium and our wider communities.

Our final session together in this Imaginarium is a daylong in-person gathering in South Cumbria. This will be a gently activating day of talk, play, fire and food.

Dates
19 – 21 October: in-person residential: Giggleswick, Yorkshire
23 November: 7-9 pm Zoom
18 January: 7-9 pm Zoom
22 February: 7-9 pm Zoom
22 March: in-person 10 – 5: Storth, South Cumbria

Who’s it for
Anyone who’s wanting (trying / struggling / needing ) to create in this time of dissonance. Any writer, musician, maker, creative practitioner of any genre or experience who would benefit from giving and receiving the nourishment of time and time out.

Price
£800. This includes, three nights accommodation and food in Yorkshire, with all activities, plus three x 2 hour zoom sessions and a final in person day with lunch and a fire in South Cumbria

To book a spot
There are eight places on this Imaginarium.
Email us by 11th May with a short EoI of why you’d like to join this Imaginarium.
sehymas [at] gmail.com & katherine [at] zeserson.com
We use these to draw together a diverse group of people. Please also tell us if you would like to be considered for a bursary, or if you feel able to give a donation to support another person’s place.

End of Life Doula

Living in our world of multiple crises and witnessing the end of life of a dear friend who lived with Parkinsons for twenty years, the time felt right to offer myself to those who are living with anticipatory grief or approaching their own end of life.

In 2025, I undertook the foundation course to begin the process of becoming an End of Life Doula , with Living Well Dying Well. This means I am currently a registered End of Life Companion.

As an end of life doula, I provide emotional, practical, and spiritual support to people who are approaching the end of life, either through terminal illness or age, and those important to them. My role as Doula is one of compassion, advocacy, and companionship, ensuring that people feel heard, respected, and supported.

Please get in touch with me – sehymas [at] gmail [dot] com – or through https://eol-doula.uk/ to discuss your situation and needs.

My fees, as with my coaching practice, are responsive depending on your circumstances,. They range from £15-£30 per hour. By you paying the higher end of the range I’m able to continue to offer subsidised rates. Pay it forward, if you can.

I also charge the standard .45ppm for travel. I’m based in south Cumbria, equidistant between Kendal and Lancaster and can travel into North Yorkshire from here too.

Imaginarium Power

This online Imaginarium is focused on the power we hold as writers, the power dynamics in what we’re writing, the power of words, and the variable power of voice and form.

To align ourselves with the power of our sun, this Imaginarum runs from one equinox to the other: March – September. Meeting monthly on Mondays at 7pm (BST).

Over each two hour session, we’ll be exploring:

how to tap into our personal power – our aspirations and intentions for ourselves as writers;
what power is displayed through our ideas and / or our characters, how it is used, misused, exploited and applied in the plots and structures of our work;
the inherent power of the words we choose and how we use them;
the power of publishing and our power as editor and gatekeepers for our work. This final topic will invite you to make a multiple zine or artistbook from a piece of work (using Canva free for those who want).

Who’s it for?
Open to writers of all genres and experiences.

The sessions will support you to:
* increase your faith in yourself, creative processes and writing
* connect with other writers in a supportive and inclusive community
* explore the complexities of power dynamics in your writing
* open up your thinking at a later stage of a project, or find news ways into capturing fresh ideas and experiences
* make an artistbook / zine to explore news ways of editing and presenting some of your writing
* have fun and play

Format

We’ll meet monthly, online for 2 hour sessions.
You’ll be sent a pack of papery delights in advance of the programme, then ongoing digital worksheets / provocations full of questions and invitations in advance of each monthly meet.
A one-to-one coaching/mentoring session with me can be face to face (in Lancaster / Kendal area), online or phone during or after the programme.

More info on the ethos of an Imaginarium is here

Session Dates
From March 17^th, we’ll meet online on the third Monday of each month (except June, when we meet 9^th)
Online meeting dates:
17^th March
21^st April
19^th May
9^th June
21^st July
18^th August
15^th September

To sign up*
There are 10 places.
As usual, to collate a diverse and engaged group of people I ask you send a brief email with an Expression of Interest.
Please email – sehymas@gmail [dot] com – by February 19^th
with:
1. A couple of sentences on your writing experience and interest in participating*
2. Which fee band you’ll be paying
3. Any access needs
4. Any questions
*This is not about me deciding how good your work is, more an ambition to create a mix of genres, experiences and perspectives for the group.

Worlds in Progress Retreat

Worlds in Progress

A four day/ five night Creative Retreat
facilitated by Sarah Hymas & Katherine Zeserson

Monday 4th – Saturday 9th January 2027
At Woodlands House, Giggleswick. North Yorkshire, BD24 0AX

For those who work and play with words – writers, singers, songwriters, zine or artist book makers, embroiderers, vocal artists, performers, and – and – with a work in progress, who would benefit from time out of the usual routine, to spend time alone and with others on a similar path. (see this for reasons why being around people can be a Good Thing)

This space will support the building of the worlds in our work; future worlds through our work; and a temporary world over the week.

A beautiful balance of together time, cooking, preparing and clearing up together and the normality and extraordinariness of that, snippets of stories, progress, insecurities presenting and being allowed space, gratitude shared with strangers, moments of exhilaration as ideas bubbled and boiled to the surface, care, love, connection.

This is not a taught course. It is a holding space for exploration, sharing and connection. It is a place to be safe to concentrate on, and expand our faith in, our work, individually and collectively. It’s a time to stop, reflect on your practice, gather yourself, recharge and regenerate.

This is an invitation to be generous with your creative spirit, to invest in the transformative power of giving out and seeing how it comes back differently and enriches you in the process. Bring a willingness to learn, to not know and be open.

Each day includes time solo and together, plus shared veggie/ vegan meals (evening meals will be on a cooking rota).

There will be plenty of time for you to spend with your own work, be inspired by the quiet and space, as well as be stimulated by the conversations and the internal and external worlds around you.

Optional facilitated activities include creative explorations, play, guided meditation, walks, and singing.

We invite you to make this an alcohol-free week

An opportunity to be in community with others from different creative backgrounds (whom I wouldn’t normally meet or come across in my everyday life) and the chance to share talents, experiences and ideas. A chance to focus on my writing without disturbance or distraction.

Venue
Everyone will have a room of their own. Some with en suite.
There are two accessible rooms on the ground floor.
Nearest train stations: Giggleswick or Settle.
There’s room for parking

Arrival: 1700 Monday 4th January
Departure: 1130 Saturday 9th January

Cost
£600, inclusive of all food, accommodation and activities
There are 10 participant places. We can offer a limited number of discounted places. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss a bursary.
If you are able to pay more, to cover the cost of more bursaries, let us know.

Who we are
Sarah Hymas, writer, maker, facilitator and collaborator, has been running The Writer’s Imaginarium and other creative workshops and retreats for over thirty years. Through all her work she seeks to strengthen the connections between us, and unearth the joy in sharing collective creative spaces.

Katherine Zeserson is a singer, writer, coach and facilitator. She works with individuals, groups and organisations to build clarity and insight, driven by a passionate belief in the essential role of creative and reflective practices for making a kinder, fairer world.

How to Express Your Interest in Coming Along
email: katherine [at] zeserson.com & sehymas [at] gmail.com
with the subject: Worlds in Progress Residency
We’ve a waiting list, if you’d like to sign up, or get in touch to hear about the next one.
Include, briefly (in the body of the email):

Why you’d like to join us for the week
What roughly you might be working on (we appreciate things change)
Anything you’d like to offer the group during the week, either of your practice or some joyful activity that supports your practice. (This is optional, and can be spontaneous if you are so moved during the week)
If you absolutely need a desk in your room.
Any dietary requirements or allergies you have.
Other specific needs you’d like us to know about.
Whether you’re able to pay £600 standard, need a bursary, or can pay more towards the cost of another bursary

We’ll need 50% deposit to confirm your place in July.
And the balance to be paid by the middle of October.

Cancellation policy: We can only return your payment if someone else is able to take your place

Extra Details

Couples are welcome to share a room. Both would be still required to pay full price
Given that we’ll be working in close proximity we ask that your practice is considerate to others.
There is wi-fi at the house
Do email with any Qs

It gave me lots of moments of joy, a space to work, a space to play with all the other fab retreatants, space to be on my own, space to be in the beauty of the place, and shared laughter.

Imaginarium Earth

Imaginarium Earth is a six month editorial programme for writers with an early draft wanting a new and supportive way of editing their work

Who’s it for?

Any writer, of any genre, any subject, looking for a new / supportive community alongside whom to edit / redraft a body of work*

who can commit to most of the fortnightly Monday night online sessions
who wants to go from being in the dark to having a clearer view of a particular project
who enjoys discussion and engaging with other people’s work as much as their own, seeing that as a way to enrich their own process
who has love and respect for the earth and is wanting to enfold that relationship into their writing / editing process.

You do not need to be writing a nature-based work, or refer to the natural world explicitly within the writing.

* A ‘body of work’ refers to a pamphlet or more of poems, a collection or bundle of short stories, a 20+ min script, a piece of prose 15k + words in length, or some other longer length work

Aims

Turn an early (possibly messy) draft into something more coherent.
Build confidence and joy in the editorial stage.
See the earth as a teacher of creativity, and build on the six elements for creative experimentation.
Keep the creative spirit alive and fresh throughout the redrafting process.

You will be invited to

Draw on the earth’s processes to guide your editorial process
Reset your perception of your work through a wider reset of perceptions towards the world you inhabit
Become a part of a small community of committed writers each editing their work
Hold an expansive view of your ideas, influences and processes, while making focused edits on your work

Format

We’ll meet fortnightly, online for 90 minute sessions. These will alternate between peer feedback and more wide-ranging discussions on process and keeping going
Interim worksheets / provocations full of questions and invitations
An inclusive hour long one-to-one coaching/mentoring session with me, which could be face to face (in Lancaster area), online or phone.
More info on the ethos of an Imaginarium is here

Session dates
All sessions run 7-8:30pm, Monday nights, on zoom.
Intro session: 18th Dec;
Earth: 15th & 29th Jan;
Air: 12th & 26th Feb;
Space: 11th & 25th March
Fire: 8th & 22nd April
Water: 6th & 20th May
Consciousness: 3rd & 17th June

Cost

There are three self-selecting bands:
£270 full; £150 mid-range; £90 concs; 1 free bursary place is available.
This includes all sessions, resources and an optional one to one tutorial.
Please choose whichever band feels most affordable to your current situation

Expressions of Interest

There are 8 places. Unlike previous years I’m definitely capping at 8 (!)
If you’d like to join this Imaginarium, please email me sehymas [at] gmail.com
with:
1. A rough outline of the draft project, including its genre and subject matter, you want to work on between Dec 23 and June 24*
2. Which fee band you’ll be paying
3. Any access needs
4. Any questions
*This is not about me deciding how good your work is, more an ambition to create a mix of genres for the group.

Please send your interest by 16th November at the latest and I’ll get back to you asap.

Ancestral Imaginarium

This semi-supported, semi-freewheeling Imaginarium will return in the second half of 2025

In it we’ll explore how assembling an ancestral altar might feed into your creative actions and aspirations, and build a deeper sense of connection with your place in the world.

At the time when, in the Northern Hemisphere, days are shortening, the earth is beginning to turn towards hibernation, we’ll call our ancestors into our lives through celebration, play and creativity. These could be our blood, spiritual, teacher, non-human, or land ancestors: the many-gendered, multi-formed, mothers of the heart. This Imaginarium is an invitation to the self to recognise and celebrate ancestors, and to the ancestors to recognise and nourish creative spirit.

With provocations from Sarah Hymas and Katherine Zeserson, this guided month offers a time of writing and notwriting, of assembling and doodling, of mooching and dreaming.

Outline for the month
* Email provocations will land in your inbox throughout September 2024
* Three live sharing sessions at 7.30pm on Monday 2nd, 16th and 30th September
* A private blogspot forum to share discoveries as you go
* An optional follow up one to one meet later in the autumn to offer a gathering together of your ideas or an impetus for continuing a new momentum.
* The time commitment for each week is entirely up to you. You could spend half an hour in response to the provocations, or you could dive in for a day a week, or anything in between.

Who it’s for
People who are working with memoir, automythology, self-reflection, familial nonfiction, biography,
OR are embarking on / are involved in any creative endeavour where spending time with your wider self and collective influences would be useful, fruitful and enriching
OR are interested in deepening your connection with the world, across time and space, unfolding your sense of self into a larger consciousness

Basically, whatever your experience, form or expression, if you’re curious (ie, got this far down the page) then it could be for you.

Cost
Choose from the sliding scale, what you feel you can afford
£50; £75; £120

How to book a place
Write to us at sehymas [at] gmail [dot] com saying
what interests you about this Imaginarium / exploring your ancestors, and what price bracket you’ll be paying.
* We’re deciding on dates and will be inviting you soon*

Recommended Reads to get you in the zone
(These are only only if you’re looking for book suggestions)
Timecode of a Face – Ruth Ozeki
Rest is Resistance – Tricia Hersey
The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction – Ursula le Guin, with the foreword by Donna Haraway
All About Love – bell hooks
What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be? ed by John Hausdoerfferm Brooke Parry Hecht, Melissa K Nelson and katherine Kassouf Cummings

Imaginarium Solo

An easy to use, easy to riff off, writer’s guide to kickstart a new writing project, picking up the threads of an old one, or tinkering with an unfledged idea. The Imaginarium Solo offers a space for you to play, think, listen and write around an idea – word, image, or story – that just won’t let you go, with the intention of ripening it at a pace that suits you.

Four audio provocations, embedded within the guide, will prompt you through an accumulative writing process. For run through the guide, start to finish, probably takes about six hours. This, of course, can be broken up to fit with your life. As with all Imaginariums, Solo is based on my own processes and designed to encourage imagining, creating and writing for all genres. It’s for those who would like an invisible companion / gentle provocateur as they write

You choose the cost: from £5 – £25. Pay below and I’ll email a link to the digital guide. While you can print it off for your use, you will need to be online to click through to the audio files that are the writing guides embedded in the pdf.

All monies will go to The Morecambe Bay Poverty Truth Commission Hardship Fund

If you’re strapped for cash, email me. I’m happy to share this for free with anyone whose financial situation is an obstacle to their writing.

And if you’d rather write in company, then maybe the Imaginarium Online is more your thing. If there isn’t one pending, then sign up to my very infrequent newsletter to hear of the next one.

June 17, 2020August 18, 2020

One Day Plus

Here you’ll find all the offline provocations for our One Day Plus Imaginarium.

The recordings are designed for you to write alongside them, with recorded silence in which to write. You can, of course, switch off the audio at any time, and set your own alarm, repeat a provocation that works better than another, or make notes towards a thing rather than write the thing itself.

Each provocation is timed to give you space to faddle before and after it. If you need an early lunch then obviously slot it in to suit you. The sequence intends to grow and widen your thinking/dreaming.

1200-1230 Provocation One
A New Music: hearing the music or rhythm in your project.

This provocation works out of the thought that each new piece of writing has a particular voice, or music, that will lead you though the making of it. You’ll need: a piece of writing from earlier, an influencer book, and sheets of blank A4. When you’re ready, press play.

1330-1400 Provocation Two
Its Creatureliness: How does it feel?

This exercise approaches your idea / project / writing from a different angle: as another being, an embodied feeling thing. It asks you to identify moments that illuminate the larger feeling of the body of the project, and consider its shape or form through any changes that occur. You’ll need: whatever you use to write

1430-1500 Provocation Three
The terrain: What is contained within your piece?

Press play and gather around you what you’ll need: all the bits and pieces of your project: the previous writings, photos, influencer books, the music – all the things that have brought you to this point, this piece / project – and spread them on the floor or table top.

1500-1530 Provocation Four
A Tethering: The final writing session for now, discovering where your imagining, exploring and poking have brought you. Fifteen minutes to flesh out an aspect of the project. Write slowly, write carefully, write for the full fifteen minutes if you can.