Join me and Jennifer Wong to fan the flames of your writing at Lumb Bank, Arvon’s lovely writing centre in Yorkshire. See Arvon’s website for a full description of the one week residential course.
Bookings open for a September adventure in Spain.
I will be at the idyllic Casa Ana in September 2019 for its annual writing retreat for writers working on projects. This beautiful Spanish home is set within the mesmerising Alpujarras mountain range in Andalucia, Spain. TLC Literary Adventures offers an environment where inspiration and improvisation meet. You will have access to world-class teaching, get a chance to work, read, listen, learn and relax in a stunning setting which will open the mind and senses. The retreat is open to writers of fiction (novels or short stories), memoir and creative non-fiction, and will include morning workshops on elements of writing as well as a session on the publishing industry, plenty of free writing time, readings with your fellow writers, and optional trips to a nearby village with local hand-made artisanal products.
Book now and join me!
In the Studio
Now available on-line and on BBC iplayer, a programme on writing a novel ...
Early booking? September workshop.
A workshop on revising and editing with my co-tutor Antonia Hodgson (author of The Last Confession of Thomas Hawkins and editor at Little Brown) and guest James Runcie (whose Grantchester Mysteries were turned into a much loved TV series). Book early!
24-29 September 2018 at the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre.
Setting out to write ...
The Five Steps. Familiar?
What if ...?
A writer finally reaches a publisher.
Writer's Life #2
Pastoral Inspiration
The Art of the Short Story & A Time to Retreat
If you are interested in short stories you might like to have a look at the latest issue of Wasafiri. I have a short essay on the risky business of writing. You can find a link to a taster here.
Anyone interested in a tutored writing retreat, check out the Arvon week at Totleigh Barton in Devon in July. I'll be there with Lawrence Scott and Deborah Levy.
Writer's LIfe #1
On the Beach
WRITING WORKSHOPS
Two writing workshops coming up.
1 August, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. A session on the craft of writing at the new Live Trinco Festival.
3-8 August: Fiction retreat with one-to-one tutoring at Moniack Mohr, Inverness, Scotland. Last few places still available.
Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize 2015 regional winners
Congratulations to the 2015 Regional winners:
Africa: Lesley Nneka Arimah, ‘Light’ (Nigeria)
Asia: Siddhartha Gigoo, ‘The Umbrella Man’ (India)
Canada and Europe: Jonathan Tel, The Human Phonograph (United Kingdom)
Caribbean: Kevin Jared Hosein, ‘The King of Settlement 4′ (Trinidad and Tobago)
Pacific: Mary Rokonadravu, ‘Famished Eels’ (Fiji)
To procrastinate or ...?
Another day has passed, and you haven't written a single sentence more. Why? Is that just the way it is? Are you just procrastinating? What should you do? Take the Procrastination Quiz now and find out. Or maybe do it another day. Or if you want to procrastinate even more, read a book on novel writing. Or have a look at what other writers do to get started, from the mundane to the bizarre, in writers' habits.
New Book: A Companion to Novel Writing
Novel Writing: A Writers' & Artists' Companion published by Bloomsbury.
August Retreat
Happy New year!
I will be running a Writers' Retreat at Moniack Mohr in Scotland 3-8 August with Susanna Jones. If you need time to write and writers to share with, come and join us.
For more information go to Moniack Mohr.
A Novel Writer's Companion
Watch this space for a new book on novel writing. A collaboration with A L Kennedy.
Coming in January 2015 ...