Writing codswallop

When you begin a new piece of writing, be it article, short story, press release or a 100,000 word novel, you start off with ideas, insights, energy which can sustain you to the end. Sometimes the oomph fades part-way through. Sometimes you start with a dragging reluctance because you have a deadline, a target or […]

Getting help: the writer’s dilemma

Okay, you’ve done your first draft, you’ve edited it, your aunt Mabel who taught English has checked it, your mate Bev says ‘It’s great!’. You’ve left it for a few weeks, come back, tightened the manuscript, checked for shockers and you’ve even written your synopsis. You’re on the starting blocks for publication, fame and fortune(!).

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Writing bootcamp at the Circle of Missé

Never having taken part in a creative writing course, I was excited, but a trifle anxious, when I was invited to join a ‘writing bootcamp’ at the Circle of Missé, a creative centre near my new home in France.

Lead by Annie Kirby, a renowned short-story writer who is also working on a full-length novel, […]