Thanks to Vanessa for last week’s blog. I think we’re all guilty of procrastination to a greater or lesser degree. The run-up to Christmas is probably one of the worst times for writers. We’re all feeling tired and frazzled after fighting the crowds in shops, battling the elements and trying to keep everyone around us happy. It’s so easy to slump in front of the TV or computer screen… and do nothing.

Is a Writers’ Group right for you?

But with Christmas behind us and 2012 nearly here, it’s time to take a reality check. If you’re not already a member of a writers’ group, why not give it a try? The NAWG has a directory where you can track down your nearest writing group. Or, pif you live in London, you could consider the London Writers Café which provides ‘a place for creative writers to read out their work for constructive feedback in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere’.

The Costa Book Awards

January 4th sees the announcement of the winners of the Costa Book Awards in the usual five categories: novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children’s book. The shortlists always provide me with ideas for good books to read during the dark days of January and February. All the ‘first novel’ contenders sound interesting and I hope that Andrew Pain will be successful in the ‘novel’ category with Pure. If you’ve not read his first novel, Ingenious Pain, I’d recommend it.

Closing Date for Competition

If you have already forced yourself to stop procrastinating, there’s just time to enter the Writers Bureau Poetry Competition. It was due to close on 31st December but we’ve extended the deadline until 6th January to take account of entries delayed by the Christmas post. But if you prefer to enter online we’ll accept your entries, too, until the new closing date. And if you want some inspiration in the New Year, why not try Freelance Market News which is packed with markets to write for, competitions to enter and general advice on writing.

Next week my guest will be Helen Yendall with some tips on improving your chances of success – but you’ve got to take the plunge and get your writing out there.

Happy New Year to you all!

Sometimes I feel that it’s all doom and gloom surrounding the writing of short stories. We’re told that the market is getting ever smaller and it’s harder than ever to find paying markets – as opposed to websites that will publish your work, but don’t offer a fee. Read the rest of this entry »

First this week, I’d like to say congratulations to the winners of our Annual Short Story Competition! The stories were all very accomplished pieces and if you’d like to read them they are now available on our competition website. I’d also like to say thank you to everyone who joined us last Friday for the event on Facebook to celebrate the winners – I hope you all had a good time because we certainly did.

Welsh Inspiration

The weather is now firmly back to normal – but I took advantage of the sunshine last weekend to go to Wales and try out white water rafting. It was a great experience, even if I did feel a bit like a trussed turkey by the time I’d fought my way into a wetsuit and then had my life jacket tightened until it had the same effect as a surgical corset. We also took the opportunity of walking across the Pontcysyllte aqueduct near Llangollen (not for those with a fear of heights) and climbing to Castell Dinas Bran. I couldn’t help but think of Simon Whaley’s post a few weeks ago – those views certainly do inspire!

Children’s Book Week

This week (3rd-9th October) is Children’s Book Week – a celebration of reading for pleasure for primary school children. It’s been going for 80 years now – in libraries and schools around the country – and I hope it will still be going in another 80 years. There’s little that can beat the enjoyment of a good book and it’s so important that we convince children of this. It shouldn’t be about telling them that reading is good for them, it should be about guiding them to read the kind of books that will really grab their imagination and make them reach for the next, and the next, and the next… So, if you’ve ever wanted to write a book for children and feel you’ve got the flair that will grab the next generation’s imagination, why don’t you give it a try?

Small, but Perfectly Formed!

Finally, if you fancy winning one of our Fiction Writing courses why not enter our Halloween ‘twitter’ competition. All you have to do is write a spooky story in no more than 140 characters and, as you might expect, the closing date is 31st October.

My guest next week is Nick Dawes – someone who really can turn his hand to any writing assignment and handle it in a professional manner.

As you can see, I’ve been having something of an easy time with two guest bloggers following each other. First, thanks to Amanda for her blog. As I mentioned three weeks ago, she has now taken over as editor of Chapter and Verse – so you’ll be hearing more from her over the next few months. Read the rest of this entry »

First, thanks to Natalie – it may be a cliché that ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ but I can’t emphasise too strongly that it also makes a huge difference to whether you sell your work or not. Read the rest of this entry »