Posts

Showing posts from 2020

Write Your Best Short Story Competition Entry

Image
Only 10 weeks left to enter the  Exeter Writers Short Story Competition,  so if you haven’t already, it's time to start thinking about your entry. To help, I am going to provide you with some tips to get started.  The 21-day Writing Challenge First, I suggest you embark on a 21-day writing challenge.  Here is what I want you to do: three times a day, write quickly without thinking, in long, run-on sentences.  When you catch yourself thinking, stop, and set your writing aside. Choose not to struggle with or be led by thoughts. Write freely and without resistance.  The way to do this is to avoid thinking.  When you think, judgment and the expectations of others cause blocks.  Instead, try to reclaim the spontaneous storytelling of childhood.  Expression should be free-flowing.  Let go of tension, take a deep breath and let a sentence come out.  Practice writing run-on sentences without punctuation using connectors such as and, then, but, however . When you find yourself thinking,

Highlights from the Gathering of The Creatives Conference, Santa Fe, 2020.

Image
The Gathering of The Creatives is an Artist and Writers Conference based  in Santa Fe, USA, but due to this year's pandemic, the conference was held online . The event organisers Jacob Nordby and Randy Davila brought together an amazing line up of authors and artist coaches for creative workshops but more than having a stellar lineup, the thing that really set this conference apart was how they were able to create the feeling of intimacy and connection with each attendee even though we were all in our own homes in many parts of the world. The Whova app was an instrumental and amazing tool that really helped attendees to connect to each other and with the hosts via forums and message boards before, during, and after the event. It allowed people to make friends during the lead-up week.  The workshops were so hard to choose from but all of them were recorded and, this year for the first time, attendees can attend the workshops after the fact by watching the recordings of the ones the

Highlights of Indie Fire Writers Conference 2020.

Image
If you're an independent author, or like me aspiring to make a career for yourself in the Indie Publishing world, then you missed a value-packed conference.  But never fear.  I've got you!  Here's a run down of the workshops, panels, and pre-recorded content that full access tickets would've got you if you'd attended the Indie Fire Writers Conference in person.

20 New Books for Your To-Read Pile - Courtesy of the Costa Book Awards

Image
Last night Costa announced the short lists for the five categories in their Costa Book Awards 2020 . You have a Biblical 40 days and 40 nights to read as many as you can and pronounce personal judgements before the winners are officially announced on Monday 4th January, 2021. If you do give them a read, let us know what you thought of them.

Interview With Local Cosy Crime Writer Helena Dixon

Image
Interview With Local Cosy Crime Writer Helena Dixo n Helena Dixon splits her life between homes in Devon and the Black Country, UK. She is a prolific writer who has been both indie and traditionally published. Her most recent books are in the cosy crime genre, The Miss UnderHay Series set in Dartmouth, Torbay, and Exeter. Book four, Murder on the Dancefloor , was released in October, and Book Five, Murder in the Belltower ,   is due June 2021.

Last Minute Poetry Festival News

Image
Sheaf Poetry Festival November 2020. News of The Sheaf Poetry Festival arrived in my in box last night. Beginning tomorrow evening, Thursday 19th November, The Sheaf Poetry Festival kicks off with launch of the annual anthology from the MA Creative Writing Department of Sheffield Hallam Universtiy. It features the work from students, alumni and visiting writers.  It starts at 6.30pm and is free to attend. Sheaf Festival will be delivered online over a long weekend of digital events and workshops via YouTube Premiere.

How to Unleash Your Inner Creator and Finally Write The Book You’ve Always Wanted

Image
I still remember the first real story I ever wrote. I was seven or perhaps eight years old. It was an adventure story emulating my favourite author at the time, Enid Blyton.  Back then, adventure stories helped me escape the confusing world that I experienced as a child.  My story was hardly literary, but it was my first experience of self-expression in words. I wrote down my wildest dreams and became lost in my imagination for days at a time. Through my first characters, I learned what it was to live the life I wished for and forget the reality of the life that I had.

Rules - Are They Made To Be Broken?

Image
People should obey the rules.  That seems obvious, doesn’t it?  Especially in the middle of a pandemic.  Who wants to be infected by someone with a severe case of: ‘Nobody’s going to tell  me  what to do?’  We all know the difference between a free spirit and selfishness. But what about us writers, who juggle creativity and simplicity, originality, and comprehensibility?  Are there any writing rules that you kicked against when you first picked up your literary pen?

Member News - Goodbye Sophie You Will Be Missed

Image
Long-time member, Sophie Duffy is moving to the North of England to become a Royal Literary  Fund Fellow at Manchester University and, although we’re all very pleased for her, Exeter Writers are sorry she’s leaving. 

How To Write a Blog Post (People Will Enjoy Reading)

Image
Picture this scene: A gnarly hunchback in a dark cave (office).  Deformed hands poised over keyboard.  The glare from a computer screen casting light on the dark circles under their eyes and shadows in the hollows of their cheeks.  Where once a creative human full of hope and inspiration sat, a withered husk remains. His contorted expression fraught and wild with desperation. He's stuck. He's tormented by rejection. He's laboured over his novels. He's laboured over his blog posts. He’s poured his heart and soul into all the words he’s ever spilled forth.  Frantic for the world to hear his message. But nobody does.  Nobody cares about his posts. Or by extension his novels.  He receives few views, and even fewer likes. If you listen really hard. In a moment or so you’ll hear the subtle crack of his spirit breaking.

BOOK CHAT - The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver

Image
Welcome to our first Book Chat!  At Exeter Writers meetings we regularly discuss books we're reading. Not just to stay current in the world of literature professionally speaking, but because we simply adore reading as much as writing.  This month, Dianne Bown-Wilson picked an especially interesting book. Lionel Shriver is an American author and journalist living in the UK.  Her book The Motion of the Body Through Space was published earlier this year, 7th May, 2020. Shriver is not afraid to use her words to bring uncomfortable things to light. She often plays devil's advocate, broaching topics that provoke hot debate.