Aug 26, 2024
One year on, but it feels like yesterday… Almost exactly a year ago we launched our very first intake of The BOOK FORGE, our non-fiction writing programme. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that we were scared. We had only had the idea for creating a...
Aug 1, 2024
Reading might seem like a separate hobby to writing… …especially if you are struggling to find time to write you might think that sitting reading a book is a waste of time, let me explain why it is so important. Many moons ago when I was a teacher, part of...
Jul 22, 2024
‘Dream with your heart. Write with your soul. Edit with your head.’ Jennifer Spredemann It’s true, isn’t it. You might write with your soul, but you definitely edit with your head. Editing is a very different skill to writing and so it doesn’t necessarily follow that...
Jul 3, 2024
Words have power… As a writer you don’t need us to tell you the power of words. Words are our best and most precious commodity, but do you ever stop to think about the power of the words you use to speak to yourself, as a writer? Do you allow yourself to...
Jun 18, 2024
Tapping into Creativity with Crystals, Oils, and Meditation You might be wondering why we are talking about natural support, like crystals and essential oils, on a writing blog, well, the answer is simple – we use them and they work! Any pearls of wisdom we can...
Jun 4, 2024
With the help of a cartographer, an artist, a theorist, and a magician Structure – the order, organisation and connections between parts of text – has an important role in your reader’s journey and heightens their understanding and enjoyment of your...
May 7, 2024
Guest Blog by Henry Flemming-Smith a student from Leeds Trinity University. As a child, my journalling, consisted of plants stuck in annotated pages with tape and in-depth critiques of my favourite wrestlers. My grandad, an artist, kept an immaculate journal full of...
Apr 24, 2024
People like me can’t be writers… This is the story I told myself for many years. I can remember when I was six years old being asked to writer a story at school. I loved everything about it and rushed home and asked my mum if I could please borrow her...
Apr 10, 2024
Emotions can hit us when we least expect them Every day we are caught unawares by our emotions; a song comes on the radio, someone walks past wearing a familiar scent or a storyline on a TV show strikes a chord and from nowhere we are crying. Surely when you are...
Mar 25, 2024
Getting to know your target audience Books are written to be read. Imagine! So writing your book without a thought for your reader and expecting them to like it all the same would be like knitting your friend a jumper without checking their size, style or colour...
