Hello Reader, So You Want to Write a Short Story… Join Joanne Hichens – editor, author, and curator of the acclaimed Short.Sharp.Stories Awards – along with guest writers, Kamva Majo and David Mann for a free webinar on the art and craft of the short story. We'll explore what makes a great short story, how to find and develop your idea, how to know when your story is finished, and where to submit your work once it's ready. Whether you're writing your first short story or looking to sharpen...
7 days ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, Hot off the press! Trish and I were at the printers this week watching Waterlines – the first volume of Monday Writing Motivations – come to life. It was immensely satisfying to see the finished product, and I’m delighted with the quality. We are dispatching SA orders today. We do have a handful of extra signed copies; if you’d like one, please contact Trish today, as we head back to the UK on Wednesday. For readers in South Africa the books cost R349 for delivery to a Courier...
8 days ago • 7 min read
You have until six pm this evening, South African time, to order a signed copy of Waterlines, the first (and most revealing!) volume of my Monday Writing Motivations. It is a bit of a race against the calendar to get them done before I leave South Africa, so if you’d like a signed copy, please let us know asap. I'm also going to do a small print run in the UK and these copies will be waiting for me to sign and post when I return on 12 March. See below for more info about Waterlines, and how...
15 days ago • 14 min read
As many of you know, my first collection of essays, Waterlines, has been out in a limited way since late last year. I am now getting ready to do a small print run so that I can provide you with personally signed copies. Rest assured it's been well proofed I’m ordering the first batch in South Africa specifically so I can sign them for you before I head back to the UK. It is a bit of a race against the calendar to get them done before I leave, so if you’d like a signed copy, please let us know...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Every writer has heard the injunction show, don't tell. Most have heard it so many times it has lost whatever pertinence or, at least, edge, it once had. So, let's take it as read, move past it, and talk about the trap that waits on the other side. Because there is one. This week off the water Writers who've absorbed the show-don’t-tell lesson often find themselves reaching for what you might call illustrated explanation – a gesture that is really just a showy word or phrase dressed up in...
21 days ago • 6 min read
There's a principle in physics called the inverse square law. You'll have encountered it in school: the intensity of light, or gravity, or sound, diminishes in proportion to the square of the distance from its source. Double the distance, the effect doesn't halve – it quarters. It's a ruthless relationship. This week off the water I've been thinking lately about whether something similar operates in what you might call the information economy of a thriller or a mystery. Not as a precise...
28 days ago • 7 min read
Hello Reader, My stomach hurt. That wasn’t a good sign. But I couldn’t bail. Not at this late stage. This week under the water I’d signed up for this, so I must’ve thought I could do it. But, could I? I’d never swum quite this far – and there was a stretch, from Windmill Beach to Fisherman’s, I’d never tackled at all. But I’d always, always wanted to. Okay, eat something. Not too much. You don’t want to feel heavy. Skins or wetsuit? Skins or wetsuit? Easier in skins, but it would be a long...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Hello Reader, Thank you so much for joining us for our memoir writing webinar, Get Stuck Into Your Life. What a session it was. We were moved and inspired by how many of you shared your reasons for wanting to write your memoir – from leaving a legacy for family, to making sense of life’s turning points, to finding the courage to tell stories that need to be heard. The chat was alive with powerful, honest responses, and it reminded us just how rich and varied the stories in our community are....
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Sustained writing takes at least two kinds of energy, two acts of commitment, if you like. This week on the water You start with the tendril of an idea, a whisper of a story, something that, for reasons that are frequently inexplicable, excite your imagination. It doesn’t have to be much, but there’s something about it that beckons you, that says: “This is worth thinking about,” or, perhaps better, “This is something that generates a particular feeling in me that I want to explore, in a...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read