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    Writing courses, free resources and webinars, and developmental editing Writing courses, free resources and webinars, and developmental editing
    • Home
    • Mentoring
    • Retreats
      • Venice Writing Retreat
      • Stow-on-the-Wold Writing Weekend
      • Karoo Writing Retreat | Memoir & Fiction Getaway in South Africa
    • Courses
    • Resources
      • Free offerings for writers
      • Downloadable writing resources
      • Blog
    • About
      • About Us
      • Testimonials
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    Archives

    Author Archive for: "trish_urquhart_admin2016"
     Use your naĂŻve eye – but look further
    0
    By All About Writing
    In All About Writing
    Posted October 20, 2026

    Use your naïve eye – but look further

    Snorkelling in a new environment is like writing a new setting – it affects what you focus on. It has its advantages, but its dangers too, to watch out for.Last month, I spent two weeks [...]

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     Mentoring Programme  – 12 hours over 6 months
    0
    By All About Writing
    In
    Posted September 17, 2026

    Mentoring Programme – 12 hours over 6 months

    Our Mentoring Programme is tailored to each writer’s needs and provides encouragement, support, substantial feedback and advice.  It is suitable for writers of [...]

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    0
    By All About Writing
    In
    Posted August 27, 2026

    RJ Beynon

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     From Journal to Published Memoir: Writing Tips from Sheryl and Sandy James and Indeed Books
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted June 16, 2026

    From Journal to Published Memoir: Writing Tips from Sheryl and Sandy James and Indeed Books

    How does a journal become a memoir? In this webinar recap, Sheryl and Sandy James and the team at Indeed Books share honest, practical advice on writing through emotion, protecting the people in [...]

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     The Creative Writing Skills That Make the Most Difference: Key Insights from Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted May 6, 2026

    The Creative Writing Skills That Make the Most Difference: Key Insights from Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon

    What are the craft skills that really move the needle? Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon each chose their three most important creative writing skills — without comparing notes — and between [...]

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     Creative Writing Course – Live
    0
    By All About Writing
    In
    Posted April 24, 2026

    Creative Writing Course – Live

    Transform your writing in 10 weeks. Our live Creative Writing Course gives you the skills, tools and expert guidance to tell your story - whether it's a novel, short stories, biography or [...]

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     You Can Finish Your Manuscript: Lessons from Two Writers Who Did
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted April 15, 2026

    You Can Finish Your Manuscript: Lessons from Two Writers Who Did

    Two writers. Two completed manuscripts. A conversation full of practical wisdom about beginning, keeping going, and getting it done. Here's what Rick Melvill and Tim Chevallier shared in our free [...]

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    By All About Writing
    In
    Posted March 23, 2026

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     How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted March 18, 2026

    How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo

    Want to know how to write a short story that truly resonates — and gets it published? In this candid and practical conversation, short story editor Joanne Hichens sits down with award-winning [...]

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    0
    By All About Writing
    In
    Posted February 19, 2026

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     Power of Writing Course  – feedback on assignment
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    By All About Writing
    In
    Posted February 17, 2026

    Power of Writing Course – feedback on assignment

    Add written feedback from Jo-Anne Richards or Richard Beynon to you Power of Writing course.

    If you have not previously bought the
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     How to Write a Memoir: 4 Questions to Get You Started
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted February 11, 2026

    How to Write a Memoir: 4 Questions to Get You Started

    Not sure where to start with your memoir? Four essential questions to help you find your story, stay motivated, and overcome the obstacles every memoir writer faces — with practical tips from [...]

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    INSTAGRAM
    Richard asks, who do you write for? In his newslet Richard asks, who do you write for? In his newsletter this week, he delves into the various audiences, plus shares some advice from Mr King himself on why you should write with the door closed (don't worry, you can open it later.) Let us know in the comments who you're writing for when you sit down to craft your stories.

Uncover more in this week’s newsletter and if you don’t yet subscribe - visit our link in bio.

#iamwriting #allaboutwriting #writingcommunity #writingmotivation
    We pick up on our conversation about observation, We pick up on our conversation about observation, this time with @joannerichardsauthor . She takes us beneath the water for some writing advice in her blog: 

"Snorkelling in a new environment is like writing a new setting – it affects what you focus on. It has its advantages, but it has dangers too, to watch out for... if you’re writing about a new place, be aware that you’re not seeing it as a local would. Use that naïve eye to notice all the concrete details that locals take for granted. Don’t discount the beauty of the damsel fish, merely because they’re everywhere. But that shouldn’t be where your focus begins and ends. That way lies stereotype.

Dive deeper, look further, stick your head inside that wreck and find out what lies below. That’s where good writing hides."

Read more on our blog at www.allaboutwritingcourses.com
    ‘This is a story of love rather than a love stor ‘This is a story of love rather than a love story,’ Gail Gilbride said at the packed launch of her new novel, An Unsuitable Woman, at Exclusive Books in Cape Town last night. ‘It’s an exploration of love, and different kinds of love.’

We’re immensely proud of Gail, a long-time member of the All About Writing family, alumnus of our Creative Writing Course, our mentoring programme and our Venice Writing Retreat.

In fact, Gail began this novel in Venice, nearly 10 years ago. In the intervening years, she turned to memoir to tell the story of her treatment and recovery from breast cancer, in Cat Therapy, before returning to the story that wouldn’t let her go.

The story is set in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape, now Makhanda, which holds a ‘very special place in my heart’. The time is 1990, a period of turmoil and transition in South Africa, and which forms the backdrop to Gail’s character-driven second novel.

On the night of her launch, her book was already at number 3 on the Cavendish Best Sellers shelf. We wish Gail every success.

💡📚 All About Writing will be hosting Gail, in conversation with author Penny Haw, on our free monthly webinar on 7 December. Don’t miss it. 

#allaboutwriting #writingalumni #writingcommunit #gailgilbride
    What goes on off stage when cozy mystery writers a What goes on off stage when cozy mystery writers are at work?
Join us for a fun online conversation about what goes on behind the scenes.

On Monday 26 October Richard (wearing his RJ Beynon hat) will be in conversation with Jassy Mackenzie, who now writes cozy mysteries as Emma Park, about what goes on behind the scenes when they're at work. They'll talk about where their ideas come from, how they build the small worlds their characters live in, and how they devise the puzzles that keep readers guessing. Jassy made her name with crime thrillers before trading them for vampire hairdressers and rogue donkeys, so they’ll be asking her what that change of genre has taught her.

You’ll be invited to ask your most burning questions too.
Monday 26 October

10:00 US Pacific | 13:00 US Eastern | 17:00 UK | 19:00 South Africa
**Free on Zoom** Sign up via LINK IN BIO

Can't make it? No problem; we'll send the recording to everyone who registers.
    🔍 Observation Challenge 🔍 This week's writi 🔍 Observation Challenge 🔍

This week's writing motivation newsletter involves a challenge. We invite you to join in, and then send us your creative piece. Maybe we should put together a blog of some of the submissions? What do you think? 

So here is your challenge: Take a break from your writing and go on a walk you do often: to the shops, round the park, the same route with the dog. This time, go looking for what has changed since you last did it. A new crack in the pavement. A tree that's started to turn. A shop sign that's faded. Write a paragraph about them and post it in the comments. We'd love to read what you found.

#creativewriting #writingcommunity #writingchallenge
    It’s the final step on our conversation on James It’s the final step on our conversation on James Webb Young’s ‘A Technique for Producing Ideas.’ 

Step 5:
Very cunningly, I’ve foreshadowed this final step. Fix it, dear Henry, fix it. Or, as James Clear, (author of Atomic Habits) in a blog on creativity had it: 'Put your idea out into the world, submit it to criticism, and adapt it as needed.'

It's worth saying plainly: none of this is mystical. Young wasn't describing inspiration, he was describing digestion – you feed the mind raw material, let it marinate, and it comes back rearranged. The gap most writers get wrong is Step 3. We treat the walk, the weeding, the washing-up as time stolen from the work, when it's actually where the work is quietly getting done without the apparent involvement of our conscious minds.

So if you're stuck on a plot that won't cohere or a character who refuses to breathe, try trusting the method rather than the muse: load up on facts, worry them for a while, then go and do something that has nothing to do with writing at all. The idea that turns up afterwards won't arrive polished. That's fine. Fixing it was always Step 5, not Step 4.

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    We continue our conversation on James Webb Young’s ‘A Technique for Producing Ideas.’ His system involves five steps. Let’s look at number four.

Step 4:
Now allow your mind to reconsider the problem – the story that needs a great inciting incident; the character that simply isn’t gelling; the ending that is unsatisfactory – and you’ll find, nine times out of ten, that you do now have an idea. It might not be perfect, in fact it might feel quite rickety – but what you’ll do in Step 5, is fix it. Stay tuned for the last step!

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    We continue our conversation on James Webb Young’s ‘A Technique for Producing Ideas.’ His system involves five steps. Let’s look at number three.

Step 3:
Go and work in the garden, or spend an hour or two pottering about in your workshop, or go for a long walk in an area you’ve not visited before. In short, put the problem you’re trying to solve completely out of your mind and do something entirely different that fascinates and energises you.

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    We continue our conversation on James Webb Young’s ‘A Technique for Producing Ideas.’ His system involves five steps. Let’s look at number two.

Step 2:
Now massage all these facts, look at them from different angles. What surprises lurk in territory that might seem utterly familiar but contains shadowy corners? See what links exist between one fact and another. Whales and oil derricks? Balance sheets and the collapse of traditional shops? Astronomy and glass blowing? See what facts seem to resonate with each other.

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
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    NEWS & TIPS
    • Don’t be absurd, Janine
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    • How to Choose a Book Title: Lessons From Naming Men I Have Known
      How to Choose a Book Title: Lessons From Naming Men I Have Known
    • Humour, Rejection and Redefining Success: Key Insights from Bestselling Author Sally Andrew
      Humour, Rejection and Redefining Success: Key Insights from Bestselling Author Sally Andrew
    • What eight drafts and a long wait taught me about the writing process
      What eight drafts and a long wait taught me about the writing process
    • Writing a Thriller or Crime Series: Key Insights from Tony Park and Bonnie Espie
      Writing a Thriller or Crime Series: Key Insights from Tony Park and Bonnie Espie
    • From Journal to Published Memoir: Writing Tips from Sheryl and Sandy James and Indeed Books
      From Journal to Published Memoir: Writing Tips from Sheryl and Sandy James and Indeed Books
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