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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
      • Contact
      • How to enrol

    Tips for Writers

     Writing a Thriller or Crime Series: Key Insights from Tony Park and Bonnie Espie
    By Richard Beynon
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted July 14, 2026

    Writing a Thriller or Crime Series: Key Insights from Tony Park and Bonnie Espie

    Two bestselling authors talk plot, character voice, and the realities of writing (and publishing) a thriller and crime series.

    READ MORE
     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 [...]

    READ MORE
     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 [...]

    READ MORE
     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 [...]

    READ MORE
     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 [...]

    READ MORE
     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 [...]

    READ MORE
     How to Set Your Writing Goals 2026: 5 Questions to Transform Your Year
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted January 20, 2026

    How to Set Your Writing Goals 2026: 5 Questions to Transform Your Year

    Expert writing tips to accelerate your development: rewrite strategies, building momentum, conquering your inner critic. Free advice from professional authors.

    READ MORE
     Start the Year Writing: A Free Interactive Webinar
    0
    By Jo-Anne Richards
    In Jo-Anne Richard's blog, Tips for Writers, Webinars
    Posted January 9, 2026

    Start the Year Writing: A Free Interactive Webinar

    Join our free interactive webinar on 19 January to clarify your writing intentions for 2026. No resolutions, no pressure – just honest reflection and practical strategies with experienced writing [...]

    READ MORE
     Writing Tips to Accelerate Your Development: Expert Advice
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted December 9, 2025

    Writing Tips to Accelerate Your Development: Expert Advice

    Expert writing tips to accelerate your development: rewrite strategies, building momentum, conquering your inner critic. Free advice from professional authors.

    READ MORE
     Character vs Story: What Should Come First?
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted September 16, 2025

    Character vs Story: What Should Come First?

    Should you start with character development or plot structure? This fundamental writing question sparked lively debate in our latest Q&A webinar. Jo-Anne and Richard share insights on both [...]

    READ MORE
     Self Publishing Revolution 2025: Tips for Building a Profitable Indie Author Business
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted July 11, 2025

    Self Publishing Revolution 2025: Tips for Building a Profitable Indie Author Business

    The publishing revolution has already happened. Indie authors now control 51% of all ebook sales, with 1.7 million books self-published in the US in 2022 versus just 10,000 from traditional [...]

    READ MORE
     How to Write a Memoir: Essential Tips from Published Authors
    By All About Writing
    In Tips for Writers, Writing Craft
    Posted June 5, 2025

    How to Write a Memoir: Essential Tips from Published Authors

    "The biggest hurdle most memoir writers face isn't craft - it's courage. When learning how to write a memoir, both Joanne and Merle emphasised the critical importance of giving yourself complete [...]

    READ MORE
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    INSTAGRAM
    Next week we are joined by South African author @s Next week we are joined by South African author @sallyandrewkaroo of the bestselling Tannie Maria mysteries ( @penguinbookssouthafrica ) for a FREE online webinar. 

✍️Live Zoom Event | Monday 24 August 2026
✍️17:00 to 18:00 UK time
✍️18:00 to 19:00 South Africa Time

📚 We'll explore her recipe for success
📚 We'll talk about her latest book, Wild Things Never Die
📚 We'll explore the real ingredients of a writing life: from planning to publishing
📚 There will be a reading
📚 Live Q&A with Sally
📚 And we might even talk about a recipe or two

SIGN UP FOR FREE: Link in Bio

#allaboutwriting #freewebinar #writingwebinar #sallyandrew #writingcraft
    The All About Writing Team is thrilled to congratu The All About Writing Team is thrilled to congratulate our own Jo-Anne Richards on her publishing deal for a new non-fiction book! She has signed with Jonathan Ball Publishers and her publication date is set for April 2027. This marks Jo-Anne's 6th book and her first non-fiction title. 
Congrats, Josie! 🥂

You can stay updated with her news via our newsletters and her website: https://jo-annerichards.co.za/

@jonathanball_local @joannerichardsauthor

#allaboutwriting #joannerichards #southafricanauthor #jonathanball
    Join us for a very special *free webinar* with Sal Join us for a very special *free webinar* with Sally Andrew — bestselling author of the Tannie Maria mysteries – to talk about the recipe for success.

🌟 Live Zoom Event
🗓️ Monday 24 August 2026
⏰ 17:00 to 18:00 UK time
⏰ 18:00 to 19:00 South Africa Time

Sally's new novel, Wild Things Never Die, brings Tannie Maria and her hen Henrietta undercover with Maria’s fiancé, Detective Henk Kannemeyer, to the Karoo Wilderness Reserve. Their mission: save the vetplantjies! At the luxury game lodge, they spy on guests and support the Anti-Poaching Unit in a battle against dangerous gangsters. 

📚 We'll talk about Wild Things Never Die 
📚We'll explore the real ingredients of a writing life: from planning to publishing
📚There will be a reading
📚Live Q&A with Sally
📚And we might even talk about a recipe or two

Sally Andrew is the best-selling author of the award-winning Tannie Maria mystery novels. She lives with her artist partner in a mud-brick house on a nature reserve in the Klein Karoo. She has a master’s in Adult Education from the University of Cape Town and was a social and environmental activist. She now writes, cooks, does Biofield Tuning (sound healing), and is training to be a doowop girl. Her Tannie Maria novels include Recipes for Love and Murder, The Satanic Mechanic, Death on the Limpopo, and The Milk Tart Murders. She has also published a cookbook called Recipes to Live For. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages and adapted into an international TV series.
    ✍️Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Rich ✍️Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Richard discusses the three clauses of the writer/reader contract. ✍️

1)Unfamiliarity has to be real.
2)Surprise has to be earned.
3)Remember the felt, lasting effect of events on both characters and readers.

Three clauses, then, though really they're one obligation facing in three different directions: don't let the reader's appetite for the unfamiliar go unfed, don't let the mechanism of the surprise go unearned, and don't let the aftermath go unfelt. Break any one of them and the contract curdles – into repetition, into cheap trickery, or into a book that was pleasant enough at the time and entirely forgettable by the time you’ve turned off the light and turned over for sleep.

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

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Richard wa Read this week’s Monday Motivation as Richard walks us through a multi-character dialogue scene he is crafting and discover the key ingredients for making the scene work. 

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

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    Did you know you can find our past webinars right Did you know you can find our past webinars right on YouTube? 
With 46 Creative Writing Webinars and 8 dedicated to Short Stories, you're sure to find the inspiration to spark the next part of your own writing journey.

WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/@allaboutwritingcourses/playlists

 And while you're there, don't forget to subscribe.
 For more free resources, visit our website: https://allaboutwritingcourses.com

#allaboutwritingcourses #allaboutwriting

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    Looking to connect with a like-minded community of Looking to connect with a like-minded community of writers?

Become part of our inner-circle of writers and experience on-going support and companionship on your writing journey. 
 
At a monthly writers’ circle meeting, acclaimed writers, Richard Beynon or Dr Jo-Anne Richards, will hear your writing, offer feedback and answer your writing questions. 

#WritingCraft #WritingTips #AllAboutWriting #WritersOfInstagram #AmWriting #WritingMotivation #FictionWriting #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting #WritingAdvice
    ✍️ Upcoming FREE WEBINAR: Two Crime Writers, T ✍️ Upcoming FREE WEBINAR: Two Crime Writers, Two Very Different Worlds ✍️
Join us for a conversation with Tony Park & Bonnie Espie on the craft, challenges and sense of place behind two distinctive South African crime series.

💻Live Zoom Event: Monday 13 July 2026
🇬🇧17:00 to 18:00 (UK time)
🇿🇦18:00 to 19:00 (South Africa Time)

What you'll get:

● An inside look at how Tony Park has sustained his Sonja Kurtz series across six novels – and what it took to write King of Beasts, the long-awaited sequel to his very first book

● Bonnie Espie on writing Lifting the Lid, the second in her Winifred and Sylvie series set in the fictional winelands village of Riviersvalleij

● A conversation about sense of place – how the African bush and the Cape winelands shape plot, character and mood

● Two very different publishing journeys, compared side by side

● Live Q&A with both authors

Sign up via link in bio. 

#writingwebinar #freewebinar #writinglife #allaboutwriting
    Keep your friends close - and your neighbours clos Keep your friends close - and your neighbours closer. 

This week on the water - we shared printed copies of the free ebook “Murder as a Matter of Taste” with our neighbours who provide inspiration for the James Clatterbridge series. 

If you’d like an ebook - sign up via LINK IN BIO or visit www.allaboutwritingcourses.com/richard-beynon

#RJBeynon #JamesClatterbridge #allaboutwriting
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    NEWS & TIPS
    • 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
    • The Creative Writing Skills That Make the Most Difference: Key Insights from Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon
      The Creative Writing Skills That Make the Most Difference: Key Insights from Jo-Anne Richards and Richard Beynon
    • You Can Finish Your Manuscript: Lessons from Two Writers Who Did
      You Can Finish Your Manuscript: Lessons from Two Writers Who Did
    • How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo
      How to Write a Short Story: Key Insights from Joanne Hichens, David Mann and Kamva Majo
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