“So who was Alan? Is he your cousin, or your brother-in-Law?” Laura said, clearly perplexed. “Neither,” I said. “He was my second cousin. Thomas’s son.” “Was? Won’t he be at […]
Six years ago I sat at a table at All’Armoria, a restaurant perched on the lip of the quay overlooking the Guidecca Canal in Venice enjoying the late summer sun […]
Need some instant inspiration to get writing? Who doesn’t. Here are ten of our Monday Motivations, all focusing on story, sure to spur you on. Read them all at once, […]
Welcome to this month’s newsletter Many of our community, it seems, have earmarked 2018 as their year for writing. We’ve had so many requests for help and support, we’ve decided […]
What would our fourth annual Venice Writing Retreat give you? That’s easy, if we quote one of our past participants, who called it “a life-changing experience”. It will certainly provide […]
I often contemplate the power of habitual behaviour. I observe it daily in our cats. One habitually sits with his front paws – I tend to think of them as […]
There is a time when writing requires contemplation for ideas to coalesce. To write you need sometimes to daydream; to allow your thoughts to roam aimlessly. But this is dangerous […]
Were you anticipating 2018 with any relish? We usually do look forward to the new year with some degree of excited anticipation. The world conspires to encourage us to do […]
Stare at the screen. That’s my advice for the week. I know, holidays are over, we’re all back at work and now we’re faced with the reality of those good […]
Why do throngs of people around the world feel the urge to record their thoughts and feelings and observations, but, more than that, to shape them into narratives that engage […]
So, just occasionally, when writing has become a burden – or perhaps, at that moment when you anticipate that it will become a burden – here’s an idea… It was […]
On a weekend in November 2016, a number of writers gathered at Temenos, in the village of McGregor in the Western Cape. In addition to the writers at Temenos, others were tethered […]