The Cornish House by Liz Fenwick

To tie in with the imminent release of the The Cornish House by Liz Fenwick, you can read a guest post by me on Liz's blog about 'One Thing I've Learnt'. Liz has a number of guest posts on this subject during May and they make for fascinating reading.

You can also find my review of The Cornish House over on Bookersatz. I highly recommend it.

Chez Castillon

You know how sometimes you meet new people and you just know that you’ll want to know them for ever? Well, that’s how I felt when I met Mickey and Janie at Chez Castillon.

Chez Castillon is an amazing house in Castillon la Bataille near Bordeaux, and Mickey and Janie have turned it into the most fantastic retreat for writers and artists.

I was out there for a few days at the end of last month and I had a wonderful time. The hospitality of Chez Castillon makes it the perfect environment for writing and relaxing. Mickey and Janie are the perfect hosts, and the provision of food and drink is abundant and seamless.

Add to this great tuition from the talented Adrian Magson and the stimulating company of my fellow students, and my stay at Chez Castillon was just perfect.

You can find out more about Chez Castilon here. They’ve got an array of writing and painting courses coming up, including 'Is There A Book In You?' with the gorgeous Jane Wenham Jones.

Meanwhile, so you can see how beautiful it is, here are some more photos ...

If you want a writing retreat or course in incredible surroundings with wonderful company, I highly recommend Chez Castillon.

Freaks!

Two of the loveliest people you could hope to meet have got together to release a book of short stories. They are Caroline Smailes and Nik Perring, and I am delighted to be hosting one of the stories on my blog today.

As well as stories by Caroline and Nik, there are fab illustrations by Darren Craske.



You can buy Freaks here and here.

But in the meantime, here's a little taster for you.

Invisible

[Super Power: The ability to make oneself unseen to the naked eye]

If I stay totally still,

if I stand right tall,

with me back against the school wall,

close to the science room’s window,

with me feet together,

pointing straight,

aiming forward,

if I make me hands into tight fists,

make me arms dead straight,

if I push me arms into me sides,

if I squeeze me thighs,

stop me wee,

if me belly doesn’t shake,

if me boobs don’t wobble,

if I close me eyes tight,

so tight that it makes me whole face scrunch,

if I push me lips into me mouth,

if I make me teeth bite me lips together,

if I hardly breathe,

if I don’t say a word.

Then,

I’ll magic meself invisible,

and them lasses will leave me alone.

Many congratulations to all involved in Freaks!

Day Retreat For Writers

I'm pleased to announce my very first ...

Day Retreat For Writers – 28 April 2012 - at Delapre Abbey in Northampton

Sessions will include ...

Ideas are everywhere – an interactive session focussed on sourcing ideas and making them work.

Free writing session. Take one of your new ideas and start turning it into a story.

Question and answer session. Group discussion of markets, subbing, other directions for your writing, or anything else.

A chance to read out work and get feedback. You can read out what you wrote earlier, or bring something along with you to read out if you prefer.

What next? Goal setting and any final questions.

Please get in touch, by emailing me via my profile, if you'd like more information or a booking form.

You can also find details of my other courses on my website. www.helenmhunt.co.uk

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Latest News From Leigh Russell

As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm a big fan of Leigh Russell's writing and I'm very pleased that her new book, Death Bed, is now available. I got my review copy a couple of days ago and I can't wait to read it.

You might be interested to know that there is a Limited Special Edition Hardback of Death Bed, individually signed and numbered. It is available only on http://www.noexit.co.uk/dbspecial/ as a collector's item, or gift. The publishers are only printing 200 and they're a bargain at £20.

Leigh has also let me know about a great new service she is providing for writers.

OPPORTUNITY FOR WRITERS WORKING TOWARDS PUBLICATION

Internationally bestselling crime writer LEIGH RUSSELL is offering expert critique to published and aspiring authors.

Benefit from Leigh’s experience of writing a bestselling series, combined with her skills as a creative writing tutor.

Leigh runs regular workshops for The Society of Authors, and for the annual Get Writing Conference hosted by the University of Hertfordshire.

Leigh will highlight the positive aspects of your writing, while suggesting ways you can improve your manuscript to make it fit for successful submission to agents and publishers.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR MANUSCRIPT

For details of submission and fees contact http://www.leighrussell.co.uk/contact.php

Leigh Russell’s novels have attracted glowing reviews in many publications around the world, including The Times, US Publishers Weekly and Star Magazine and have been:

o shortlisted for a CWA Dagger Award

o in Top 50 Bestseller list on amazon

o a Top Crime Book on Crime Time (voted by readers)

o a Top Read on Eurocrime

o No. 1 international bestselling female detective on kindle

o a Great Crime Sleuth on Lovereading

You can hear Leigh talking about crime fiction, how to get published, and many other topics, as well as reading from her books, on her Author Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/LeighRussellAuthor

For details of submission & fees contact http://www.leighrussell.co.uk/contact.php

Short Story Courses and Workshops

I'm delighted to now be able to share full details of my courses and workshops for early 2012.

Participants on 2011 courses said:

‘Very good value for money’, ‘The course is excellent and a must for anyone wishing to break into the women’s magazine market’, ‘Very supportive and constructive feedback’, ‘A fantastic day’.

Insight Into The Women’s Magazine Fiction Market – 3 March 2012

This workshop will look at writing for the increasingly tough and sadly shrinking women’s magazine market. So if you’ve been writing for a while and want to find out more about this market, this workshop could be for you.

This one day workshop is aimed at people who are interested in writing for the women’s magazine market. It will assume some existing experience of writing short stories and offer help to those who have not yet started to submit stories but would like to, and people who have been submitting for a while but want to increase their chances of success.

The market at the moment is very tough, and there are no guarantees of success, but you can maximise your chances by finding out as much about the market as possible.

We will cover:

• The current state of the market;
• How to tailor stories for particular magazines;
• Making sure your story stands out from the rest;
• What to avoid doing;
• Rewriting stories for a different market.

Lunch and light refreshments are included. The cost of the course is £35 which also includes a critique.

Moving On Short Story Workshop – 31 March 2012

This course will be practically based and will help participants work towards the first draft of a story for their chosen women’s magazine market. They will receive a critique of their story once they have had a chance to finish it after the course.

We will cover:

Coming up with a killer idea including mind-mapping and treasure-mapping techniques;
Thinking of a great title, but not being afraid to let go of it;
The difference between a twist and a surprise;
Creating great characters and writing convincing dialogue;
Using themes and motifs to lift your story out of the ordinary.

Lunch and light refreshments are included. The cost of the course is £40 which also includes a critque.

New for 2012

Day Retreat For Writers – 28 April 2012

Come and spend a day with fellow writers being inspired, exercising your writing skills and sharing your work in a supportive atmosphere at Delapre Abbey. I’m a short story writer, but all writers are welcome to come to this one and benefit from meeting other writers in a supportive atmosphere.

The cost of the retreat is £22. Lunch is not included but you’ll be able to purchase refreshments from the Abbey Tea Room.

All these courses are held in Northampton. Full venue details and maps provided on booking. Please email me for a booking form.

Online services

If you can’t make it to a workshop, don’t forget I now offer the totally flexible Hop On Hop Off online course (details here http://www.helenmhunt.co.uk/?page_id=37 ) and a critique service (details here http://www.helenmhunt.co.uk/?page_id=15 ).

If you have any queries about any of the above, please feel free to email me via my profile or leave a comment here.

Expected by Sarah England

I've been aware of Sarah England for a while now as an extremely talented short story writer. Her stories regularly appear in all the magazines and are always a fabulous read.

Sarah's also written a novel, and today I'm thrilled to have her as my guest to talk about that. This is what Sarah had to say about 'Expected'.

You know I’ve read an awful lot of chicklit - and what struck me more than anything, particularly with the hugely successful Shopaholic series, not to mention Bridget Jones - was that the female protagonists were upper middle class and rather well off. They had adoring families they could run home to. They had nice jobs in the city, friends with fab apartments, and they met dishy men who they wanted to marry and have children with. Well - funny and well written these chicklit books might be - but realistic??

So my heroine, Sam, is working class - from a sink estate she has no desire to return to. Sam dreams of having a career - yearns for a nice, safe place to live, and desperately doesn’t want to end up as a single mother on benefits like most of her school friends. So she makes a mistake and moves in with the outwardly desirable and very middle class doctor she met at a party. Instantly her mother spreads the news, begins to plan the wedding, and wastes no time in pushing (no pun intended) for grandchildren. So now Sam is trapped.

I’ve been trapped, have you? I’ve been trapped in a lousy marriage, when my job was precarious and someone at work was gunning for me because my face didn’t fit. I’ve been vulnerable and scared. And I’ve been badly let down by the one person I thought I could run home to. So what keeps us going? Well hope, youth, optimism, fantastic mates and a massive sense of humour. And that’s where Expected comes from. Only I couldn’t leave Sam without a bit of spice - I think we’ve all looked up and met the eyes of a drop-dead gorgeous sex on legs - take me now - kind of guy?! Oh - just me then. Anyway, she deserved a treat after all she’d been through. Bit of a catch at the end, but ….well, never let it be said I do cheesy!

The fun bit? Oh venting fury and frustration! And the creation of monster mouse, Bernie O’Reilly - the smiling assassin. Yes I did have a giggle. Actually I loved writing this book - I had a blast!! Hope you like it too!

Thanks Sarah, the book sounds fantastic.

You can buy the book at Amazon in the UK here. Or in the USA/Aus here.

And you can find Sarah's website and blog here.