The weekly herding: a bit of everything

Hello and welcome to this week’s smorgasbord of writing opportunities. And it certainly is an eclectic mix, with everything from workshops for early-stage writers who struggle to get to grips with their promising ideas, all the way through to an amazing residency for one lucky professional writer.

As always, I hope there’s something here that catches your eye. And do please pop back in a few days, when I’ll have a new list of upcoming flash fiction competitions.

Short story under the microscope

Better known for its novel courses, Curtis Brown Creative is running a Writing Short Stories – Advanced course that sounds interesting for anyone looking to up their game (not suitable for beginners, by the looks of it). Led by writer and University of East Anglia lecturer Naomi Wood, it takes place online over nine weeks and will be a mixture of teaching and peer workshopping, as well as one-to-one feedback. There will also be sessions with several impressive guest speakers – master of the short story Kevin Barry, Conville & Walsh literary agent Lucy Luck and fiction editor of The New Yorker Deborah Treisman.

It starts April 24 and costs a rather eye-watering £1,100. If that is prohibitive, the Breakthrough Scholarship for Short Story Writers with Low Income will award one talented writer of limited financial means a free place on the course. You’ll find all the relevant details here, but you’ll have to be quick as applications close tomorrow, March 24.

The company of strangers

Okay, maybe not exactly this Breakfast Club

If what you need is just a bit of inspiration and accountability, you could try joining the weekly Sunday morning sessions at The Creative Writing Breakfast Club. The beauty of this one is that it’s pay-as-you-go, so you can try it out once to see if it would suit. Led by UK-based writer Laurie Bolger, it takes place 10-11am over Zoom, and Laurie promises to ‘take you through fast-paced writing exercises to boost mindfulness. All you need is a pen and paper, and somewhere chilled to sit and let your imagination do its thing.’ Could be just the ticket if you’re feeling stuck. A session costs £12 / £10 concessions, and booking details are here.

Writer’s residency

Here’s an amazing opportunity for a writer with the right credentials. The John Broderick Residency 2024, run by Westmeath County Council in partnership with the Irish Arts Council, is currently accepting applications for a writer-in-residence in Athlone for 10 weeks (20 hours per week). The writer will have a room available to them at Athlone Library to focus on their own work, and will be expected to engage and interact with the general public, community groups, schools and early-stage writers. Payment of €16,500 will be granted to the selected professional writer for the 10-week period, which starts in September. An additional stipend of €1,200 will be made available where accommodation in Athone is necessary. The Residency is open to all writers resident on the island of Ireland and the deadline for applications is April 17. More information can be found here.

Idea to page

Once upon a time… oh, why is this so DIFFICULT?

Do you struggle to progress the great ideas you have in your head / scribbled on coasters / sketched out in multiple pretty notebooks? UK-based writer Anita Goveas is offering a two-hour online workshop entitled From Spark to Flame: Developing Your Ideas. In it, she will help to give you ‘techniques to try when the blank page is beckoning but the words are not cooperating’. It takes place April 20 at 4pm, and costs CAN$21.57 (around €14.50). You’ll find all the details on The Crow Collective website here.

Competitions closing this coming week

PS. What’s that you say? You wish you could buy me a coffee in return for all this invaluable information? Funnily enough, there’s a way to do that on my immensely popular Ko-fi page, which is where all the cool kids hang out – link here

Photos: StockSnap; Pixabay

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