I have started 2020 with great writing fervour, dear readers. Ok, that isn’t true. I’ve dragged myself into 2020, frustrated with my lack of concentration and nagging myself to commit to one – just one – project. Things are about to change. Oh, yes. For I am determined to finish one of the novel projects… Read More Book report, week 1: hope and hammers
The absolute highlight of my writing year in 2018 was getting to attend the inaugural five-day Creative Writing Winter School held by the University of Limerick in Doolin, Co Clare. I may have mentioned it once or twice. I was so blown away by the experience that I blogged about it. Daily. With extensive references… Read More UL Winter School 2019: return of the Dooligans
[Updated 16/9/19] Writing is a funny old game that you can easily spend more money on than you earn from it. To make progress, you need to get your work out into the world and hopefully build a reputation as a writer. But regularly entering competitions is costly, and you can run up quite a… Read More Free-to-enter writing competitions
[Updated 19/8/2019] It’s been a while since I did a round-up of novel competitions, so here are a few dates to put in your diary. Sometimes I find it helpful having a deadline as motivation to actually complete a project. But I recently attempted to write a 3-5 page synopsis of my incomplete WIP for… Read More Novel competitions for 2019
Great news – I returned home elated from the UL winter school with 214 words and having ditched my WIP! On the surface, this might not seem like the best of yields, but in fact I have more than achieved my goal. When I tentatively applied way back in April, I was flummoxed by the… Read More UL winter school, epilogue
Thursday: with such a packed programme this week, I thought that maybe I was being overambitious in also committing to a daily blog diary (bliary? Could that be a thing?), and I would be kicking myself for adding extra homework to the mix. In fact, it has helped me process everything coming at me. Every… Read More UL winter school, day 5
Wednesdayish: it’s a bit like the Big Brother house here. I’m not 100% sure what day it is, or how long I’ve been at the winter school. Because all the guests in Hotel Doolin are winter schoolers, it feels cosy and safe, more like someone’s welcoming country house than a business with public spaces. I… Read More UL winter school, day 4
