STOP PRESS – one last place for our rare seven night retreat (£124pn) October 14th – press reply and say ‘October’ to find out more!
Plus, many of you may know Joanna Penn but if you don’t, see below for another recommendation for a fabulous writing resource, publishing resource, and more; including secrets on selling direct.
Here we are, with another supergroup on one of my monthly writers retreats in heavenly Devon, treating themselves to 4 days of me time with nothing to worry about except the writing. Many of them aspiring writers, regular published writers, and sometimes people who just want to get away and dream. Well, one person who dreamed big has had her wish granted 🙂
Jackie Kabler’s Fab!
Imagine what it’s like when one of your colleagues starts publishing books, gets a book deal (almost straight away I have to say), then gets another bigger one, then one of her novels hits the jackpot! And everything takes off. It’s the dream, right? Well, my friend and fellow QVC presenter, Jackie Kabler has made all of us so proud over the last eight years or so with her incredible trajectory into thriller-writer extraordinaire. This week she celebrated selling 1 million copies of her books in the UK, alone! What an achievement.
Go here to see her post and more detail about her library of books, and don’t forget to get the one which explains everything!
And she is still as lovely as ever, humble, clever. And still turns up for her shifts regularly including some excellent clothes shows with Ruth Langford who has her own range and a lot more besides.
Well done Jackie! So pleased for you 🙂
Scriptwriting Week – March 2025
Yes, it’s finally here, for those of you who expressed an interest, and enough did to make me want to book Lucy V Hay straightaway. You will learn the basics of scriptwriting, maybe adapt one of your own novels, or come up with something brand-new. It’s a first for retreats for you. And it’s taking place this March (Arrive Monday 18th, leave Friday. Standard rooms £789 per person). Full details here, but we are expecting it to be very busy. Contact me as soon as you can to pay £125 deposit and book your place:-)
Plus – the new 2025 itinerary is almost ready! Check out the Events page on our website to find out more. We currently have a space on the 26th of November Develop your Novel workshop but everything else is pretty full this side of Christmas!
Actually, we’re now booking ahead to spring and have already had some rooms taken for next summer! Get in early with Retreats for You!
The Creative Penn – an excellent resource for authors and self publishers.
Lovely Joanna Penn has been on the publishing scene for over 15 years and knows a thing or two – as the huge wealth of information, interviews, podcasts, videos, links, et cetera, on her website attests. This latest one caught my eye:
How can you indeed? If you’re interested, sign up for her newsletters, explore her website, it’s probably the most comprehensive I’ve ever seen outside of a big organisation.
You can link to this page for the interview mentioned above here and David’s letter page is here.
If you have a newsletter you love receiving from someone in the writing business, please let me know when I can feature it. Similarly if you have a success story yourself, I would love to hear!
Keep in touch and hope to see you sooner or later!
Ps someone asked me recently how long I would keep running these retreats for. Considering my double life, working in and living in London most weekends, and considering I had just been having some of the house painted again. ‘For the foreseeable future’, came the reply! Mind you if someone wanted to make me a really good offer to take over everything and keep running the retreats so I could come back here myself, I would be open to purchasers! But only for the whole kit and caboodle, and only if – and this is a big if – if they love it all as much as I do!
Best wishes
Debbie and team