Do you ever look at successful published authors and wonder how they did it?
Want to do the same? I discovered BBC Maestro awhile back and have been amazed at some of the top authors involved in their online offerings. See below.
One of our tutors also talks about what it takes to write a book that sells, and how series are the future, see below for some tips.
But what if all your good intentions are just not playing out, those words are just not getting written?
Life getting in the way? Well the first rule of writing is obviously to write, and if you haven’t got time how about a retreat with us? The second rule, experts say, is to read. So have a little look through this blog and read about inspirational success stories.
Then… Book a date! Come for some me time, beautiful countryside walks, mini home gym, afternoon tea/coffee/cake and even wine included at supper and best of all, no chores and your own cosy room with amazingly comfortable beds, tea and coffee making facilities and your own space to write with a writing desk in every room.
We have spaces on the upcoming May Just Write retreat 13–17 : four nights from just £124 per night all in, everything included, and no chores! Unlike some places you don’t have to cook, you don’t have to clean up, you don’t have to waste any of your precious writing hours, apart from maybe putting your plate in the kitchen and you don’t even have to do that if you don’t want to.
And like-minded company when you want it, or retire to your room in private for peace and quiet, and nothing but writing time.
Why not take some time away from your daily routine, make it happen, you deserve it. To book now, just press reply and I’ll send you more details, no commitment, you can just find out more.
We have other monthly retreats, and some are tutored. Many are already sold out like the July memoirs week, but we do have an interesting micro memoirs option in August. Plus three other tutored retreats later in the year for novelists. And a couple of other Just Write, untutored ones.
Meanwhile if you’d like to try a different type of motivation, read on.
Hope to see you later this year.
Happy writing in the meantime! We’re always excited here in Devon to book you into one of our monthly retreats, feel free to follow us on our social media for updates and news!
And don’t forget if you ever have a published book in print, part-written here, that you’d like to dedicate and send us a copy for our guest author bookshelves, we would be delighted!
Best wishes
Debbie and team
BBC Maestro is a brilliant resource for writers. From scriptwriters, novel writing and more – they have many online courses and inspirational blogs. Here is the link to the one for Harlan Coben – and who doesn’t aspire to his career, with 36 novels adapted into over 40 languages and 80 million books in print worldwide together with nine adaptations for the screen. Find out more about him, and also you could sign up for his online course. If you can’t come to a retreat it might be the next best thing!
Janet Gover, November Workshop
One of our most prolific published tutors, Janet Gover has just released her cover for her latest book, and writes about it on her blog.
What’s it like being a professional writer? To produce so many novels? What are her tips for the trade and techniques for plot et cetera? How do you write a book that sells? And what’s the next big thing?
If anyone knows it’s Janet. Do have a look below, and maybe come along to her event in November.
From Janet Gover:
“This is the fifth book in my Coorah Creek series – set in outback Australia. The series has won multiple awards and is now being re-released with a new publisher. As you can see from the image of all the series books, this publisher is clearly ‘branding’ these books as rural stories about women, as a series and as Janet Gover books.
Series fiction is hugely popular. Writing successful series fiction is one of the things we’ll be talking about in my Write a Book That Sells retreat. We’ll look at how to plan a series and how to turn a single book into a series when your publisher asks you to. We’ll discuss how to attract readers to your series… and keep them coming back for the next book and the one after that.
I hope to see you in November.
Janet”
Other news:
The Bournemouth writing festival, April 26 – 28th
The festival will feature keynote speakers, panel discussions, workshops, agent 1:2:1s, writing activities and plenty of networking opportunities. The goal is to provide a platform for everyone, from beginners to experienced professionals.
Congrats to Kate Frost! One of our past guests has made it to the final of the Romantic Novelists’ Association annual awards. For the full shortlists go here.
