When I wrote the first draft of my novel, it took five years, a lot of teeth-pulling, and a gradual progression from the original 1,500 word story to the eventual 90,000 word novel. There was a lot of mystery and excitement along the way, coupled with periods of staring into the void, wondering what on […]
Author: Annie
Urban Flash – Competition Win!
The Photo Republic of London have launched a new project, called Urban Flash, which is taking place over the next year. It involves text and photographic prompts, which members can respond to either by submitting a photograph or a piece of flash fiction. I entered the Warm-Up Prompt Competition, submitting a short piece based on […]
A Novel in Six Months? I Must Be Mad!
Whilst on the retreat in Devon last month, I got to talking to my lovely host, Charlie of Urban Writers’ Retreats, and she mentioned she was taking applications for her annual Six Month Novel Programme. Since I had just reached the conclusion that the next step for my novel was a blank page rewrite, I […]
Overcoming the Fear of Submission
This is an article I wrote this month for the Get Your Words Out online community: So, you’re fearful of putting your writing out there into the world… Well, you’re not alone. Every writer experiences anxiety about letting other people read their work. Every writer fears rejection and criticism of their work. The first […]
Really Getting Away
Last week, I took a lovely, four-day trip down to Devon, to attend a residential writing retreat at Stickwick Manor, organised by the ever-awesome Charlie from Urban Writers’ Retreat. It was great to get really away from London, escape the distractions of daily life, and forget all about the stresses and annoyances of the day […]
Donations now open for Narrathon!
I’m part of a collaborative writing project this year, called Narrathon. It’s being organised by NAWG and involves 19 writers completing a chapter each to produce a children’s novel for publication in the second half of the year. The project is now open for donations, and all the money will go towards the upkeep of […]
It Pays to Follow Up
Back in November, I entered a competition to have one of my stories recorded by a company called Soundwork. I forgort all about it until this week, when I was tracking my outstanding submissions. I spotted a note I’d left for myself, saying I would need to check their website for the results – and, […]
Customer Service
My story, Customer Service, has been posted in the February 2017 issue of the web-zine, Aphelion. I’m particularly excited about this publication, as this is the original 1,500 word story, from which my debut novel was developed. You can read it here.
Urban Writer’s Detox
Charlie, who runs the Urban Writers’ Retreats I go to, also just finished running an online writing programme for four weeks, starting on 2 January. It consisted of a daily email, containing a writing prompt, a suggested amount of time to write (starting at five minutes and working upwards), and either a task to help […]