An exercise that can help you travel back in time – sensory description in memoir writing
Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader—not the fact that it is raining, but the feeling of being rained upon – E.L. Doctorow Adapted from Back to … Continue reading
Everyone has a story to tell – discover how to tell yours
I’m excited about a new memoir/family history workshop I’m running over four Saturday mornings in November in a wonderfully atmospheric historic building. And I’m not doing it on my own. … Continue reading
Is there anything you can’t write about? ART FOR WRITERS
I’m guessing that most people have seen Claude Monet’s paintings of water lilies in his garden at Giverny, near Paris. He began painting them in 1899 and didn’t stop for … Continue reading
Looking at yourself – Inspiring Art for Writers
I hadn’t heard of Joan Semmel before I came across this painting and I can’t help feeling that is a failing on my part. Wikipedia tells me she is an … Continue reading
Write by the Beach – an inspiring writing conference in Brighton April 2017
Bigger, better with TWO DAYS OF EXPERT WORKSHOPS plus a GUARANTEED ONE-TO-ONE with one of 15 brilliant agents and publishers, Write by the Beach is back. Organised by the Beach … Continue reading
A Woman Only Writing Competition with a special prize: time to write
Need space, time and hard cash in order to write? Words And Women are offering all three to the winner of their 2016 prose competition. First prize is £1,000 and … Continue reading
Forgeting and remembering: light and dark, says Scottish historian and thinker Thomas Carlyle. Quotes for Writers (and people who like quotes)
Oblivion is the dark page, whereon Memory writes her light-beam characters, and makes them legible; were it all light nothing could be read there, any more than if it were … Continue reading
Should Writing Success Always Be Counted in Money?
I’m delighted to hand over my blog today to American writer Cara Lopez Lee who should win the prize for the best ever title of a memoir: They Only Eat … Continue reading
Guest Post – The Route to Publication with John O’Donoghue. From the bad old days of the 80s to publishers competing for his memoir
I’m handing my blog over today to John O’Donoghue, winner of Mind Book of the Year 2010 I didn’t have a very good Eighties. For all the triumphalism you see … Continue reading
Time Traveling With A Pen — memories and memoirs
I’m not here right now. I’m over on Kathy Pooler’s fascinating blog Memoir Writer’s Journey posting about how to locate memories and use the techniques of creative writing to write … Continue reading
READING LIKE A WRITER – putting rhythm into prose
“Words have music and if you are a musician you will write to hear them” – E.L. Doctorow Rhythm isn’t the sole preserve of poets or musicians – prose writers … Continue reading
M is for MEMORY AND MEMOIR: HOW TO FORGET
MEMORY, according to the philosopher Suzanne Langer, should not be thought of as a noun – a storehouse or recording machine – but as a verb, an activity that makes … Continue reading
TWO international non fiction writing competitions
The Financial Times and Bodley Head have launched an international essay writing competition for young writers. (I admit that I’ve got to the stage where 35 and below looks young.) … Continue reading
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 