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Writing in the Dark – by Miranda Gold

September 19, 2017 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Authors, Books, Events, Guest post, Inspiration, Markets for your work, The writing coach, The writing life, Writers Leave a Comment

We are delighted to introduce a guest blog by Miranda Gold, novelist and author of ‘Starlings‘ – ‘Writing in the Dark’ explores her experience of working with a writing coach: our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse.

Miranda Gold – Author of ‘Starlings’

I arrived at the British Library for my session with Jacqui on three hours’ sleep, carrying an embryonic first draft and unsure how this could bring any coherence to my life or my writing.

Jacqui was unperturbed. ‘I have a hunch,’ she said, ‘we might need to focus on the coaching side of things.’ It wasn’t what I wanted to hear of course and Jacqui was intuitive enough not to press the point. Instead she brought out the manuscript I’d sent her and, between offering her responses, began helping me to find way ways I could make writing part of the fabric of my life – I didn’t realise it then, but by shifting between the two she was translating her suggestion with the same precision she would bring to her reading of my work: the writing and the life can be interwoven into a seamless whole.

This has very little to do with writing from life and very much to do with writing in and with life. The impact of this may have been delayed (almost everything is with me) but it has been enduring. Since then writing has been my anchor and it seems it’s impossible to underestimate just how many influences, however apparently fleeting, have laid the foundation for my writing.

The process has been different with each new piece and the blank page becomes more terrifying, not less, but the fabric becomes stronger and more intricate; the sense of urgency to build worlds out of words supersedes the fear. It’s something of a cliché to speak of how a writer will be carried by the momentum of the story once they have breathed life into it, but it holds true. Yes there may be countless returns and revisions but at least it is alive on the page, here is a world that a reader can meet.

Jacqui also recognised that how I pieced together the novel that would become ‘Starlings’ would be inextricable from the story itself, she could read the modernist influences and see that much was being communicated by the rhythm itself, aware that this would be next to impossible to sell or fit neatly into a box but encouraging me regardless.

Starlings by Miranda Gold

The point is she didn’t try to push me in any direction other than for what clarity would look and sound like for this particular novel. It would have been all too easy for her to urge me to cut away ambiguity, insist on linearity, create something that could be swallowed whole. Instead she listened to it and read it on its own terms and took me – in my blurry-eyed state – on my own terms too. Sometimes what a writer needs most is to be given license to find a the shape for a story even if it isn’t immediately comparable to whatever else might be flying (or not) off the shelves. So I stood by the risks I’d taken because the story of ‘Starlings’ might have been told any number of ways but the way it has now been told is the most honest communication of an experience of living a legacy of half-told stories that couldn’t be easily tidied up into a single meaning.

I would be several drafts into my second novel before I found a publisher for ‘Starlings’ but it now has a home and has found readers who have brought out meanings I wasn’t aware of, reminding me again that a book doesn’t end on the page. Writing is necessarily solitary but making connections is at the heart of it – not only within the book itself but with the books it may be in conversation with and the readers who engage with it.

I’m now working with the pioneering Unbound to publish my second novel, ‘A Small Dark Quiet.’ Though it may be easier to classify, I knew it was likely it might fall through the cracks. That was why Unbound appealed to me – they’re passionate about opening the door to ideas that might not fit easily on a traditional publisher’s list. They’re the first traditional publisher to work through crowd funding and I really feel they are helping to make significant changes in the literary landscape – maybe the reader can help shape the market after all. It’s going to be a challenge but there is a lot of support. I don’t know that any route to publication is easy but I’ll keep taking up the challenge as long as I have a story to tell.

Miranda Gold’s new novel ‘A Small Dark Quiet’ will be published by Unbound – you can support the novel here.

Miranda Gold will be reading from her new book ‘A Small Dark Quiet’ at Hornsey Library on Saturday 23rd September from 3pm-5pm. She will be joined by fellow Unbound author Caitlin Davis and the event will include a short Unbound screening. More details of the event are here.

How the Bridport Prize kick-started my novel

November 21, 2016 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Authors, Competitions, Confidence, Events, Inspiration, Markets for your work, Motivation, The writing coach, The writing life, Writers Leave a Comment

Carolyn Kirby, a former Writing Coach client, reached the short-list of this year’s Bridport Prize award for a first novel. In this guest post, Carolyn writes about her experience of entering the competition.

Carolyn at the prize-giving ceremony talking to Peter Chapman-Andrews about his mother’s life and work. Photograph by Graham Shackleton

A new category in the Bridport Prize

Like many new writers I’d heard of the Bridport Prize. It is well known around the world as a short story and poetry competition with over £16,000 in prize money which has been running since 1973. But I hadn’t realized until this year that the competition is also open to novels. In 2014 the Peggy-Chapman Andrews Award for unpublished first novels was added to the other categories in memory of the inspirational founder of this prestigious literary prize.

I had previously had some success with an early novel, Cloud Cover, a wartime love story that Jacqui had helped me to get started. The book made it to several competition long-lists, including the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction Prize. But that was as far as it got. At the start of 2016, I had put the book away to work on a new idea for a Victorian-set thriller, Half Of You. This story follows a young woman’s search to uncover the dreadful secrets in her past through new ideas about nature versus nurture. I sensed that the opening to this novel was good, possibly better than Cloud Cover, but the work was at a very early stage, much too soon to submit it agents.

So I was excited to realise that the Peggy Chapman-Andrews offered a forum for novels in progress. Only 5000 words were needed to enter, so the competition could provide a wonderfully anonymous and impartial litmus test. I reasoned that if my entry was long-listed, I would have encouragement to keep writing. If it wasn’t, I could re-think of the story without having got too far. But either way, the prize would give me an incentive to write more chapters by July when the long-list was to be announced. At this point, 15,000 words would be required for the next round of judging. So I sent off the entry and got down to writing another 10,000 words. Just in case I was successful.

Making the Long-list

On 18^th July, when I saw Half Of You on the long-list, it felt miraculous that my work had been plucked from such a vast sea of words. There were 856 entries for the Peggy Chapman-Andrews award this year. Which added up to literally millions of words for the judges to consider and compare. I felt so grateful to the Bridport readers for the time they must have put in to this painstaking task.

So now I had to spend the summer preparing for the possibility that my entry would reach the short-list to be announced at the end of August. At this point 30,000 words would be required for the final stage of judging. The competition again gave me an excellent incentive to stay indoors at my laptop pressing on with the story.

I knew that in these latter stages of judging my fairly raw chapters would be subject to the intense scrutiny of professionals from top literary agency AM Heath, The Literary Consultancy and the Chair of judges, novelist and academic, Kerry Young. So, the day of the short-list announcement was, to say the least, tense. As I opened the e-mail from Kate Wilson, the Bridport’s lovely administrator, I was mainly focusing on keeping my heart rate within healthy limits. “Congratulations…” was all I needed to see. I instantly felt that I’d moved up to the next level in my writing journey.

Chair of judges, Kerry Young, makes the Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award presentations. Photograph by Graham Shackleton

Although my book didn’t win the overall prize, I was overjoyed to be a winner. The prize-giving lunch in Bridport Arts Centre was a wonderful occasion that gave me gave the chance to meet so many friendly, inspiring people including Peter Chapman-Andrews, Peggy’s son. Peter told me about his mother’s community work in Bridport and her visionary idea to fund a new Arts Centre through a creative writing prize. The prize continues to provide funding for Bridport Arts Centre to this day.

I am still in the throes of a first draft of Half Of You, but reaching the Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award short-list has given me a level of faith in the story that spurs me on. And I have written thousands more words than I would have done without the competition.

The 2017 Bridport Prize launches on 15^th November 2016 (to close on 31^st May 2017) and is open to residents of the Republic of Ireland for the first time. Any new writer looking for a way to energise their writing in the coming year should start preparing an entry. You never know where it might take you!

Non-fiction and its possibilities: a guest post by Glynis Kozma

November 7, 2016 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Authors, Books, Confidence, Inspiration, Literary Consultancy, Marketing, Markets for your work, Motivation, Publishing, The writing life, Writers Leave a Comment

Writing non-fiction can be every bit as creative as writing fiction and equally as satisfying. Our perceptions on non-fiction may be narrow and perhaps need challenging in order to be aware of how there are possibilities for our own creativity. Non-fiction includes everything from the instructional ‘how to’ guides – whether that’s cookery, gardening, restoring antiques, the latest diet – to social and political history, art, biographies, travel and professional textbooks.

Glynis Kozma, journalist and coach

You may think that non-fiction doesn’t allow your voice to be heard in the same way as fiction, but I’d like to invite you to reconsider this. The cookery books of Elizabeth David with their conversational tone, descriptions of the locations and culture drawing on all the senses, revolutionised cookery books in the 1950s, showing how a book of recipes could be so much more than an inventory of ingredients and how to combine them. Now, no one buys a cookery book just to follow a recipe: we’re buying into history, travel, personal memories and photographs to flick through; somewhere along the way there’s a recipe we will try.

How can one develop as a non-fiction writer?

What comes across in the best non-fiction writing is a strong sense of the writer’s passion and perhaps their expertise. You can have the passion but may need to develop your expertise. Or you may have the expertise and experience, but need to develop your ‘voice’ to engage your readers. I often suggest exercises to clients such as visiting old haunts to evoke memories :I find that this kind of sensory exercise really helps to deepen non-fiction work and to make it more personal. You may already have your ‘specialist subject’ which needs only a little research or your writing may be at an embryonic stage where you have an idea which requires research and much planning. Are you an expert, or could you become an expert? Have you the seed of an idea, associated with your own experiences which you could grow by talking to others, travelling, or researching?

Glynis’s previous clients

Cast Life by Natalie Trice

One former student’s book has taken her into areas she never imagined: founding a charity and sitting on the same panels as consultant surgeons. Natalie Trice wrote Cast Life – a parent’s guide to DDH (developmental dysplasia hips) – in 2015. When Natalie first enrolled as a student she wanted to write about the perils for parents at the school gate – fitting in, socialising and so on. I gently suggested this wasn’t that original but there were also potential issues around confidentiality. Given that Natalie was aiming for a self-help book for parents, she decided to focus on her son Lucas’ journey with DDH and her own lack of support in the UK for the condition. Natalie’s book covers diagnosis, treatment and recovery from a parent’s perspective. Initially, Natalie was uncertain about whether her book would have a wide enough appeal, because the condition is relatively rare. But counteracting this was the dearth of information for parents. A proposal was written and, after a few rejections, the book was accepted by a publisher, without having to work through an agent. Natalie is now receiving positive feedback from readers in Australia and the US, she has established the charity Spica Warrior.org where Paralympic swimmer Gemma Almond, born with the condition, is now the charity’s patron. Natalie is now an advisory member of the International Hip Dysplasia Institute, appearing at conferences alongside medical experts, and on television. From the tiny seed of an idea – which was not her first choice when writing non-fiction- Natalie has become the UK parenting expert on DDH.

Another student, Harriet Angel, had no such doubts about her subject. As an established Pilates and running instructor, she knew her book had to be Pilates for Runners. I helped Harriet with her chapter headings and summaries, ensuring that they included enough detail so a prospective publisher would be able to appreciate her expertise. We also had to work on the tone and style because this was a book that had to be easily accessible to readers who wanted to avoid or deal with a running injury, without necessarily reading it from cover to cover. There was also the issue of photographs or illustrations to accompany the text. Harriet was fortunate enough through her contacts and her business to be able to provide a publisher with testimonials from people in the field of sport; their names were included in the proposal. Having helped her to choose a publisher who might be interested, the proposal was sent and we waited for news. Within a matter of weeks a publishing offer had come from Bloomsbury and Harriet’s second book (under wraps at the moment) is in the pipeline too.

What makes writing non-fiction different?

The beauty of non-fiction is that unlike fiction you won’t always need an agent to land a publishing deal. There are publishing houses which will accept a detailed proposal and a couple of chapters and many non-fiction writers have had success with exactly those.

The vital requirements are confidence in your idea and one that has potential for sales unless you intend to self publish. If your readers can feel your enthusiasm, your genuine connection to the topic and your depth of knowledge, they will engage with your writing. It’s important that you look at existing, competing titles as part of your research before committing to topic, because you don’t want to produce something too similar. But at the same time, there are many books on the same topics but which have a slightly different angle. A good starting point is to think of perhaps three subjects that interest you then create a rough draft of the contents of your book, as short chapter headings. If you struggle with finding enough to say, that subject may not be your best idea, but there will be one that excites you. Dive in, have confidence and see where it takes you. Why not try it?

Glynis Kozma is a consultant for The Writing Coach. She is the author of two non-fiction books for parents – Secondary School and Leaving Home – and a freelance journalist who writes for The Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Independent – as well as a wide range of consumer magazines. Glynis is a fully qualified coach and a member of the Association for Coaching. You can contact her here.

Branding Workshop for Content Creation at The Shard, London

July 2, 2016 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Character, Community, Confidence, Corporate, Events, Inspiration, Markets for your work, Networking, Teaching, Writing Exercises Leave a Comment

I had the great pleasure recently to lead a branding workshop for content creation at The Shard, London. What a wonderful venue for a workshop this was, with a glorious panoramic view of London. This short video put together by Tom Hewitson gives a flavour of the event.

The workshop for Tom’s Content Lab was entitled ‘Bringing Brands and Bots to life’.

Content Lab is a monthly get together for writers, designers, product managers and anyone else interested in making products and problems easier to understand.

Using creative writing techniques to lend character to brands

The workshop I led used creative writing techniques to lend character to brands. The aim was to enable participants to find new ways of creating characters which might then be used to encourage readers and consumers to better identify with brands. I began the content creation workshop using the same creative writing exercises that I’d use with writers of fiction. We studied paintings to inspire us and worked with props and cue cards with suggested sensory details, such as particular smells or locations. We worked using free writing techniques, and those attending were able to enjoy creating in such an open-ended way. Later, we applied these techniques more specifically to characters that related to products, working in teams.

Tom is particularly interested in ‘bots’ – the user-friendly robots such as Apple’s Siri – and how these bots can encourage consumer loyalty. Each of the teams came up with characters that might help a reader/user identify with a brand. For example, one of the teams came up with a ‘Farmer Bot’ with a very particular voice and character to engage potential customers of an organic fruit and veg. delivery service. The participants seemed to really enjoy this exercise. There was a lot of laughter and it was fabulous to witness how quickly they were able to use the techniques to invent really unique characters that helped us to understand the nature of the relevant product.

We had a hugely enjoyable evening and I was delighted at the feedback after the content creation event. Content Strategist Stephen Wilson-Beales, Head of Editorial at Global Radio, London, also wrote a lovely blog post about the event here: Using Creative Writing Techniques to shape Content Design.

A big thank you to Tom Hewitson for hosting the workshop. I definitely aim to lead more workshops of this nature and would welcome enquiries from organisations looking to encourage a different approach to creativity in their teams.

If you are a content creator, I’d love to hear whether you use fiction-related techniques in your work and how you might develop such ideas.

Nan Bovington longlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize

April 20, 2016 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Authors, Competitions, Markets for your work, Publishing, The writing life, Writers Leave a Comment

It is always such a thrill when clients of The Writing Coach have success in their writing lives, so it is with great pleasure that I announce Nan Bovington‘s achievement. She has recently been longlisted for the prestigious Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize. This is the first time that a longlist has been announced for the prize. This year there were 484 entries to the prize, and the shortlist will be announced tomorrow (21st April).

Nan’s novel is entitled ‘Last Best West’. Set in Canada in 1906, it is the story of a highly educated young woman who goes to the far North to become a gold prospector. I am at present re-reading the manuscript and I am hugely impressed at Nan’s storytelling and poetic prose.

Founded in 2010, by Professor Janet Todd OBE (who coincidentally taught me eighteenth century literature at UEA), the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize has gone from strength to strength with many shortlisted and winning authors securing publishing deals and furthering their writing. Last year’s winner was Emily Midorikawa who runs SomethingRhymed.com with Emma Claire Sweeney. Their website profiles the literary friendships of female authors. (You can find their post about Louise Doughty and I here). Emily and Emma Claire’s book A Secret Sisterhood will be published by Aurum Press in the UK and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the USA, both in late 2017.

The annual Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize provides a unique opportunity for unpublished female authors, aged 21 and over, to launch their literary careers. Judges are seeking writers who combine literary merit with ‘unputdownability’ and the Prize has developed a formidable reputation for attracting first-class writing talent.

I am sure that you will join me in wishing Nan huge luck tomorrow. I am certain that she deserves success with this unique and lyrical work.

Alice Jolly’s experience of working with Unbound, a ‘crowd-funded’ publisher

January 8, 2015 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Authors, Confidence, Interviews, Markets for your work, Publishing, The writing life 1 Comment

When I first met novelist and playwright Alice Jolly, she was between projects, uncertain about her future direction as a writer. We worked together only briefly, but I have been so delighted to witness her recent success, winning the V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize – and also to see that she is so close to having her memoir ‘Dead Babies and Seaside Towns’ published by Unbound. This is her story, of how the book came to be written and her experience of working with Unbound, a ‘crowd-funded’ publisher; I do hope that you will find her responses to my interview with her as fascinating as I do.

1. Alice, your memoir ‘Dead Babies and Seaside Towns’ will be published by ‘Unbound’ books. For those unfamiliar with Unbound, can you explain how this works?

If you are a writer and you want to be published by Unbound you first need to send them your book and see if they want to work with you. It is not necessarily easier to have your book accepted by Unbound than it is to get your book accepted by a mainstream publisher. If you are accepted, then Unbound make a film about you and post the film, and other information about your book, on the Unbound website. You then start trying to raise subscriptions / pledges. This means that effectively you have to persuade people to buy a copy of your book before it exists. The money raised from the subscription period is then used to finance the production of the book which comes out both in hard copy and as an e-book. As the author you receive 50% of the profits, as opposed to the 10% you would receive through a traditional publishing deal.

2. When we worked together, you were at a crossroads in your writing career. What has happened in the intervening years?

Mainly I’ve just kept writing. Some things I have tried to do have worked out and others haven’t. The writing life is hard because it is, beyond all else, unpredictable. Sometimes you submit some work and you think, ‘I’m bound to succeed with that.’ But you don’t. Then something you never thought would happen does. I think, in a way, the most important thing is to find a certain steadiness in your mind. If you get too caught up in the external fluctuations, you can’t write. I do get too emotional about failures and I wish I didn’t.

3. What made you choose to take this publication route?

I knew that the memoir would be difficult to publish. The subject matter (part of the book is about a stillbirth) is not commercial. As soon as I spoke to Unbound I liked their approach. Everything about them felt dynamic and positive. I have such admiration for what they are doing. For years we’ve needed someone to find a new way of publishing books. I don’t know how well Unbound’s approach is going to work but I find it exciting to be part of something new and positive.

4. Tell me a little about your memoir and why you wrote it?

Originally I never really had any interest in writing about my own life. But then I lived through such a series of sad and bizarre experiences (a stillbirth, miscarriages, surrogacy) that I decided I had to put the story down on paper. Those experiences had come to feel like a road block. I could only clear the way ahead by writing. Also I wanted to tell my family’s surrogacy story because, in general, surrogacy is very poorly understood. I don’t expect people to support surrogacy but I would at least like them to have proper information.

5. What were the challenges of writing memoir rather than fiction?

Actually, I found writing the memoir relatively easy. It was hard to go back into painful periods of my life but the actual writing wasn’t difficult. The book had been in my head for some years. Fiction is so difficult because you’ve got to make it up. With the memoir I just asked myself, ‘What happened next?’ However, I do think that, without even thinking about it, I did use many novelistic techniques in writing the memoir. I probably couldn’t have written the memoir if I hadn’t written the novels first.

6. You have a beautiful, precise and poetic prose style. Reading the opening to your memoir, one might have thought it would be easy to find a mainstream publisher, especially given your publication history. What have you learned about traditional publishing during this part of your journey?

I think traditional publishing can work well for books which fit a clear genre or format and for books which will obviously be commercially successful. If you look at what is being published in the mainstream, it is the same kind of book again and again. I teach as well as write and I’m often really destroyed by seeing my students’ work being rejected again and again. It’s not bad work. It’s very good but it’s experimental, challenging. It needs a publisher with courage to take it on – and sadly they are in short supply. Often an editor in a publishing house really wants to take a risk. But editors don’t make decisions. The sales and marketing people do – and they are naturally conservative.

7. What have you learned through working with Unbound?

Unbound has been an amazing experience. I’m naturally rather reserved and I don’t like anything to do with publicity and marketing. However, in order to raise the subscriptions for the book I just had to get rid of all my inhibitions and take any promotional opportunities that arose. I thought I would hate using Facebook and Twitter but actually it has put me back in touch with old friends and also bought new friendships. I wish we lived in a world where writers could just spend all day writing – but sadly we don’t.

8. Articles about you have recently appeared in major National newspapers and you also won the V.S. Pritchett Memorial prize. How are you feeling about your commercial and literary success?

I think that people who are not writers themselves misunderstand the writing life. The idea is that you get your first book published and then its all onwards and upwards all the way from there. The reality is very different. I’m often shocked by well-known writer friends who have had a lot of success but then find themselves dropped by a publisher or an agent or unable to publish a book. I was absolutely thrilled to win the V.S.Pritchett Prize. I think that could change many things for me. It certainly gave a huge boost to my confidence. But the reality is that I still have a novel sitting in a drawer which took eight years to write and which I can’t publish. That’s hard but not uncommon at the moment. As I said, it’s just so many ups and downs. All you can do is keep going. Right now I feel confident about the memoir but nothing can be certain.

9. Your story is an incredibly inspiring one. What do you hope to achieve with your book?

Mainly I want to raise money for Sands who are the Stillbirth and Neo-Natal Death Charity. It is so important that they continue to raise awareness about stillbirths. This country has a really poor record for maternity care overall and I just find that unacceptable. I’m also interested in opening up the debate about surrogacy. I don’t want to say whether surrogacy is right or wrong but just to provoke honest discussion. Also, I suppose, for myself I hope that if the memoir succeeds then it will make it easier for me to publish another book.

10. What advice would you give to other authors considering publishing with Unbound or other similar publisher?

I suppose my main advice would be, ‘Go for it.’ I think as writers we’ve got to be prepared to try new approaches. However, I do think you need to ask yourself whether you can raise the subscriptions. It isn’t easy to do that. But that’s the only real problem with crowd funding. I’m still uncertain how the Unbound experience is going to work out for me. But I think it is very possible that it will prove better than the mainstream approach could ever have been.

If you’d like to read more about Alice Jolly’s memoir, you can read this article in The Independent.

Alice’s novel is now 90% funded! Do consider helping her to gather the last 10% of funding by pledging to buy a copy here. All supporters get a copy of the book (digital or ebook, depending on your donation) and their name in the back of the book.

The Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition

August 2, 2012 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Competitions, Markets for your work, Motivation, Publishing, Resources, Uncategorized 3 Comments

If you have completed (or are very close to completing) a novel for children or young adults, the Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition is the perfect opportunity to get your work noticed. Mslexia are hoping to discover a fantastic new children’s writer who has been overlooked by the usual submission process. In the current climate, where it can be difficult to get your work noticed by an agent or publisher, this could be one way of getting your work to stand out.

Enter the Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition and give your children’s novel a headstart

The Mslexia’s Children’s Novel Competition has a deadline of 10 September 2012 and in order to enter you must have a complete manuscript ready for submission because shortlisted authors will be required to submit a full manuscript for the final stages of the judging process. The competition, which has a first prize of £5,000, is for unpublished novelists only and will be judged by a panel including award-winning children’s writer Malorie Blackman, literary agent Julia Churchill and children’s books editor at the Guardian newspaper, Julia Eccleshare.

You probably know Mslexia, an award-winning magazine for women writers. In addition to their new novel competition, they also run annual poetry and short story competitions. Last year’s adult novel competition winner Rosie Garland has just signed a six-figure two-book deal with HarperCollins – proof that competitions such as these can really make a difference to your writing career.

There are some fantastic writing resources and workshops (to complete at home) on the Mslexia website that aim to help you improve your novel and develop your writing skills.

Who is the competition aimed at?

Women who’ve always wanted to write a children’s novel, but could never find the time. You only have to write 30,000 words minimum for this competition.
Women with an unfinished manuscript languishing in a bottom drawer. (Could this be the impetus you need to finish it?)
Women who took up the write-a-novel-in-a-month challenge with NaNoWriMo and have a rough first draft. (Why not polish it up and send it to Mslexia?)
Women who’ve submitted their completed novels over and over, and have despaired of finding an agent. (If you reach the shortlist, they’ll all sit up and take notice.)

Full details of the competition are on the Mxlexia website here and a summary of entry requirements follows:

Mslexia Children’s Novel Competition

The competition is open to children’s novels in any genre by previously unpublished women novelists, but it must be for children who are able to read for themselves or for young adults. Crossover fiction (i.e. that aimed at children and adults) is eligible. Nonfiction, and fiction intended for adults is not eligible. To qualify as a novel, your book must total at least 30,000 words.

To enter the competition: send up to 3,000 words – which must be the first 3,000 words of the novel. Any preface is included in your 3,000 words. There is no need to submit a synopsis.

First Prize: £5,000

Juding panel: Malorie Blackman, award-winning children’s author; Julia Churchill, literary agent specialising in children’s books for Greenhouse Literary Agency; Julia Eccleshare, children’s books editor at the Guardian newspaper.

Closing date: 10 September 2012

Entry fee: £25

If you plan to enter the competition, do leave a comment below. I’d love to know of any Writing Coach readers and former clients/members who enter and will be rooting for you all!

Leaf Writers’ Magazine

April 2, 2011 by Jacqui Lofthouse Filed Under: Markets for your work, Resources Leave a Comment

One question I’m frequently asked by my clients is “where can I publish my shorter work?” In response to this question, in future weeks and months, I’m going to write a few features that highlight potential markets for your work.

I’d like to begin with a publication I’ve only recently become aware of: Leaf Writers’ Magazine. The magazine was first published in print and online by Leaf Books in Spring 2010 and the fourth edition is about to appear this month. Leaf Books was already established as a leading publisher of micro-fiction and they have put over 250 authors and poets into print, many for the first time, sourcing their material via their regular competitions.

Each issue of the magazine focuses on a couple of writing practices, genres or themes, and sets well-known authors alongside those just starting out. In Leaf’s own words:

“Seamlessly blending the heart and soul of a literary quarterly with the guidance and advice of a creative writing course, Leaf aims to bridge the gap between the beginners and the professionals of the writing world. The magazine also serves as a directory for the latest literary courses, reading groups, festivals, events and publishing opportunities for writers.”

To give you an idea of the magazine’s content, the edition I read included an interview with author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris and an interview with the poet Gillian Clarke. The interview with Joanne Harris reveals that she didn’t find things easy at the beginning of her writing career:

“My first full-length attempt at a novel was never submitted, but my next try, The Evil Seed, was published three years after its completion. It wasn’t an easy process; I spent most of that time looking for an agent, after realizing that unsolicited manuscripts are seldom read.”

It’s another example of persistence being key for writers and is a reminder that most well-known authors have an unpublished manuscript sitting under their bed somewhere…

The Gillian Clarke interview included a comment on her writing habits:

“Like most poets I spend more time thinking than writing, and the poem comes or it doesn’t, like a spell out of the air.”

This reminded me of a comment made by the playwright David Hare at the Shakespeare and Company Literary Festival which I attended last year. Hare also talked about spending more time thinking than writing, an insight that gave me much food for thought in relation to my next book, as it made me really focus on the quality of thought that must go into one’s work if it is to excel.

In addition to the interviews, the edition of Leaf Writers’ Magazine that I read had a comprehensive ‘Writers’ groups guide’, and articles on topics including how to get the most of writers’ workshops and point of view in writing fiction. It also included an inspiring piece about writers’ favourite locations for writing.

For me however, the most impressive thing was jut how much of the magazine was reader focused. A lot of the material in the magazine was generated by Leaf authors, including extracts from Leaf books and the winners of a memoir writing competition. One of the reasons I chose to feature Leaf is that they are so author-friendly in this respect, genuinely encouraging new writers. Indeed they are actively looking for submissions, including articles, as outlined on their website here.

Like many independents, Leaf are not yet in a position to pay contributors but they do offer valuable experience of publication and exposure for new authors. Every commended story in their competitions gets published in an anthology. (The last memoir competition included around 35 commended authors, all to be published.)

When I work with writers who are seeking a literary agent, I always advise on including relevant experience of publication in the covering letter (it sounds obvious, but you’d be amazed how many people forget to put it in). That’s just one reason I recommend aiming to publish your work with magazines such as Leaf. As well as being fantastic for your writer’s CV, publication in small magazines can offer a real confidence-boost too. In my view, when we’re feeling confident, we’re more likely to do our best work and also to push ourselves to submit further work – or, as Seth Godin would say, to Poke the Box.

Issue Four of the magazine is about to be published and will focus on creative collaboration and writing techniques. It will include an interview with Phillip Gross and Simon Denison about their award-winning book of poems and photography I Spy Pinhole Eye, Cinnamon, 2009. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will discuss the process of writing their novel Beautiful Darkness, Puffin, 2010 together, while tutor and author Myra Schneider will examine the concept of beginnings in poetry. Issue 4’s essential guide will be dedicated to Writing Handbooks, profiling the top titles to use as your creative writing bibles. They have also accepted a very short piece I wrote called “Overcoming writer’s doubt”. I confess I found it quite a challenge to squeeze my thoughts on that subject into just over 300 words, but if you do read the magazine, I hope you will find it useful.

If you’re interested in Leaf Writers’ Magazine, you can order a hard copy or buy an instant PDF download here. They also send out a newsletter which you can sign up for here. If you do choose to buy the magazine, I’d love to hear your views on it. If you have had success in publishing your shorter work lately, do please share in the comments; the more we share our resources, the better for all writers who use this site.