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Literary Consultancy and Coaching for Writers from Jacqui Lofthouse

Supporting The Creative Future Writers’ Award

by Filed Under: Competitions, Inspiration, Publishing, The writing coach, Writers Leave a Comment

Founded in 2013, The Creative Future Writers’ Award is an annual development programme which celebrates talented, under-represented  writers from a variety of backgrounds, who lack opportunities due to mental health issues, disability, health or social circumstance.  As partners of the Award, along with other leading literary organisations, this is something The Writing Coach are passionate about and Jacqui Lofthouse is delighted to offer an annual prize of mentoring two writers, the Silver Award winners.

  • Kerry Hudson, Chair of Judges
  • Mahsuda Snaith – Guest Author

On 25th October this year, Jacqui visited the 2019 Creative Futures Writers’ Awards Ceremony, a high profile event held at the Southbank Centre in London as part of the London Literature Festival – and had the pleasure of listening to readings given by many of this year’s prizewinners’ including one of the two winners who will go on to be mentored by Jacqui personally.

Jacqui said:

Once again, I was blown away by the quality of the readings at the ceremony. It was the kind of evening that deepens one’s connection with the act of writing, reminds us of the importance of the spoken word and the necessity of hearing diverse voices. So many of the voices moved me on a very profound level and I felt extremely privileged to be in the room amongst emerging writers of such talent.

Winners are chosen by a panel of industry experts and given the chance to develop their writing through mentoring, training, coaching and assessment.  Prizes are awarded for short fiction and poetry and winning submissions are also published in an anthology, alongside work by guest authors, which is available as a hard copy and e-book.

Can you help keep the awards free to enter?

Creative Future are currently running a campaign to raise £2,000 to keep the competition free to enter – something that’s vital for writers in secure mental health units, prisons, without reliable IT access, or even lacking the confidence to stake an entry fee on their own work.  Do take the time to watch the video below to find out more about how you could support this fantastic cause. The crowdfunding campaign closes this Friday 29th so do watch today to find out more about the Awards and the wonderful work the organisation do for writers who might otherwise be unable to access mentorship.

To find out more about this campaign, please click here.

And if you are interested in entering next year’s awards to win mentoring from The Writing Coach or another leading organisation, do sign up to the Creative Futures newsletter to keep informed about entry dates here.

Creativity and Leadership – A Guest Post by Trevor Waldock

by Filed Under: Authors, Books, Guest post, Inspiration, Interviews, Literary Consultancy, Self-publishing, The writing coach, The writing life, Uncategorized, Writers 1 Comment

We are delighted to share this guest post by Trevor Waldock. Trevor is one of the best-known, and best-respected, executive coaches in Europe and has worked at the most senior level in organisations across all sectors. The author of Doing the Right Thing – Getting Fit for Moral Leadership, he is also the founder of Emerging Leaders, a charity, which aims to bring the best of leadership development to the poorest of communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

Trevor Waldock

I have struggled for years with being a writer. Am I a writer? How do I know? How do I judge the answer to that question? I write. Yes. But do I write well and how do I make an honest assessment of myself? I recently published my sixth book on Amazon Kindle Doing The Right Thing, so you could say that makes me a writer. But do the four books published on Amazon Kindle carry the same weight as my books that were published by ‘real’ publishers on real paper? Is Amazon Kindle cheating? I’m sure that every writer has to wrestle with their own demons and these are just a few of mine. One of the great tensions that I have battled to resolve over the past years is the need, the desire, the urge to write, on one side and the fact that I run an international charity on the other side. In my book Jericho & Other Short Stories, I wrote a story called Poets & Engineers.  It captured something of this tension. My job often demands me to be an engineer – issues of structure, details, processes, boundaries and delivery – yet by heart, I am a poet.

How to resolve such a tension? One way was to write about my work in developing leaders in both the first and third worlds, in The 18 Challenges of Leadership and To Plant A Walnut Tree. While I was writing about aspects of leadership – like my latest book Doing The Right Thing – then I could tell myself that my writing was part of my job. That way I could justify carrying on leading and carrying on writing. But that doesn’t explain my book about travelling around Rwanda with my son 11 years after the Genocide, or my short stories books, or the short book Am I Really Tired? which could be seen as work or maybe not.

The tension came to a head for me in a dream that I had a few years ago. I was trying to get back home and came to the High Street but a police line cordoned it off. As I tried to find out why I could not go down the normal route home, I discovered that someone had died there. A murder or death of some kind. So I had to find a different way home. The scene then cuts to me talking with my dad who was asking me about my writing and I was telling him how much I wanted to write. He was so overwhelmingly supportive and said he would do anything he could to support me financially and that I should just get on and write. (In real life my dad showed zero interest in my writing. I’m not sure I even told him of my aspirations). The dream was one of those shocking dreams that you know you have to listen to. The meaning of the dream, for me, is summed up by a scrap of paper that I wrote soon afterwards, which still sits on my desk. It simply says,

“Write or die”

So I made some tough changes in my daily routines. Firstly I decided that whatever the risks to my leadership role I had to write and so I set aside each morning to write and read things that would fertilise my writing. The next thing I did was talk through my ‘real’ job with a coach. What he helped me see was that I had segregated the idea of leader from that of creativity. It had become an either-or, in my mind. He came up with this idea that my strength was as a creative leader. Creativity can show itself in coming up with ideas, shaping strategy, forming new ideas and… writing about them. Reforming my identity in this way led me back to the definition of leadership that I love most and use across the world.

“Leadership is the ability to create a story that affects the thoughts, feelings and actions of others ” (‘Leading mind’ – Howard Gardner, 2011)

Leaders are authors. They create stories and they can do that with thoughts, with actions, with inventions, with innovations, with imagination and vision and with words.

So, armed with these liberating insights I am trying to be kinder to myself. To embrace the totality of who I am as a writer, rather than segment myself in someway. Writing has become like a thermometer or warning light. When I’m not writing and caught up in the operational realities of leading an organisation (the engineer) then I know that I am out of balance and very soon I will feel the ‘soul death’, as I call it, creeping upon me. So when I see that happening I stop and I write (the poet). This is no theory for me. I write this on the first afternoon of three days vacation that I’ve taken. Taking the vacation was a last minute decision, made only the night before, because I knew I was out of balance. So I stopped and I’m writing and I feel some new blood flowing through my veins today. I write because it’s who I am.

 

Teaching Writing: Editing vs. Coaching

by Filed Under: Editing, Guest post, Inspiration, Literary Consultancy, The writing coach, The writing life, Writers Leave a Comment

A Guest Post by writing coach consultant Delia Lloyd.

Delia Lloyd

There’s a scene in one of my all-time favourite films, All that Jazz, that addresses the perennial question about innate talent vs. learned ability. In the scene, the protagonist –  a choreographer modelled on the legendary Bob Fosse – confronts a ballerina in his company who’s crying because she knows she’s not as good as the other dancers.

“I can’t make you a great dancer,” Fosse consoles her. “But I can make you a better dancer.”

That’s how I feel when I work with writers.

I don’t know if there’s such a thing as being a “natural talent” in writing. You can definitely see when a writer has a gift – David Foster Wallace, Amos Oz, and my new idol – Anna Burns – all come to mind. But, as we all know, years of half-written sentences and crumpled up drafts – not to mention gallons of self-doubt – lie behind any prose that looks effortless.

For most of us mere mortals, however, writing is mostly about putting your bum in the chair and being willing to write shitty first drafts. So then the question becomes:  how do you help people become “better dancers?”

For a long time, I worked with writers primarily as an editor. Someone would give me a draft of a paper and I would fill it with red ink, altering word choice, verb tenses and sentence length. Invariably, I would also recommend that they completely rewrite their introductions so as to hint at the entire shape of things to come. I’m a firm believer that if you get the introduction right, the whole paper writes itself.

These days, I spend more time as a writing coach. My advice still boils down to some combination of exhorting them to work on both style and structure. But the process is quite different. For starters, I don’t “fix” anything. I mark up clients’ drafts to show them where they might improve their writing. Mostly, however, what we do is talk.

We talk through their arguments to clarify what they are trying to say. I try to show them that even if they feel confused, they actually know what they wish to say. They just need to move what’s in their heads onto the page.

Sometimes, we do exercises together to practice various aspects of good writing. We look at how to experiment with “strong starts,” how to identify one’s audience and meet its needs, and how to use mind maps to organise key points and supporting evidence.

Other times, we simply talk about why they feel under-confident in their writing. They tell me about a boss who told them that they weren’t any good at writing, so they should just avoid it. Or about a thesis adviser who abandoned them, interested only in seeing the final product, not guiding them through the process.

For me, editing and coaching both constitute helping professions. The primary difference is that with coaching, you get more insight into the whole person who sits behind the written word. And you don’t so much “do something” to their writing as empower them to do it themselves.

I’m not sure if I am producing any prima ballerinas. But I certainly enjoy helping the writers I work with become better dancers.

Routes to Publication – our Google Academy event

by Filed Under: Authors, Books, Community, Motivation, Networking, The writing coach, Writers Leave a Comment

We were recently lucky enough to host our Routes to Publication event at Google Academy in central London. On the evening, our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse chaired a discussion with special guests Louise Doughty, John Mitchinson, Clare Morgan and Stephanie Zia. It was a fascinating opportunity to meet many of our clients and community at the Writing Coach and what a wonderful discussion it was, offering a fresh and positive perspective on the publishing industry.

Our chair, Jacqui Lofthouse (centre) with guests (from left to right) Louise Doughty, John Mitchinson, Stephanie Zia and Clare Morgan

Our aim was to enable our audience to discover more about routes to publication – from the traditional route to working with smaller innovative publishers to self-publishing. We wanted to explore how one might maintain one’s integrity and individuality as a writer, whilst also having one eye on the marketplace. In addition, guests also had an opportunity to network over drinks and nibbles, courtesy of Google Academy.

A wonderful opportunity for our Writing Coach community to come together

We were delighted to have such a distinguished panel of guests: Louise Doughty the bestselling author of eight novels,  including the number one bestseller Apple Tree Yard; John Mitchinson, the co-founder of Unbound, the award-winning crowdfunding platform for books; Clare Morgan, novelist and founder and director of Oxford University’s Creative Writing programme and Stephanie Zia, novelist and Founder of Blackbird Digital Books. The evening was chaired by the Founder of The Writing Coach, novelist, and coach Jacqui Lofthouse.

Our panel at the Google Academy event

 

Jacqui Lofthouse introduces the evening

 

The panel, together with special guests novelist Roopa Farooki and Alice Jolly

It was a privilege to be able to host such a special event for our clients and subscribers. If you’d like to keep up to date with our events, do sign up to our newsletter. All of our clients at The Writing Coach get direct access to Jacqui for general advice and we also host quarterly London based meet-ups which are open to all of our clients and past clients. Do take a look at this post about our community outings to find out more. We look forward to meeting you!

Carolyn Kirby’s compelling debut: The Conviction of Cora Burns

by Filed Under: Authors, Books, Inspiration, Publishing, The writing coach, Writers Leave a Comment

We are excited to share the news that one of Jacqui’s former clients at The Writing Coach, Carolyn Kirby now has a two book deal with No Exit Press.

Carolyn Kirby

Carolyn worked with Jacqui on her first novel and we’re delighted that a revised version of that novel will also be published by No Exit. Jacqui introduced Carolyn to her agent, so is particularly thrilled to learn of this fantastic outcome.

UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) to The Conviction of Cora Burns and a second novel by Carolyn were acquired from David Haviland at Andrew Lownie Associates.

Carolyn at The Bridport Prize ceremony

The Conviction of Cora Burns (originally entitled Half of You) is set in Birmingham in the 1880s and explores the theme of nature versus nurture through the story of Cora Burns, a young woman who finds herself faced with the difficult challenge of overcoming her unalterable biology and troubled upbringing if she has any hope of creating a better future for herself. This compelling historical thriller won the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award, was a runner up for the Daniel Goldsmith First Novel Award and shortlisted for the Mslexia Novel Prize.

Ion Mills, managing director of No Exit Press, said:

We are thrilled to be publishing such an exciting new voice in this genre. Kirby’s gripping historical thriller explores so many contemporary issues such as madness, motherhood, criminality and medical research that we are certain it will be a huge success next summer.

Carolyn said:

I am delighted that the lovely team at No Exit Press has taken on The Conviction of Cora Burns, a novel that asks difficult questions about childrens’ morality and the influence on our sympathies of ideas about nature versus nurture. It’s fantastic to know that they will be bringing my next historical thriller to life as well.

Originally from Sunderland, Carolyn studied history at St Hilda’s College, Oxford before working in social housing and as a teacher.

Inspired by Carolyn’s story?

If you’d like to follow in Carolyn’s footsteps and consider how your book will reach publication, do join us at The Writing Coach and become part of our community.

Come along to our ‘Routes to Publication’ event at Google Academy on 16th August – a panel discussion with special guests Louise Doughty, John Mitchinson, Clare Morgan and Stephanie Zia. We’ll be sure to make you very welcome and introduce you to other writers in our community. And you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ask questions about your own route to publication.

All of us at The Writing Coach wish Carolyn huge success with The Conviction of Cora Burns – we can’t wait to see it in the bookshops!

Our Writers’ Community: Group outings

by Filed Under: Authors, Community, Events, Inspiration, Networking, The writing coach, The writing life, Writers 1 Comment

One of the most unique aspects of The Writing Coach is the strong sense of a writers’ community that we foster amongst all of our clients. We really pride ourselves on this and our community events are open to all our clients from those who enrol in our online course Get Black on White to those who enrol in one of our literary consultancy or coaching and mentoring programmes.

We’re also excited to announce an event which is open to all – our Routes to Publication event at Google Academy on 16th August – a panel event with novelist Louise Doughty, founder of Unbound Books John Mitchinson, Director of the Creative Writing MSt at Oxford University Clare Morgan and founder of Blackbird Digital Books Stephanie Zia. To find out more, click here.

Outing to The Charles Dickens Museum – May 2018

Dickens Museum

This year we had a truly wonderful day at The Dickens Museum. We also had a lovely Carluccio’s lunch prior to our visit where we shared many stories about our writing lives and our writing goals.

Our writers’ community is also really deepened by our fantastic Facebook group – open to clients only – so that when we do meet our clients often feel as if they know each other already. The Facebook community is a fantastic place for asking questions of others and Jacqui – and also a place where we keep each other accountable to our writing goals.

Outing to The Tate Britain – January 2018

Members of The Writing Coach community at the Tate Britain

Outing to Kew Gardens – Summer 2017

A writers’ summer picnic at Kew Gardens

If you’d like to be a part of our community, you can sign up for our online course Get Black on White which gives you permanent instant access or enrol in any of our writing programmes. To find out more do contact us.

Or come along to our Routes to Publication event at Google Academy on 16th August – a panel event where Jacqui Lofthouse will interview novelist Louise Doughty, founder of Unbound Books John Mitchinson, Director of the Creative Writing MSt at Oxford University Clare Morgan and founder of Blackbird Digital Books Stephanie Zia. To find out more, click here. All attendees will also gain access to our community.

Jacqui says,

What I love about our community is how incredibly supportive the members are to each other. Many of our clients are published writers and our outings are attended by our consultants too, so you get to meet and network with experienced writers and to share your thoughts and discuss your ideas about writing with so many like-minded people. One of my aims here at The Writing Coach is to truly support our members in the deepest possible way and I hope these images give a real sense of how we do this. I attend all of the events personally and get to know everyone. There’s no charge for the events beyond your own expenses for the day – so this really is an invaluable resource for everyone who works with us. I’d love to meet you at a future event!

Routes to Publication: our Event at Google Academy

by Filed Under: Authors, Bookselling, Community, Corporate, Events, Inspiration, Motivation, Publishing, Self-publishing, The writing coach, Writers Leave a Comment

A Panel Event at Google Academy exploring routes to publication and writerly integrity in the process

Thursday August 16th at 6.30pm- 9.30pm

Jacqui Lofthouse interviews special guests Louise Doughty, John Mitchinson, Clare Morgan and Stephanie Zia

Would you love to find out more about routes to publication – from the traditional route to working with smaller innovative publishers to self-publishing? Are you keen to discuss how to maintain your integrity and individuality as a writer, whilst also having one eye on the marketplace?

We are delighted to announce this one-off special event at Google Digital Academy where you will have an opportunity to network with writers and industry specialists whilst also considering your own best route to market.

Price: £20    Limited to an audience of 60

 

Our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse is thrilled to chair this special panel discussion on 16th August, featuring guests who, between them, know the publishing industry inside-out. Our aim is to help you to unravel the possibilities for your writing – and also to inspire you with a real vision that will enable you to write your very best work – and also to find an audience for it. Our discussion will be full of information and advice to help you make the right choices for your writing – with advice on how to stay true to yourself as a writer and how to choose the ideal route to publication.

Whatever genre you work in, our panel discussion aims to give you the tools to write with confidence and to clarify your vision for publication.

Schedule:

18.30-19.15: Reception drinks, nibbles and Google Virtual Reality Hub

19.15-20.45: Routes to Publication Panel with Jacqui Lofthouse (chair), Louise Doughty, John Mitchinson, Clare Morgan and Stephanie Zia. To be followed by Q & A

20.45-21.30: Networking drinks

Location:

Google Digital Academy, 123 Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria, London, SW1W 9SH

Doors open at 18.30pm, with drinks and nibbles kindly provided by Google

Booking & Payment

The price for this event is £20.

This is not a ticketed event – once you have booked, you don’t need to bring a ticket on the day as your name will be on our guestlist.

 

Our Speakers:

Our speakers have been chosen to give you the broadest view of routes to publication.

Louise Doughty

Louise Doughty is the bestselling author of eight novels, one work of non-fiction and five plays for radio. Her latest book, Black Water was nominated as one of the New York Times Book Review Top 100 Notable Books of 2016. Her previous book was the number one bestseller Apple Tree Yard, shortlisted for the CWA Steel Dagger Award and the National Book Award Thriller of the Year and has sold in thirty territories worldwide. A four-part TV adaptation with Emily Watson in the lead role was broadcast on on BBC1. She is a critic and cultural commentator, broadcasts regularly for the BBC and has been the judge for many prizes and awards including the Man Booker Prize and the Costa Novel Award. See: www.louisedoughty.com

 

John Mitchinson

 

John Mitchinson is a writer and publisher and the co-founder of Unbound, the award-winning crowdfunding platform for books. He helped to create the award-winning BBCTV show QI and co-wrote the best-selling series of QI books. As a publisher   he worked in senior positions at Harvill, Orion and Cassell. Before that he was Waterstone’s first marketing director. He is co-host of Unbound’s books podcast Backlisted (@BacklistedPod) and a Vice-President of the Hay Festival of Arts & Literature. See www.unbound.com

 

Clare Morgan

Clare Morgan is founder and director of Oxford University’s Creative Writing programme. Her most recent novel A Book for All and None (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best Novel award, and was described as ‘a spell-binding, effortlessly propulsive unity’ by the Independent; ‘written with eloquence and artistry’ by the Mail on Sunday; and ‘too tantalizing to resist’ by Time Out. She has published a collection of stories, An Affair of the Heart, and her short fiction been widely anthologized, and commissioned by BBC Radio 4. Clare gained her D.Phil. from Oxford University, and an M.A. in Creative Writing from U.E.A. She has chaired the Literature Bursaries Panel of the Arts Council of Wales, been Literary Mentor for Southern Arts and Literature Wales, and a literary assessor for publications funded by the Welsh Books Council. She is now an Academician for the Folio Academy. See www.claremorgan.co.uk

 

Stephanie Zia

Stephanie Zia has worked in the arts all her life: at the BBC, the Guardian and as a published novelist. She is the Founder of Blackbird Digital Books which publishes rights-reverted titles by established authors alongside exciting new talent and has sold over 100,000 books,  sharing over £100,000 in royalties 50/50 with her authors. She strongly believes in the on-going promotion of titles rather than the traditional 3-month window, nurturing the creativity of her #authorpower authors and promoting them with the latest, ever-changing, digital marketing techniques. See www.blackbird-books.com

 

Jacqui Lofthouse

Our chair, Jacqui Lofthouse is a novelist and founder of The Writing Coach. In 1992 she studied for her MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia under Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain. She is the author of four novels, The Temple of Hymen, Bluethroat Morning, Een Stille Verdwijning and The Modigliani Girl. Her novels have sold over 100,000 copies in the UK, the USA and Europe. She is currently working on her first YA novel. Jacqui has taught creative writing in a broad variety of settings from City University to Feltham Young Offenders Institution. She is also an actor, training at Identity School of Acting (IDSA). She continues to mentor writers at The Writing Coach where her mission is to help writers to be confident and productive, producing their best work and getting it into print.

 


We can’t wait to meet you at this very special evening for The Writing Coach!

Blog Tour: ‘Bluethroat Morning’

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We’re delighted to announce that the official ‘Blog Tour’ for the first digital edition of our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse’s novel ‘Bluethroat Morning’ (originally published by Bloomsbury in 2000) begins tomorrow on May 15th.

Bluethroat Morning, Jacqui Lofthouse

There will be daily posts including exclusive extracts, interviews with Jacqui Lofthouse and reviews of the novel, leading up to official publication day on 22nd May.

We’d love it if you could help us to celebrate this new edition of the novel by sharing this post or other posts from the blog tour.

Jacqui writes:

This book is close to my heart and I’d love to reach as many new readers as possible. Set on the North Coast of Norfolk, this is a literary mystery with a nineteenth century subplot. I hope it will entice you and keep you turning the pages.

In writing the novel, I researched deeply on the subject of the links between creativity and despair. It was my findings in that area that led me to develop ways that we might break such links and move towards a more positive vision of the creative life  – and eventually to my founding of The Writing Coach.

I hope you will be drawn into Harry’s world, as he investigates the suicide of his wife Alison Bliss – a tale that had been generations in the making.

The poster above shows where the novel will be featured each day. Do help us to spread the word by following the tour. We’d love to know what you make of the novel!

Bluethroat Morning

Bluethroat Morning by Jacqui Lofthouse

To entice you, here are a few earlier quotes on ‘Bluethroat Morning’ from its initial publication in 2000. The digital edition is available at a special pre-publication price of 99p/99c until May 21st and you can find the book here.

‘A thriller full of twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing. Every word is magical, almost luminous.’ – Daily Mail

‘A moving read, threaded through with mystery and excitement.’ – Good Housekeeping Magazine

‘A classic tale of longing.’ – Time Out

‘There are many elements to savour in this novel: the intertwining of past and present; the struggle to write and the responsibility of writing about others’ lives. Best of all, Lofthouse has a fine eye for the bleak Norfolk landscape and how it both reflects and affects characters’ moods.’ – Tracy Chevalier author of Girl with a Pearl Earring

‘Captures the spacey feel of Norfolk well – an engaging read, intriguingly structured, tough in some of its insights, and sexy too.’ – Lindsay Clarke, author of The Chymical Wedding, winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction

‘Those who feel the reading public’s love of the 19th century Gothic mystery may be abating will be given pause by this latest entry in the field of pastiche. This is a considerable piece, full of subtle characterization and a well-chosen raft of literary underpinnings.’ – Publishing News

‘The intertwining of the two main stories is very skilfully done, as is the delicacy and understanding she brings to the key themes – suicide, creativity, love and especially paternal love. Very moving.’ – Henry Sutton, novelist and co-director MA Creative Writing, UEA 

Lucy Kaufman’s Play – Eleanor Marx: The Jewess of Jews Walk

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We are delighted to announce that Lucy Kaufman’s play ‘The Jewess of Jews Walk’ is now playing at The Sydenham Centre, London – there’s still time to grab your tickets…

Lucy Kaufman, Jewess of Jews Walk, Sydenham Centre

Lucy Kaufman is a former client of The Writing Coach and also attended Jacqui Lofthouse’s workshop with Clare Barry for Paradise Road Project – on that workshop, she made a resolution to finish the writing of The Jewess of Jew’s Walk.

This original drama by Lucy Kaufman is produced and directed by Jonathan Kaufman.

The show began its run on Wednesday 18th April and is open until Saturday 12th May 2018 at The Sydenham Centre, London

8pm, Wed-Sat (except Thur 3 May)

Click here to book tickets.

Lucy writes:

In 2015 I attended Paradise Road Project, a day workshop run by Jacqui Lofthouse and Clare Barry. The workshop was intended as a chance for creatives to unplug from technology and cyberspace, refocus our minds, and allow inspiration available in our real, urban environment to inspire us. As both a playwright and author, I juggle a multitude of vying ideas and, back in 2015, struggled with deciding which project or projects to focus my attention and energies on.

For one workshop exercise we created a list of projects we’d love to bring into the world, and were aided in prioritising those projects and allowing a particular project to come to the fore as the one we wanted to tackle next. I made long list of plays, novels, and short stories I wanted to write: projects I had begun working on and some I’d put on the back burner, along with brand new ideas that were generated by the very act of sitting down and allowing what I love to emerge. I still enjoy referring to that list now and again, to see how many of the projects listed there have come to fruition.

On that list is the idea that became Pretty Bubbles, my novel about my mum and Bobby Moore, that came 3rd in ‘Pen to Print: Real Stories, Real Lives’ competition. On the list is an exciting idea for a YA novel I plan to write later this year. On that list is The Wig Show, a short story I had been playing over in my mind for a number of years that I wrote in the days immediately after attending the workshop and can be found here: https://lucykaufman.wordpress.com/2018/03/08/happy-international-womens-day/  And on the list is Eleanor Marx: The Jewess of Jews Walk, my play about Karl Marx’s remarkable youngest daughter that has a four-week run in Sydenham, around the corner from where she lived and died.

The play tells the true story of an inspirational woman and her tragic final days

“Lucy Kaufman’s superb play puts Eleanor Marx centre stage where she belongs” Rachel Holmes, Eleanor Marx’s biographer

When Eleanor Marx moved to 7 Jews Walk, Sydenham, in 1895, she believed she would be happy there. To Eleanor — a self-styled ‘Jewess’ — even the name of the road seemed a good omen. Her hopes could not be further from reality. Within months, Karl Marx’s youngest daughter was suffering at the hands of her common-law husband Edward Aveling, with shocking consequences. To this day, the dramatic events that unfolded at 7 Jews Walk are shrouded in mystery and doubt…

Lucy Kaufman, Jewess of Jews Walk, Sydenham Centre

Now Sydenham’s very own theatre company Spontaneous Productions is bringing this true story to life Upstairs at the Sydenham Centre, just around the corner from where Eleanor Marx and Edward Aveling lived out their final few years. Lucy Kaufman’s powerful new drama celebrates this remarkable woman — political activist, translator, early feminist and often neglected figure of historical importance — whilst tackling themes of love, loyalty, identity, betrayal, domestic abuse and the role of women in society.

Click here to book tickets.

Literary Thriller ‘Bluethroat Morning’ – Cover Reveal

by Filed Under: Authors, Books, Publishing, The writing coach, Writers Leave a Comment

We’re delighted to announce the first digital release of our founder’s second novel Bluethroat Morning.

Bluethroat Morning

Bluethroat Morning by Jacqui Lofthouse

First published in hardback and paperback in 2000 and 2001, by Bloomsbury, the new digital edition will be published by Blackbird Books.

Stephanie Zia, founder of Blackbird Books says “We are counting down the days to the first digital edition of Jacqui Lofthouse’s exquisite literary mystery Bluethroat Morning.”

Described by The Daily Mail as  ‘a thriller full of twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing – every word is magical, almost luminous’,  Bluethroat Morning will be available as an ebook from 22nd May, $4.99/£3.49. Special pre-order price 99p/99c.

If you are a book blogger and interested in the mid-May blog tour, there are a few places available.  Please click here to let us know of your interest.

Bluethroat Morning

Original paperback cover of Bluethroat Morning

About Bluethroat Morning:

Alison Bliss, celebrity model and critically acclaimed writer, walks into the sea one ‘bluethroat morning’. In death she becomes a greater icon than in life, and the Norfolk village where she lived is soon a place of pilgrimage. Six years later her husband Harry, a schoolteacher, is still haunted by her suicide and faithful to her memory. Until he meets Helen and they fall in love.

Harry and Helen’s relationship initiates a return to the scene of Alison’s death where they meet ninety-eight year old Ern Higham, and a tale is revealed that has been generations in the making. As Harry pieces together a tragic history and finally confronts his own pain, he discovers that to truly move forward, first he must understand the past …

‘A moving read, threaded through with mystery and excitement.’ – Good Housekeeping Magazine

‘A thriller full of twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing. Every word is magical, almost luminous.’ – Daily Mail

‘A classic tale of longing.’ – Time Out

‘There are many elements to savour in this novel: the intertwining of past and present; the struggle to write and the responsibility of writing about others’ lives. Best of all, Lofthouse has a fine eye for the bleak Norfolk landscape and how it both reflects and affects characters’ moods.’ – Tracy Chevalier author of Girl with a Pearl Earring

‘Captures the spacey feel of Norfolk well – an engaging read, intriguingly structured, tough in some of its insights, and sexy too.’ – Lindsay Clarke, author of The Chymical Wedding, winner of the Whitbread Prize for Fiction 

‘Those who feel the reading public’s love of the 19th century Gothic mystery may be abating will be given pause by this latest entry in the field of pastiche. This is a considerable piece, full of subtle characterization and a well-chosen raft of literary underpinnings.’ – Publishing News

‘The intertwining of the two main stories is very skilfully done, as is the delicacy and understanding she brings to the key themes – suicide, creativity, love and especially paternal love. Very moving.’ – Henry Sutton, novelist and co-director MA Creative Writing, UEA

If you’d like to pre-order a digital copy prior to release on 22nd May, the  special pre-order price  is 99p/99c   and you can find the book here and the paperback here.

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