The Writing Coach
Literary Consultancy and Coaching for Writers from Jacqui Lofthouse
by Jacqui Lofthouse One morning, in the spring of 1984 – when I was working at my Saturday job in a sweet-shop – something happened that changed my life. I was eighteen years old and about to take my A Levels. My ambition, at the time, was to become an actor, and I was a …
David Lewis, artist and visualiser describes his commission to illustrate eight writers for The Writing Coach website. David writes: My brief was to capture a handful of inspirational literary figures across different practices, cultures and periods. I deliberately avoided drawing anyone too recent, to be sure there was no ambiguity about who The Writing Coach …
A guest post by Jacqueline Smith, member of Inside Story. My first experience of The Writing Coach was through joining Inside Story, but I’d first met Jacqui many years ago when she was teaching creative writing courses at Richmond College. Fast forward twenty odd years of life, work and family to February 2021 and the …
Jacqueline Smith interviews Michelle Graham Taylor, a previous client of The Writing Coach, about her book The Ghost of a Lie. ‘Like a Runner Needs to Run’ Michelle Graham Taylor is an inspiration to anyone who thinks they don’t have the time to write a book. She’s up before the sun rises so that she …
Recently Jacqueline Smith interviewed the Crime Writer PD Viner. Phil Viner is one of our consultants and a Crime Writing Mentor at The Writing Coach. His first novel The Last Winter of Dani Lancing was shortlisted for International Crime Novel of the Year and his most recent work is due for publication in May 2022. …
Discover how The Writing Coach turned my distant dreams of a writing business into an exciting new reality through coaching, writing feedback, and support.
Our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse is delighted to interview Antony Johnston, author of The Organised Writer, published by Bloomsbury, 1st October. As one who’s fairly obsessed about productivity for writers herself, she was intrigued to find out more about Antony’s viewpoint. 1. What led you to write ‘The Organised Writer’? My own life and career, first …
Our former client Pete Langman, author of Killing Beauties, met his publisher John Mitchinson of Unbound at our Writing Coach ‘Google Academy’ event Here he writes about how we transform archival material when writing historical fiction. If it takes an historian to rediscover an exciting but little-known character’s life, the historical novelist can imagine them …
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 …
A Guest Post by writing coach consultant 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 …
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 …
A Guest Post on Jane Austen by former writing coach client Caroline Doherty de Novoa At Jane Austen’s house, you certainly get what you came for. A tiny wooden writing desk… a view onto a rose garden… a quill. A dainty tea set… books with gold-lettered spines and peacocks emblazoned on the front… embroidery. A …
In this post, our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse interviews her former client, the novelist Stuart Warner, author of The Sound of Everything. They discuss his transition from poet to novelist. When we first met, in your writing life you were primarily a poet. What made you want to transition to novel-writing? I recall telling friends how much …
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. I arrived at the British Library for my session with Jacqui on three hours’ sleep, carrying an embryonic first draft and unsure …
The Words Away salon is on Monday, July 3, 2017 7:30pm – 9:30pm at The Tea House Theatre, Vauxhall Do you need some inspiration and motivation tips to get going and keep going this summer? What’s stopping you from finishing that book? Do you start but never quite finish? Would you like to be more …
Lately I feel as if I’m living in a hall of mirrors. All around me are reflections of my own imaginings – layer upon layer of slightly distorted repetitions – and I’m still trying very hard to get my head around it. [tweet_dis inject=”Reflections on @PeoplesBkPrize #TPBP”]The thing is: my life is imitating my art – in …
We are thrilled to announce that Miranda Gold, a former Writing Coach client, has had her first novel Starlings published by Karnac Books. To celebrate her success, we are delighted to be the first to publish Miranda’s wonderful lyrical essay ‘Reading as Alchemy’ about the importance of reading – and her take on keeping the reader ‘on the …
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. A new category in the Bridport Prize Like many new writers I’d heard of the Bridport Prize. It is well known around the …
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 …
I am delighted to announce the launch of my new publishing imprint, Nightingale Editions, an imprint of Blackbird Digital Books. The imprint has been founded by me Jacqui Lofthouse together with Stephanie Zia of Blackbird Digital Books. For some time, I’d considered the idea of publishing the work of others, but when I read Sara Bailey’s haunting and lyrical …
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 …
There’s no doubt about it, networking for writers matters. Luckily, for most of us, meeting other writers is also a hugely enjoyable pastime. But even if you’re an introvert who would prefer to spend his/her life in a library or at the writing desk, I’d suggest that you do carefully consider the benefits of meeting your peers …
What was it about the Charroux Literary Festival that made it special? Why do we go to any Literary Festival and what can we learn from these occasions? Held in the Medieval town of Charroux, this was the first Charroux Litfest: a memorable occasion, where I not only met a number of other wonderful authors, but …
This summer, I’m delighted to have been invited to appear at the first Charroux Literary Festival in France – and I’d love to see you there! The Festival, a bilingual literary festival,will take place in the medieval town of Charroux in the Poitou-Charentes region of South West France from Thursday 27th to Saturday 29th August – the August Bank …
