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The Writing Coach

Literary Consultancy and Coaching for Writers from Jacqui Lofthouse

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Kirsten Fogg

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Winner of the 2015 Carte Blanche/CNFC competiton for Creative Nonfiction

I started working with Jacqui Lofthouse at the beginning of 2011. We were in the middle of extensive renovations and Brisbane flooded just as my four-year old was trying to toilet train her toddler sister. I had stuffed a rough draft of a novel that didn’t really work under a bed along with my journalistic career. I wanted to write something that mattered to me but I had no idea how to go about it and years of journalism seemed to have killed my creativity. I also didn’t believe I could do it, nor did I have any idea about how to do what I didn’t know I wanted to do.

Call it a crisis of confidence. Writing every day, keeping a journal, was something I’d always wanted to do, but never had. Not through my wild 20s in Paris, or traveling alone in third-world countries. My words and thoughts and experiences all seemed so trite and, well, boring.

Jacqui, in her calm and supportive way, changed this. She probably doesn’t even know the effect she’s had on me. Working online with Jacqui, while she sat in her studio in London and I in my study in Brisbane, I developed a regular writing practice. I got up at 5am every day during the week when the house was quiet and I wrote. About anything. I pulled together two rough drafts of novels because of her weekly accountability system, which I still maintain today. I realized, under Jacqui’s gentle guidance, that writing in a notebook and finishing a novel were the first and last steps in a many layered process. Perhaps I should have known this since I’ve already written hundreds of articles but writing about something that matters to me was different. Jacqui taught me to keep putting aside the inner critic, to try to accomplish one thing every day no matter how small to advance my writing, to believe that it would become something bigger.

And it did. I fell in love with creative nonfiction and started writing personal essays. I sent them off: rejected, rejected, rejected, Short-listed! rejected, rejected, rejected, Winner! Now I’m working on a collection of essays about belonging and I attribute part of my success in creative nonfiction to the fact that I was able to incorporate techniques of fiction that I learned from Jacqui.

Working with Jacqui laid the foundation for a professional career in writing that mattered to me. She gave me the confidence to keep going, to take writing risks, to put my honest voice on the page. She still does.

How can someone else possibly impart a belief in oneself as a writer? I have no idea. You’ll have to ask Jacqui.

Find out more about Kirsten Fogg

You can find out more about Kirsten on her website: Writer Out of Residence.

Kirsten Fogg is an award-winning Canadian essayist, writer and journalist.

Her essay Nana Technology won Canada’s 2015 carte blanche/CNFC competition for creative nonfiction and was turned into a short radio drama by ABC radio (Australia).   ”After the Flood on Harte Street” was a finalist in an international competition and published in Creative Nonfiction (Fall 2012). Kirsten has also been published in The Malahat Review, one of Canada’s main literary journals.

Kirsten was a freelance foreign correspondent for The Chicago Tribune and has written about Australia for The Washington Times, The Globe and Mail and The National Post. She was a financial reporter for Bloomberg News in Toronto, Canada and London, UK. She has over two decades of journalistic experience as an editor, translator (French-English) and writer. Her articles have been published in major international newspapers. Kirsten has lived in Paris, Bordeaux, Toronto, London UK and Sydney. She lives in Brisbane, Australia.

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

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About The Writing Coach

Jacqui Lofthouse

The Writing Coach was founded in 2005 by the novelist Jacqui Lofthouse. An international mentoring and development organisation for writers, it is also an online home for writers, somewhere you can find advice, information, motivation and most of all encouragement for your writing work ... read more

The Modigliani Girl

Anna Bright never wanted to write a novel. At least, that’s what she tells herself. But a chance encounter with a famous novelist and a surprise gift of an art book cut a chink in Anna’s resolve. The short, tragic life of Modigliani’s mistress, Jeanne Hébuterne, becomes an obsession and before she knows it, she has enrolled on a creative writing course, is writing about a fictional Jeanne and mixing with the literati.

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Recent Posts

  • Interview with Mark Leggatt
  • Our Charity Literary Event for War Child
  • Inside Story – The Writing Coach Membership
  • Michelle Graham Taylor and The Ghost Of A Lie
  • The Writing Life of PD Viner, Crime Writer and Crime Writing Mentor

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The following posts are particularly useful for writers and include advice, ideas and inspiration...read more

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What a fabulous Brighton launch for Phil Viner’s What a fabulous Brighton launch for Phil Viner’s (PD Viner) novel ‘The Call’ @northlainecafe. 

Phil’s one of our mentoring team at The Writing Coach @thewritingcoach and it was great to catch up with @laura_wilkinsonwriter and @nikkisheehan3 there too - also Writing Coach mentors and friends - as well as well as novelist friend @katewritesbooks . Here’s to great success for ‘The Call’

“In a frantic late-night phone call, Ben learns his wife, Mia, has killed a man. And she needs his help.

When Ben arrives at Mia's hotel room, the scene is horrific - but over the course of the night it will get much worse.

All their secrets will be uncovered, and they will discover how far they'll go to protect themselves and each other... will they kill for love? Or will they die for it?
One phone call. Twelve hours to save their marriage. And their lives.”

 #thriller #launchparty #writingcoach #writingmentor #crimefiction #crimefictionmentor
Join us this Saturday for an exclusive one day onl Join us this Saturday for an exclusive one day online writing course for those who wish to improve their skills and take their novel or memoir manuscript to the next level – with Writing Coach Founder @jacquilofthouse 

At the end of the day, you will have:

- A clear idea of how to progress your writing and take it to the next level
- New ways of thinking about your fiction and staying connected to the process
- A notebook full of ideas and completed practical writing exercises
- Awareness of exact steps to take to improve your writing
- All essential course notes with key points covered during the day
- A knowledge of what the publishing industry is looking for
- Clear information about the pros and cons of self-publishing
- A bunch of new writing colleagues and friends
- A new, freshly inspired outlook on your writing

Find out more and sign up via the link in the bio.

#writingcoach #writingworkshop #amwriting #writinglife #writinghabits #writingritual #writersofinstagram
Are you a fiction or memoir writer who wants to im Are you a fiction or memoir writer who wants to improve your work and complete a finished manuscript? 

If you have dabbled in writing fiction or memoir but now want to make strides with your writing or if you’re an experienced writer looking to polish a second draft of the work, this exclusive one day course with The Writing Coach Founder @jacquilofthouse will make a real difference to your output and your craft. 

You will learn what literary agents and publishers are looking for, but equally importantly how you can achieve this, whilst maintaining your authentic voice.

Join us on Saturday 28th May by signing up via the link in the bio.

#writingcoach #writingworkshop #amwriting #writinglife #writinghabits #writingritual #writersofinstagram
If you are at the mid-way point of your writing pr If you are at the mid-way point of your writing project, feeling a little stuck and not sure if you can pull the project together, join us for this immersive day: "Developing Your Novel or Memoir". In our online workshop, working with our Founder Jacqui Lofthouse, you will have an opportunity to unravel the knots and find a confident path forwards. 

We will explore everything from your writing process, to character development and shifts, finding a structure and seeing your project through to completion. You will leave with a clear path forwards and a renewed confidence in your writing project.

Sign up via link in bio.

#writingcoach #writingworkshop #amwriting #writinglife #writinghabits #writingritual #writersofinstagram
I was very honoured last week to see our Writing C I was very honoured last week to see our Writing Coach consultant @jon.magidsohn play a gig to launch his debut album ‘A World Without Corners’ @ivyhousenunhead .

Jon teaches memoir and creative non-fiction (amongst other genres) for us at The Writing Coach. I felt incredibly proud to know him last week. Such haunting songs and a fabulous voice. Do check out Jon’s music on Spotify or Apple and follow him there…

And if you’re looking for a great writing mentor you can find Jon at The Writing Coach and read about his work there.
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