by Charlie | Jan 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
Perhaps the hardest part of writing a novel is reaching the end of a first draft, bringing into solid being something that doesn’t actually exist yet except as shards of ideas in your mind. Doing it alone with no support, accountability or people to tell you to...
by Charlie | Jan 10, 2023 | Uncategorized
Writing a novel alone with no support, accountability or people to tell you to just keep going and have faith makes a really hard job even harder. Your novel doesn’t exist yet, and some support along the way to making it a reality can make all the difference....
by Charlie | Oct 20, 2021 | Uncategorized
Every few years some species of trees will generate bumper crops of seeds. It’s known as a mast year, and last year I spent a day in an ankle-deep carpet of spiky green cases picking glossy sweet chestnuts from them and trying (unsuccessfully, I’m sad to...
by Charlie | Jun 4, 2021 | Uncategorized
I started running writing retreats in 2008. 2008! There are kids in secondary school who weren’t born when I started running retreats. That’s mind-blowing. *sobs in grandma* And I’ve met a lot of writers in 13 years. I’ve seen people who...
by Charlie | Apr 13, 2021 | Uncategorized
Hands up if you have a habit of buying nice notebooks… …that just sit on the shelf because you can’t quite bring yourself to use them? Or maybe you have six notebooks, all with only a couple of pages filled. Why do we do this? Often it’s to do with...
by Charlie | Jan 15, 2021 | Uncategorized
Perhaps the hardest part of writing a novel is reaching the end of a first draft, bringing into solid being something that doesn’t actually exist yet, except as shards of ideas in your mind. Doing it alone with no support, accountability or people to tell you to...