A slightly modified version of this post was published in The Jewish Independent
Several years ago, way before October 7 and the ensuing Israel-Hamas war, I was having lunch with colleagues from the writing and publishing universe. We …
Events
Writing About Trauma: A Guest Post by Roz Bellamy
I’m magnetised by sad stories, and collect them the way I imagine a comedian gathers humorous anecdotes. I offer them up like a depressing form of stand-up to loved ones, who aren’t always appreciative.
In my memoir, Mood: A Memoir …
Why Write Autofiction: A Guest Post by Rochelle Siemienowicz
‘You might get some bloke at a writers’ festival who stands up in the audience and asks: “In your “research” (titter, titter) for this book, did you really have two dicks in your mouth?” – but that’s out of everyone’s hands, and you’ll …
The challenges of whipping up a cookbook: A Guest Post by Elana Benjamin
Psychologists say it takes us only one-tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger. While I couldn’t find any research as to how long it takes to form a first impression of a cookbook, my experience is …
Murder, I Wrote: A Guest Post by Jane Sullivan
A friend recently reminded me about Jessica Fletcher, the crime-solving novelist in the 1980s television series Murder, She Wrote. Played by the magnificent Angela Lansbury, she was an amateur detective and a bestselling writer, and she handled each task …
The fairytales that shaped my words
Once upon a time, there was a young girl who was bed-bound on account of her sickly heart, and so she spent much of her time daydreaming or consuming the abundant fairytales in her family’s vast library. There she found …
Writing With Multiple Voices: A Guest Post by Maggie Walters
When I set about writing my memoir Split, telling the story of my life with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) – or as it’s called today, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), I envisaged that it would be a mix of poetry …
Creating characters for children: A Guest Post by Leigh Hobbs
As a child I only ever had two ambitions.
Being a writer wasn’t one of them.
Firstly, I wanted to be an artist, I’ve always loved drawing. And secondly, I wanted to ‘go to England’ as I’ve always been fascinated …
Sentences Make Magic by Lee Kofman
I am the kind of a writer who writes for sentences. It’s not because narrative isn’t important to me, but rather because I believe the shape and texture of sentences affect our narratives. The structure, rhythm and details of each …
Juicy First Drafts: A Guest Post by Rachel Matthews
During the writing of my new tragicomic novel, Never Look Desperate, I took the first draft of my completed manuscript away for a dirty weekend. To love it again and rediscover the connection. We stayed in a hotel with …