Events
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Conscious Writing Month 2026
October 20 @ 8:00 am – November 27 @ 8:30 pm
A five-week series of workshops, readings, and talks for writers wanting to lead more conscious lives. Hosted by The Literary Consultancy.
Join The Literary Consultancy for the return of our popular annual series of accessible events for writers interested in how to lead more conscious lives. This year we have created a theme for each week of the series, around which sessions will be focussed.
This year, we are also reviving the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition, open to all ticket-holders. Send an excerpt of your work in progress for the chance to win a suite of prizes! All details below.
95% of previous Conscious Writing Month participants noted that attending the series had a positive effect on their sense of creativity. 85% told us it had a positive impact on their writing in other ways including boosting wellbeing, creating curiosity, sparking connection, and empowering ethical ways of being.
Conscious Writing Month 2026
20th October – 27th November
Conscious Writing Month includes:
Masterclasses, Workshops and Panels (interactive and participatory, to key themes in a writing life from craft to industry)
Therapist-led sessions (licensed therapists join us each week to run sessions reflecting on the inner self of the writer – boosting your wellbeing and creativity)
Weekly Mini Retreats (carve out time to write with others – one hour write-ins each week)
Conscious Writing Month is FREE for members of Being A Writer (membership is the most cost effective way to access the series) or buy a VIP Pass to access all events, or a week pass to access a single week of events.
The Programme
Week one: Dream
Imagine and manifest your dream writing life
October 19th 9-10am BST
Mini Retreat – a one hour co-writing space with the TLC Team
October 20th 7-8.30pm BST
Tarot Manifestation for Writers with Integrative Therapist Emma Dellow
October 22nd 7-8.30pm BST
From a Teenager’s Diary to Children’s Laureate with Patrice Lawrence
Week two: Create
Where ideas become story, and craft meets magic
October 26th 9-10am BST
Mini Retreat – a one hour co-writing space with the TLC Team
October 27th 7-8.30pm BST
Ideas Lab – how to turn a single idea into a new writing project with Jack Strange
October 29th 7-8.30pm BST
Who Am I When I Create? with therapist Nadia di-Luzio
Week three: Replenish
Fill your cup, and surrender to rest
November 2nd 9-10am BST
Mini Retreat – a one hour co-writing space with the TLC Team
November 3rd 7-8.30pm BST
Love Letters to Myself with psychotherapist and coach Zsofia Kaplar
November 5th 7-8.30pm BST
How to Write on Stolen Time with Elspeth Wilson
Week four: Resist
How to make meaningful art in a world on fire
November 9th 9-10am BST
Mini Retreat – a one hour co-writing space with the TLC Team
November 10th 7-8.30pm BST
Flowers from the Fire: Creating in a Time of Crisis with Sunny Singh and Susanna Kwan
November 12th 7-8.30pm BST
Genre b(l)ending, a workshop on multi format work with Tutku Barbaros
Week five: Publish
Bring your story to its rightful readers
November 18th 9-10am BST
Mini Retreat – a one hour co-writing space with the TLC Team
November 17th 7-8.30pm BST
The Skin You Have: Rejection, Exposure and the Writing Life with psychotherapist Dr Victoria Froome
November 19th 7-8.30pm BST
A Life in Books: Lessons from a Bestselling Author… with Vaseem Khan
Week six: Bonus Week!
November 27th 7-8.30pm BST
TLC Pen Factor Live
Tickets
Conscious Writing Month is free to Being A Writer members, and available on an affordable basis to non members. If you’re not yet a member, joining up on a monthly basis is the most cost effective way of accessing the series and permanent watch-back access to all recordings.
VIP Pass £60 Come to everything! Includes all workshops, our weekly co-writing space, and entry to the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition. A 30-day watch back link will be provided for all sessions.
Weekly Pass £30 Pick a week and attend all sessions. A 7-day watch back link will be provided. Ticket includes entry to the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition.
Bursaries £30 50 ringfenced access-all-areas places available at a reduced rate, no application needed. Includes entry to the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition.
About the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition
The TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition is a competition for new, unpublished writing across fiction and creative non-fiction, open exclusively to Conscious Writing Month ticket-holders. The competition started as an adjunct to TLC’s Writing in a Digital Age Conference in 2012, later becoming part of our popular Writers’ Day. Five finalists get the opportunity to pitch their work live to a panel of industry experts at a special online event.
As a competition, TLC Pen Factor has an impressive track record for finding talent, with many of our previous finalists going on to be published – including as a direct result of meeting their agent at the event! You can read about how entering (and subsequently winning) resulted in Lizzie Damilola Blackburn landing a two-book deal with Viking here. Previous winners and finalists include Johnny Gaunt, Neema Shah, Guinevere Glasfurd, Adam Sharp, Abi Dare, and Fawzia Kane.
How to Submit
Full submission guidelines will be issued once you have booked a ticket. The below is a summary of key points. You will need to have a 2,000 word excerpt and one page synopsis ready for submission.
- The work entered must be an original, unpublished work of full-length fiction or narrative non-fiction. It does not have to be complete at the time of entering the competition.
- Your work must not be on submission to literary agents or publishers at the point of entry. If the work is on historic submission and you receive an offer of representation, you must immediately inform us and withdraw your submission from the competition.
- Unfortunately we are unable to accept short stories, poetry, picture books, or scripts.
- The work entered cannot have been previously published by a publisher with a curated list (i.e., where the work has been through an editorial selection process). Previously self-published work will be accepted.
- You must be a Conscious Writing Month ticketholder and able to attend the TLC Pen Factor Live Pitch on Friday 27th November 2026 in order to enter the TLC Pen Factor Writing Competition.
- You must enter the competition using the same name and email you used to purchase your ticket, so that we can verify your eligibility to enter.
- The judges’ decision re: longlist, shortlist and the overall winner is final and we are not able to enter into discussion or give feedback.
- We do not accept AI-generated work. Please find our AI FAQs here.
- Submissions not complying with the submission guidelines will not be considered.
The Submission Deadline for the 2026 Prize is 9am (UK time) Monday 16th Novem