MANUSCRIPT ASSESSMENT AND EDITORIAL ADVICE SINCE 1996
Blog
In 2016, TLC’s 20th anniversary year, we launched a blog as a space for thoughtful, non-promotional pieces on all things writing, editing and publishing. If you’d like to pitch a piece, please email Aki Schilz on .
We’d love to hear from you, and please feel free to comment on the blogs here.
Develop Your Creative Practice - How I Applied
May 01, 2022 | Blog
When I was thinking of applying for my DYCP grant I had heard how another writer had got this incredible and competitive grant. I was flabbergasted that an artist could apply for this and saw it as excellent opportunity.
I was certainly overwhelmed by Grantium application process and suffered from Impostor Syndrome when I got the grant!
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Being Heard, Being Seen, Being Read – How To Promote Your Non-Fiction Book
Writing non-fiction books can be hard work, translating historical events into the present day, recounting challenging real-life experiences, or critiquing artists and their work to say something new are all demanding projects — what can be harder still is promoting your book.
You have committed yourself to your subject,
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Movement and Creativity
March 01, 2022 | Blog
Creativity is an expression of the incredible marvel of being human. To move is to express this, and if you move every day you will deepen your relationship with creativity without even noticing it. Our relationship to creativity needs tender and steady attention to nurture it. Movement is sometimes included as a nice-to-have,
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How to Get the Most Out of Feedback
February 01, 2022 | Blog
Receiving feedback can present a conundrum for writers. We might want it, we definitely need it, but it can also be scary, daunting and perhaps difficult to find. My own writing has grown immeasurably since I’ve been lucky enough to receive feedback from some amazing writers, including by Michael Langan through the TLC LGBT+ Free Reads scheme and from Kirsty Logan via the Cunning Folk mentoring initiative.
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The Poet's Work
January 02, 2022 | Blog, Other News
For the last few months, I’ve been thinking a lot about the hard work poetry demands. For years I was shackled to the idea that all a poet needs is inspiration; that temperament and devotion were beside the point. But while inspiration certainly helps (I love the moment something unexpected wanders in),
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The Art of Not Giving In (Part Two)
December 01, 2021 | Blog
The Second Coming of the North Surrey Gigantopithecus
PREVIOUSLY, in The Art of Not Giving In, I described how I went from abandoning my novel, The North Surrey Gigantopithecus in 2017 to being around to witness its publication by Unsung Stories in 2021 to some acclaim.
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The Art of Not Giving In (Part One)
November 01, 2021 | Blog
Part 1: The Entombment of the North Surrey Gigantopithecus
Death, Rebirth, Resurrection:
In January 2018, all the cool kids sat in stunned silence and wept into their berets when, on this very blog I announced – grief and emotion adding palpable shake to my intense, kinetic and showoffy prose style – that I had abandoned my novel The North Surrey Gigantopithecus.
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Rejection: The elephant in the writing room
It can take us weeks, months or years to birth a new piece of writing; work that means the world to us and which we hope one day might mean the world to others too.
We move from idea to realisation, following inspirations and urges along the way until we have what looks like a novel or a story,
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Moving with the Times: the evolution of a literature festival
September 01, 2021 | Blog
The birth of StoryTown, a literature festival whose home is the Wiltshire town of Corsham, was in 2018. For a good while, the town council had wanted to host a festival which played to the many creative strengths of the town, from the home of the prestigious BathSpa University MA courses,
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How to Write Your First Page
August 04, 2021 | Blog
Mslexia magazine has teamed up with top Readers from The Literary Consultancy and Gold Dust to bring you the definitive guide to writing a first page that will hook potential readers and agents alike.
The How to Write Your First Page ebook, due for release on 9 August,
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