Things don’t get any quieter here at Reading Writers. Guest speakers galore have entertained and inspired us, while our own writing ticks along very nicely, thank you.
Over the past month we’ve had talks from authors Amanda Jennings and Virginia McGregor. Amanda led us through the fine art of characterisation, and how to build a cast that comes to life on the page. Her work, which includes the acclaimed psychological drama In Her Wake, is typified by this focus on well-rounded, vibrant characters. After all, if you don’t care about the people in the story, it’s hard to care about the story itself.
Virginia’s talk focused on what to do when you’ve finished and polished your magnum opus. Her talk on the submission process was filled with good advice and sage counsel. Essential stuff for the nervous novelist who wants his or her book to see more of the world than the inside of a desk drawer.
Meanwhile, we’ve been working hard on a couple of group projects. Both the spring competition and entry round for the Autumn anthology, dealing with the subject “the light and dark side of Reading” have closed. Our editor, Miranda Lloyd now has the task of honing a list of the strongest entries, before the hard work of proofing and editing our stories can go off to her crack team of assistants. Launch date for the book is October 1st, and w.e’ll keep you up to date with progress through the summer. Entries for our spring competition are now in the hands of our judge, author Debrah Martin, and the winner will be announced next month. Everyone’s keeping their everything crossed…
More news from our own Julie Roberts, whose novel The Hidden Legacy launches at the end of the month. Sadly, she didn’t win the Best New Author gong at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards, but she proudly brought in her certificate, and revealed that there was a cash prize too! Sounds like a very definite win to me, Julie…
So, as you can see, Reading Writers is a seething hotbed of literary activity right now. It’s going to be a hot, hot summer…
READING WRITERS 