This is not an article on how to write for the health market (if that’s what you’re looking for, read A Health Writer Coughs Up) but rather an insight into how writing can be good for your health. While professional or semi-professional writers who have just had a string of rejections, worked past midnight to meet a deadline and whose bank accounts are on life support may shudder at the thought, let’s not forget that many people write for the sheer pleasure of it. And that’s something we should all try to reclaim. Continue reading ‘Writing for health’
Archive for the 'Courses' Category
Have you ever been on a writing holiday, or thought of going on one? Variously referred to as writing holidays, writing breaks, writing getaways, or even writing safaris, they all have a common theme: an opportunity to work on your writing while someone else worries about the boring stuff like cooking and cleaning.
This Autumn I’ve got a variety of courses and workshops lined up. I’ll be:
- running a 5-week course on travel writing plus be giving talks on non-fiction writing style at the North East Centre for Lifelong Learning. This is part of the centre’s Explore Membership scheme. You pay an annual membership fee and can enjoy as many courses, workshops and one-off lectures as you like on a variety of subjects from family history to glass sculpture! Other writing courses include children’s writing and general creative writing. Contact the centre through the website to enrol.
- running a 10-week introduction to creative writing course at Crisis Skylight Trust. This is a charity geared towards helping people in crisis. The course will start in early October, date and time to be confirmed. Enroment through Skylight.
- hosting a monthly meeting for Christian writers at Heaton Baptist Church. The next Write Life meeting is this Friday, 7.30 – 9. All are welcome and attendance is free.
- lecturing a module in dramatic writing at Northumbria University.
- lecturing a series of modules on writing for the media at Newcastle University.
In addition I’m proud to announce the first meeting of the Northern Non-Fiction Writers group. It has been started by a group of writers who attended my non-fiction writing course at the Centre for Lifelong Learning. Their first meeting is this evening and all are welcome. Check out their website for further details.
For those of you not in the Newcastle area, feel free to work through the online courses on creative writing and non-fiction writing.
Students from my ever-popular non-fiction writing course in Newcastle have asked for a follow-up course. The result is Write To Sell, hosted by the Centre for Lifelong Learning. The course starts on Thursday 21 May at 10am. Places are filling up fast, so to secure your place book through CLL asap. Details are here
The course is suitable for anyone who has completed the first level course or who has had some non-fiction published already. If you have done neither, then why not check out my free non-fiction course here on The Crafty Writer.
As a spin-off from the writing for the internet session in my ever popular non-fiction writing course, Rod Smith, my technical advisor, is running a 10-week course on helping people get started in blogging. And for those of you who have already tried their hand at this most modern form of writing, he will help you develop and ‘monetize’ your blog. It’s based at the Centre for Lifelong Learning in Newcastle upon Tyne. For more information visit Rod’s own blog
For those of you who can’t make it, why not check out Rod’s guest posts right here on The Crafty Writer – Beginner Blogging for Writers 1, 2 & 3
Oh, he told me to tell you, he taught me everything I know. Mmm, well, not everything, Rod.
There has been such an overwhelming response to The Crafty Writer Creative Writing Workshops that are going to take place in Stellenbosch on Saturday 13 September, that we’ve decided to add another date and venue. The following Saturday 20 September will see The Crafty Writer road show move to Hout Bay for a repeat of the Stellenbosch workshops.
Venue: 6 Vineyard Way, Berg-en-Dal, Hout Bay.
Time: 10am
As some of the people who have signed up for Stellenbosch would prefer to move over to Hout Bay, there are now some places still available for the 13th, so please contact us for registration and payment details.
There are only five more places left on the Cape Town workshops, so if you want to ensure a place, book today! Remember, your place is only confirmed after you pay. I will be away on holiday from 30 August – 6 September, so if you have any queries during that time email gill at mseed dot co dot za. She will be able to give you directions to the fabulous venue in Stellenbosch and bank details to pay your workshop fees.
I’m looking forward to seeing you there!
In my job as a new writing editor for a commercial magazine I frequently get submissions from people whose basic written English is not of a publishable standard. The same can be said for some students on my creative and non-fiction writing courses. Some of these writers have English as a second language and others as a first. I try to tell them, as kindly as possible, that they are putting the cart before the horse: if they would like to write something that may one day be published they need to get the basics right first. Otherwise, it’s like a fashion designer whose shoddy sewing cheapens what could have been a sensational outfit. Continue reading ‘Do you write ‘publishable’ English?’
I’m going to be in Cape Town in September and will be speaking at a creative writing and publishing workshop, in collaboration with award-winning author Gillian D’Achada. I’ve just finished editing her novel Sharkey’s Son, which has won the prestigious Sanlam Award, and I’ll be over in South Africa for the book’s launch.
So if you’re going to be in Cape Town in September, why not come along to one or both of the sessions:
Session 1
Releasing your creativity:
Getting those ideas from the brain to the page. A two-hour workshop where you can explore what’s already in you and how best to get it out.
Plus – a bonus half hour on the South African and UK publishing markets.
Session 2
Bringing your writing to life:
How to use all your senses, ‘show not tell’ and banish passive writing for ever. A two-hour workshop that will give you the tools to develop your writing into something worth publishing.
Plus – a bonus half hour with Gillian D’Achada on one author’s journey towards publication.
Venue: Stellenbosch Library
Date: Saturday 13 September 2008
Time: 10am–12.30 and 2–4.30pm
Venue: Hout Bay Library
Date: Saturday 20 September 2008
Time: 10am–12.30 and 2–4.30pm
Cost: R500 for both sessions, R350 for one session. Light refreshments will be provided for each session, but lunch is not included. There are lots of eateries nearby, or bring your own!
To book: Telephone Gill on 0833610167 in SA, or contact me via email.
Your hosts
The workshops will by run by me (Fiona) and Gill, and you will have an opportunity to meet Gill and ask her questions about her book and her experience of the publishing industry.
I’ve just had a short story published 18 months after submitting to Aquila children’s magazine. It’s the first of a two-parter. I submitted it as a three-parter (as per their contributors’ guidelines) but then the editor asked me to cut it by 1000 words and make it a two-parter. Yes ma’am! I said. What does this tell you about magazines? Continue reading ‘Magazine ‘lead times’’
Welcome to The Crafty Writer, published by Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, editor, author, playwright, screenwriter and writing teacher. This site is full of information and resources to help you to become a better writer. 
