Moor Words

I had so much fun recording this episode with Jon and Tom from Failing Writers Podcast 🎙⚡️.

Listen to find out about this year's festive flash fiction competition - with a fabulous £500 prize. Stories need to be up to 350 words long with a festive theme, and writers must include the special phrase (revealed in the episode). I'm delighted to be judging this year's competition, and can't wait to see how writers interpret the theme. In terms of genre, anything goes. The deadline is Friday, 13 December.

Time to sharpen those festive pencils! 🎄✏️

(and while you're at it, do check out the podcast backlist - there are so many brilliant interviews on there).

The Failing Writers Podcast - the world's bestest writing podcast ever... probably The Failing Writers Podcast is a writing podcast for everyone who has ever wanted to write a book... then put the kettle on instead.

Need some writing inspiration? Join Emily Devane online tomorrow night, Tuesday 20 August, from 19.30-21.00 BST, to explore liminality in short fiction. With 90 minutes of tips, ideas and prompts, you'll come away with new story drafts.

Last few places. Tickets and details 👇

Mind the Gap: Writing From Liminal Spaces with Emily Devane Come away with fresh story ideas in this generative flash fiction workshop with Emily Devane

Looking forward to tonight's event at The Grove Bookshop. Award-winning Fly on the Wall Press, our indie publisher of the month, will be at the shop with two authors - Isabelle Kenyon (who also founded and runs FOTWP) and Elliot J Harper.

Fly On the Wall Press is a 'publisher with a conscience', with titles ranging from thrillers (like Isabelle's The Dark Within Them) to speculative fiction (like Elliot's New Gillion Street), shory story collections (like Tracy Fells' The Naming of Moths and Victoria Richards' Sylvia Plath Watches Us Sleep... But We Don't Mind) and poetry.

If you love books, or you're interested in publishing - either your own or other people's - do come along 📚.

Book via the shop website:

https://www.grovebookshop.com/events/

Next month, let's tackle that most difficult of writing challenges: endings 😱.

In 'Landing Those Endings', a 90-minute online workshop on Weds 21 Feb with Emily Devane, we'll consider the narrative expectations our stories set up, and explore how to end on the right note. There's no one size fits all approach - this is about looking at possibilities and seeing what works for you and your story.

Interested to know more? Details and booking via the link 👇

Landing Those Endings: A Short Fiction Workshop with Emily Devane Learn how to bring your stories to a satisfying conclusion in this workshop with Emily Devane.

What an amazing evening of words we had! Thanks to everyone who came to last night's Spoken Word Night, and thanks to Jo and the team at Ilkley Moor Vaults for being such welcoming hosts. A year on from our first event, it was our biggest one yet!

The readings were of an incredibly high standard and so varied - we had everything from running frogs to Thin Lizzy picture prompts and, appropriately for Burns Night, a piece about Scottish identity. Readers shared stories and poems that made us think, made us laugh, and moved us to tears.

Our readers, from top to bottom, left to right, were:

🎙 Me!
📣 Jaz Oldham (our fab photographer)
🎙 Tamar Yellin
📣 Graham Lusby
🎙 Ben Siddall (our fab sound guy)
📣 Tony Lee
🎙 Antony Dunford
📣 Rebecca Green
🎙 Rosalind Fairclough
📣 David Hartley
🎙 Colin Ameigh
📣 Jacquie Bingham
🎙 Brian Rafferty
📣 Sundy Gilchrist
🎙 Isobel Bond
📣 Teresa McDonnell
🎙 Murna Downs
📣 Bernie Hughes
🎙 David Driver

Thanks to my team - Ben (Ben Siddall Music, who did a brilliant job with the sound, and Jaz Oldham who takes wonderful photos of our events.

Watch this space for news of our next spoken word night, in a few months' time (date tba) 📅✏️.

We're having another spoken word night! This one's from 7.00-10.30pm (with readings from 7.30pm) on Thursday, 25 January at Ilkley Moor Vaults.

So, if having a go at writing is one of your New Year's resolutions, why not come along? These events are always fun and relaxed, and a great opportunity to connect with writers from The Grove Bookshop Writing Group and beyond. Readers share everything from short fiction to poetry and from creative non-fiction to novel extracts. Newcomers are welcome, and there's no pressure to perform - we have 5-minute performer slots, or you can take a seat in the audience and relax.

For more details and booking 👇

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/spoken-word-night-tickets-787568347127?aff=oddtdtcreator

Look who's coming to share her writing wisdom with us at next month's The Grove Bookshop Writing Group. Super talented writer, and author of best-selling novel 'Black Cake', Charmaine Wilkerson, will be joining us for our writing meet-up on Monday, 11 December. Follow the link for more details and to book your place (just a couple of places left at the time of writing).

The Grove Bookshop Writing Group A social writing group for writers at The Grove Bookshop, Ilkley. All levels of experience welcome.

We're looking forward to this workshop with the wonderful Sharon Eckman. It's perfect for writers wanting to develop their performance skills. Tickets available via the link 👇

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/from-page-to-stage-with-sharon-eckman-tickets-694813715527?aff=oddtdtcreator

West End singer and actress to unlock secrets of performance at The Grove Bookshop WEST End performer Sharon Eckman will be running a workshop for local writers at The Grove Bookshop in Ilkley on Wednesday, 8 November from 7pm-9pm.