I had a wonderful time at the festival and as usual learned a lot from talking to other friendly writers -pitching to editors -and all the winners well deserved their success.

Attending the awards and meeting up with like minded people who didn't think writing was a little hobby but knew it was hard work and persistence which paid off in the end was a great experience.

At 77 there is no way I can write chick lit but romance is always interesting at any age -see Hilary Boyd who wrote… Continue

Mslexia is a quarterly magazine for women writers which publishes new fiction and poetry by women writers in every magazine. Our New Writing section encourages submissions on a particular theme, and our upcoming theme, with a deadline of 17 September, is 'The Affair' – send us your poems and stories on the bliss, buffetting or sheer banality of a love affair.

We accept up to two stories of up to 2,200 words and four poems of up to 40 lines from each contributor, all of which…

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Hi all!

I'm currently planning some new content for my female fiction website, Trashionista, and wondered if any of you lovely ladies here fancied taking part in some features?

Over the coming months I'll be looking for authors to submit writing-relateing tips, stories about their own experiences in writing and publishing and quite possibly some 'yay or nay' features/debates.

If anyone is interested in taking part, please let me know! Just thought I'd give…

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Women's fiction and chick lit website Novelicious has teamed up with two leading publishers and a literary agent to launch today a brand new writing competition,…

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Aspiring romantic novelists can spend Valentine's Day afternoon with bestselling author Kate Walker who is running a fiction writing workshop covering techniques including dialogue, characters, tension, pacing and settings. While the focus is on romance novels, the workshop can also be enjoyed by anyone just wanting to come along and have fun, even those with no writing…

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Hello and a belated Happy New Year to all (or Bonne Année as we say in France, where I come from!). Have you already broken all, or some, of your New Year's resolutions regarding your writing? Did you have any in the first place?  I have blogged about mine on marielaval@blogspot.com.

I've been a long time away from here, but Im back and wanted to wish everyone the happiest of new years, filled with health, happiness, and prosperity. 2011 was a blur to me as the whirlwind of publishing swept me away. Finding my way through the promotion maze and needing time management tools certainly kept me on my toes.

Some people marvel at my schedule, but I'd barreled into it full-throttle, and truly can't see the forest for the trees. It might be better that I don't! LOL I…

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Hello,

I've just written this blog post about why I write.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

http://www.neetswriter.com/2011/12/why-do-i-write.html

Regards,

Anita

Hello,

I've just written a blog post about using photographs to bring scenes to life when writing a novel.

Most of my novel is set in Siena, Italy where I lived in 1994. I've included a few photos from Siena explaining how I've used them to set scenes.

http://www.neetswriter.com/2011/12/bringing-scenes-to-life-with.html

Regards,

Anita

I blogged recently about how I never seem to finish anything because I get stuck at the middle - check it out here:

http://wp.me/s1WnQJ-fail

Hello,

 

With Christmas approaching I've written a blog post about Christmas scenes in novels.

I'd be interested to read your comments.

 

http://www.neetswriter.com/2011/12/christmas-scenes.html

 

Regards,

Anita

Hope that it's OK for me to post this, here, but it's a great comp, just right for writers of romantic fiction. And who can resist the lure of money and chocolate?

 

 

Choc Lit are looking for short stories of up to 1,500 words in which the central theme is chocolate – eating it, drinking it, cooking with it, or anything else. Let your imagination take…

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I'm blogging this week at The Pocketeers - a new blog written by authors of pocket novels. The subject matter is "write what you know". How far do writers write what they know?…

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I'm a member of the Blog 'Do Authors Dream Of Electric Books' and have today blogged about the Festival.

http://authorselectric.blogspot.com/

If you get a moment, please pop over and leave a comment, there are lots of photos, especially of the grounds around Hunton Park, which are really beautiful, even at this time of year when the plants are past their best. There is a wide diversity of trees though, and a…

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Hello all,

I’m Tors (it's short for Victoria), I wanted to introduce myself. 

I’m an aspiring author, and I’m currently working on my first romantic ms.  I’ve previously written sci-fi, always with a twist of romance, and the transition is challenging. 

My current piece is a classic case of write what you know, as it’s about a forces relationship and the trials and tribulations which come with it.   It’s not autobiographical in anyway shape or form.

I’m looking…

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Well, I knew it would happen.  I'm totally at a loss as to (a) reduce the size of photos so they fit, and (b) add comments to no matter what.  No doubt the answer is staring me in the face, but just for the moment it's escaping me.  Anyway, I hope you'll all forgive me for messing up.  I'll get the hang of things eventually - she says with a cringe!   I'm devoting today to some proper writing and am determined to achieve a few thousand words on my latest ongoing novel.  My writing habits have… Continue

Yesterday evening I participated in a special evening at local writers group Leighton Buzzard Writers which was all about writing romantic fiction. The evening attracted a good turnout of writers and among them many men. "Do men write romantic fiction?" one asked.

"Yes," replied co-host Vanessa Byham. "But I can only think of one."

I could think of another one, which made two in our total…

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