Hello! Next Tuesday (23rd), I'll be running a free workshop on "Where Next?! What to Do After Your First Draft". We'll be looking at the next steps to take once you've got a complete draft ... however scrappy it is. 🖥️ Free workshop (45 mins + Q&A / next steps) 📅 Tuesday 23rd June 🕖 7pm UK / 2pm EDT / 11am PDT 🎥 Recording available Weds 24th – Fri 26th 👉 Click here to auto-register for the "Where Next?!" workshop Post Roundup: Rewriting Your First Draft If you've got a complete draft, firstly...
24 days ago • 1 min read
Hello! Quick heads-up: Writers' Cafe closes at the end of tomorrow (or possibly today if we run out of places!) and won't re-open until September. There are still a few places left. Check it out: aliventures.com/writers-cafe Do you struggle to focus when you're working on your novel or short stories? Maybe you're intenting to write for an hour, but you find yourself "warming up" by scrolling social media or news, then you manage a few sentences before getting distracted again. This is really...
28 days ago • 3 min read
Hello! In case you missed it ... Writers' Cafe is open for new members! I'll be closing the doors again at the end of next Wednesday (17th). If you'd like to make consistent progress with a novel (or any big fiction project), the Cafe is is the perfect place to be. 👉 Find out more about Writers' Cafe And here's this week's post: Why Accountability is the Key to Reaching Your Writing Goals (and How to Find It) Why Accountability is the Key to Reaching Your Writing Goals (and How to Find It) In...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello! We're 23 weeks into 2026 ... how's it gone, in terms of your writing? It's easy to get to this stage of the year and feel a bit disappointed. Perhaps you had some big plans back in January, and it went smoothly at first, but then everything got busy, and now you're way behind where you wanted to be. Or maybe your year started hectic, so you waited until you could focus on your writing, but that never happened ... and you still haven't written a single word. Don't give up on 2026 just...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello! In case you missed it ... I'm running a free workshop next Monday, at 7pm UK / 2pm EDT / 11am PDT. (There'll be a recording, too.) Click below to auto-register and you'll get all the details straight away: 👉 Register for Seven Steps to Shape a Strong Story Idea And here's this week's post, which ties in with the workshop topic: Idea to Novel: How Can You Start Developing a Strong Novel Idea? Idea to Novel: How Can You Start Developing a Strong Novel Idea? You’ve got a novel idea … but...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello! Big thanks if you voted in the poll for our free June workshop. I'm running the most popular option, Seven Steps to Shape a Strong Story Idea, next Monday (8th) at 7pm UK / 2pm EDT. Click this magic link to auto-register: 👉 Register for Seven Steps to Shape a Strong Story Idea Here are all the details: 🖥️ Free workshop: 45 mins + next steps / Q&A 📅 Monday 8th June 🕖 7pm UK / 2pm EDT / 11am PDT 🎬 Recording available to watch from Tues 9th until Fri 12th This is a hands-on workshop...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hello! I've just been running a Writers' Cafe workshop on Showing vs Telling. Writers are often told "show, don't tell" ... but in reality, there are always going to be moments in a novel where it makes good sense to tell us something. The situation where I think telling definitely is best avoided is when you've already shown something perfectly well! Here's the example I used in the workshop, from You Broke Me First by Lorraine Brown. The narrator, Ava, has explained to her mum that she's...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hello! Quick reminder: I'm running a (free!) workshop this Sunday at 7pm UK / 2pm EDT: Where Next?! What to Do With Your Finished First Draft. More info at the end of this email, or click this magic link to register. Here's this week's post for you: Developmental Editing, Copy Editing and Proofreading: What’s the Difference? Developmental Editing, Copy Editing and Proofreading: What’s the Difference? You’ve been working hard on your novel and you’ve got a good second (or even third) draft …...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hello! If you've got a scene that feels like it's not quite working, it's worth asking yourself what actually happens in that scene. It's very easy to have scenes that are mainly internal reaction: characters deliberating on their best course of action, or remembering things from the past. While it's great to have access to the character's mind (indeed, it's one of the things the novel form does best) ... this can also make for scenes where there's nothing physically happening. Imagine...
2 months ago • 3 min read