Penguin Random House #WriteNowLive event in Nottingham 2018

The third anniversary of my stroke is probably a good time to celebrate the fact that I might be getting closer to being published :)

This is a snapshot of the third and final Penguin WriteNow event for under-represented writers 2018. And I was one of the 150 writers/illustrators, shortlisted from 1780, to attend WriteNow events in London, Liverpool and up here in Nottingham.


This pictorial snifter gives a flavour of WriteNow's brilliance. We learnt about publishing and contracts; heard from authors and agents; received in depth guidance on querying and synopses. We all had a twenty-minute one-to-one with a Penguin editor - with the chance of being shortlisted, further, as a Penguin mentee.


(I didn't jump this last fence, btw, but received excellent feedback, made invaluable contacts, and was amongst the top 10% of WriteNow Talent, as calculated by my husband :) 

#WriteNowLive

Okay, I have no picture of Roo Hocking but she's one of last year's WriteNow mentees. She told us about her year-long experience and showered us with inspiration.

"What you're making is good"

"There is something quite magical about being taken seriously"

"Today is for you and you deserve it"

And, actually, we were constantly being reminded that simply being here was a huge achievement in itself - proven by the quality of our writing/artwork. 


We were assured that this WriteNow accolade was a reputable badge that would be taken seriously by the publishing community. 


And, in fact, I spoke to someone who'd been getting full manuscript requests since she'd added WriteNow 2018 to her writing CV :)


So we'll see what happens next...

I jotted down some nutshell writing tips from author Rowan Coleman...

"Main thing is to write the best book you can"

"Ensure you're paid for what you do. Remember your work is valuable"

Rowan told us that her process of writing was, "mostly based on panic and despair" :)

"I write because I'm not qualified to do anything else. Believe in the importance of telling stories" 

This is the wonderful Molly Crawford - Penguin Random House editor, with whom I had my massively positive one-to-one :) 

Illustrator Dapo Adeola entertainingly spoke about his (familiar-sounding) approach to work:

"A long stressful process of trial and error"

I learnt stuff  while I was there too. But, here's another amusing snippet instead... 

The warm and hilarious Journalist Tom Rasmussen said:

"Sometimes I write naked in bed. If someone is in the house I write in cafes"

"I write because I could never afford therapy"

Picture book author Abie Longstaff had loads of advice, like:

"Don't get it right, get it written" 

(This was about getting bogged down with editing your first draft, if I remember rightly.)

Abie said, on writing, "A story that itches, I have to write or I start dreaming about it"

I really related to what writer Mahsuda Snaith said:

"I couldn't not write. I need to write, it's how I express myself"

The promise of goody bags stacked up in the foyer :)

Tasty lunch :) 

Laura Mahadevan (one of my table-mates) was chuffed to inadvertently end up with two cups of tea :)

And a sneaky Selfie in the pub afterwards, ensuring that the Penguin bag is IN ;)

Doggy bags were stuffed with BOOKS, would you believe?

On a final and more serious note, I've learned that there are deeper holes in publishing, where writers/artists from under-represented communities should be, than first I thought. And this has been the case for far too long.

I heard from Lgbtq+ groups who grew up not finding relatable material to read.

I learnt that these communities are under-represented, not just as published writers, but as employees within publishing too, which explains why less Lgbtq+ books are taken on in the first place.

So it's a snarly vicious circle. 

But I've learned it's slowly getting better.

And publishers like Penguin - with their #WriteNowLive scheme - are one of the best examples, striving to redress this imbalance.

(They didn't tell me to say that, btw, I read it in an article beforehand, lol)

But thank you, WriteNow.

MY Writing page

Disclaimer: lots of talented people said lots of clever things at this event. What I scribbled down in notes were mostly funny bits - I'm drawn to humour like a bat to a cave. So please know that this is an incomplete and undoubtedly unbalanced sketch, for entertainment purposes first and foremost.