Retreat West

Here are the latest Retreat West newsletters for my followers to peruse:

Hello Hope you've had a lovely festive season so far. I just wanted to say Happy New Year and thanks for being a part of the Retreat West writing community during 2017. As a thank you, until January 15th you can get a 20% discount on writing stuff at Retreat West. Just email me to book a retreat, course or critique and I'll apply the discount then. The deadline for the final flash comp for 2017 is almost here and you have until 23.59 tonight (31st December) to send a white-themed story. The winner will get £100 and two runners-up get £50 each and all stories get published on the website. Enter here. There's just a month now until the 2018 First Chapter Competition closes, with the entire shortlist getting short feedback on their novel openings from literary agent, Diana Beaumont, and the winner getting detailed feedback on their first 3 chapters, synopsis and covering letter. You can read the interview with her here about what impresses her when submissions land on her desk. I'm busy reading all the submissions for Retreat West Books and hope to have an announcement soon of the first author to be signed. Also coming in January are the shortlists for the annual Short Story and Flash Fiction Prizes and I'm also hoping to let everyone know by the end of January whose stories will be included in the charity cli-fi anthology. So I'm off to do more reading, and a bit of writing when I can squeeze some in! Have a great new year however you choose to celebrate and hope to read some of your words in 2018. Happy writing, Amanda x PS. If you're an ebook reader then my debut novel, As If I Were A River, is just 99p on Amazon for the next week. It was a NetGalley Top 10 Book of the Month and one of The Book Magnet Blog's Top 20 Books of 2016. You can get a copy here. The 8 Month Novel Course Get help all the way The 8 Month Novel course is open for bookings. There are just 6 spaces available to start in 2018. You get online course content, 1-1 mentoring, help, advice and motivation all the way through to get you from idea to short first draft in just 8 months. You also get a full novel review at the end to go away and start the second draft with. ONLY 3 PLACES LEFT FOR 2018.   More Info The Creating Complex Characters Retreat 12-16 March 2018, Devon This 4-night retreat will feature 3 x 3-hour workshops focusing on creating the kinds of characters that make novels stand out from the crowd, plus an hour's 1-1 looking at a piece of work submitted in advance. There's also free time to write and enjoy the lovely Devon countryside. 3 ROOMS SOLD 3 ROOMS AVAILABLE   More Info

Copyright © 2017 Retreat West, All rights reserved.      Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apt 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Devon TR4 8UN United Kingdom Add us to your address book

Hello I'm really excited to announce that Retreat West Books is now open for submissions. I created this imprint a few months ago to publish the anthology of winning and shortlisted stories from last year's short story and flash fiction prizes. When the rights for my novel, As If I Were A River, were returned to me recently I decided to reissue that through Retreat West Books too and the idea of publishing more stories took hold. I've written a blog about the kinds of stories I love so people have an idea of the kinds of things I'd hope to see submitted. Now that I have launched the new venture, I'm sad to say that 2018 will be the final year that I run the writing retreats. My focus after the final three will be on the online writing courses, competitions and of course publishing books, as well as writing my own. This means that the free mentoring programme is going to change for 2018 too and info on that coming soon. The next retreat is in March 2018, where we'll be looking at creating complex characters that make books stand out from the crowd. Following that is the Screenwriting Retreat in June and the final retreat ever, the Flash Fiction Retreat, will be in November 2018. This is one specifically focused on creating work to be published by Retreat West Books but I'm hoping I might meet a character or two at the March retreat that will be possible contenders too.  Hope you can join us at one of them. Huge thanks go out to everyone that sent in a climate-fiction story for the charity anthology. I'm aiming to let everyone know in January and this anthology will be the first title published by Retreat West Books in 2018. Next week the longlist for the 2017 Short Story and Flash Fiction prizes will be announced, with the shortlist coming in January and the judge's decision in February. Details of the 2018 prizes will be live in March and the anthology of winners will be published in September 2018. Happy writing, Amanda x The 8 Month Novel Course Get help all the way The 8 Month Novel course is now open for bookings for next year. There are just 6 spaces available to start in 2018. You get online course content, 1-1 mentoring, help, advice and motivation all the way through to get you from idea to short first draft in just 8 months. You also get a full novel review at the end to go away and start the second draft with. ONLY 4 PLACES LEFT NOW.   More Info The Screenwriting Retreat 18-22 June 2018, Devon This 4-night retreat will feature 3 x 3-hour screenwriting workshops with C M Taylor. Learn how to write for the big and small screens both with original ideas and adapting novels and short stories. You get your own room, all food and drink, and plenty of time to write, read, walk and relax as well as learn. 3 ROOMS SOLD 3 ROOMS AVAILABLE   More Info Copyright © 2017 Retreat West, All rights reserved.             Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apt 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Devon TR4 8UN United Kingdom Add us to your address book

Hello , Today is the paperback launch day for the fantastic charity anthology, Stories for Homes 2, which is raising money for the homeless charity, Shelter. I chatted to editor, Debi Alper, about putting this latest project together and you can read what she had to say about it here. Please buy a copy and help spread the word of the anthology to raise as much money as possible to help Shelter carry on their important work. I've just been at the Plotting Retreat all weekend where the writers who came along spent 3 days getting to grips with their stories and finding out what the plot is that drives the narrative forward. It's been a really great event with lots of ah-ha moments and that's it now for 2017. The next retreat isn't until March 2018, where we'll be looking at creating complex characters. Hope you can join us. Huge congratulations go to Laura Laakso who has landed a publishing deal from Louise Walters Books. I chatted to them both about how the First Chapter Competition brought them together. Read the blog to find out more. There's still a couple of months to enter the next one where the winner gets a review of their sub package from literary agent, Diana Beaumont, and the entire shortlist gets short feedback on their novel opening. Get the comp info here. If you've got a climate-fiction story to send for the charity anthology then you have until 30th November to send them in. All the info is here. Let us know if you've got a new book coming out that you'd like to feature on the blog. We're always happy to host guest blogs and Sophie's always looking for authors to interview as well. Happy writing, Amanda x The 8 Month Novel Course Get help all the way The 8 Month Novel course is now open for bookings for next year. There are just 6 spaces available to start in 2018. You get online course content, 1-1 mentoring, help, advice and motivation all the way through to get you from idea to short first draft in just 8 months. You also get a full novel review at the end to go away and start the second draft with. ONLY 5 PLACES LEFT NOW.   More Info The Screenwriting Retreat 18-22 June 2018, Devon This 4-night retreat will feature 3 x 3-hour screenwriting workshops with C M Taylor. Learn how to write for the big and small screens both with original ideas and adapting novels and short stories. You get your own room, all food and drink, and plenty of time to write, read, walk and relax as well as learn. 3 ROOMS SOLD 3 ROOMS AVAILABLE   More Info

Copyright © 2017 Retreat West, All rights reserved.          Our mailing address is: Retreat West Apt 3735 Chynoweth House Trevissome Park Truro, Devon TR4 8UN United Kingdom