Welcome

Welcome to the book blog of writer and creative writing tutor, Diane Paul.

Thanks to the publishers and kind PR people who send me books and releases about their clients' books for review. Press releases and review copies of fiction and non-fiction are always welcome. (No sci-fi, fantasy or erotica please.)

Due to the barrage of requests from self-published authors for reviews, I'm unable to deal with them all, although I'm sometimes drawn to non-fiction for the subject matter. And because I love print books, the smell, the touch of the paper and the sight of the words, I don't have an electronic reader or review e-books.

E-mail: diane.paul2@ntlworld.com

My writing website:
www.manchesterpianotutor.co.uk/write-words













Monday, 22 April 2013

Creative Writing Festival for aspiring writers planned for York

If you're an aspiring novelist hoping to get your book published commercially, the best place to be in September will be the University of York.

For three days, from 13 to 15 September, the campus will be brimming with book doctors, top agents, publishing legends, best-selling authors and other hopeful writers. This is all serious stuff and everyone will be doing their best to help you. It's the 2013 Festival of Writing, run by the Writers' Workshop team.

Previous festivals have resulted in publishing contracts and agent sign-ups, so it's worth giving it a go. What do you have to lose? You can have a one-to-one session with an agent or a book doctor if you send a copy of your novel in advance - they'll give you loads of tips and answer any questions you have. They all descend on York each year in the hopes of finding the next big author - that may be you.

You can book on to one of the mini courses or workshops on writing or publishing, led by industry pros, listen to keynote speeches by authors who have made it and listen to panel discussions by the experts. And the friendly atmosphere and positive support you will receive will make it worthwhile. Making contacts is all-important in this business and just chatting and exchanging contact details with other emerging writers will help you to keep in touch with writing buddies - writing is a lonely business and it's good to compare notes with people in the same position who can empathise.

Keynote address will be made by author Adele Parks, whose debut novel 'Playing Away' was published in 2000. She's had 11 novels published since then, all of them Times Top 10 Bestsellers. Her books have sold over two million copies and been translated into 25 languages.

Best-selling author Adele Parks

You can learn more about the Festival on http://vimeo.com/54084473 and http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/events.html

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