ANNOUNCING WRITE TOGETHER – A NEW ONILNE SUPPORT SPACE FOR WRITERS LAUNCHING 2 JUNE 25

Hello fellow writers,

Struggling to fit writing into your schedule? I’m excited to finally launch Write Together – my long-promised support sessions for writers.

Why Write Together?
Almost every writer I speak to struggles to find time or motivation to write. Common issues include:
• not knowing where to start
• overwhelm or lack of confidence
• the need for routine and accountability
• difficulty focusing
• demanding daily lives

What Is Write Together?
A weekly, hour-long session every Monday, designed to help you sit down and write.
Each session includes:

1. A settling exercise – a transition from ‘doing’ to ‘writing’ mode

2. 30 minutes of focused, self-guided writing (option to extend to 45 minutes)

3. A guided review and goal-setting process to reflect, track progress, and develop good writing habits

Optional monthly masterclasses to address writing skills and mindset, shaped by participant needs.

The Magic Key
After 15+ years working with hundreds of writers, I’ve learned that transitioning the brain from everyday activity into creative focus is crucial. That’s where the ‘airlock’ – our opening exercise – makes a big difference.

Who Is It For?
Any writer who finds it hard to carve out writing time – whether you’re working on a newsletter or website, feature, substack or blog, poem, novel, memoir, or nonfiction.

What Can One Hour Per Week Do?
• 1 hr/week x 6 months = 24 hrs (3 working days)
• 1 hr/week x 12 months = 48 hrs (6 working days)
• Add 3 more solo hours a week = 208 hrs/year (over 5 work weeks!)

Details
Sessions start Monday 2 June, with 3 time slots (NB all times are BST):

1. 07:00–08:00

2. 10:30–11:30

3. 20:00–21:00

To join: email me with COUNT ME IN! with your preferred time slot. I’ll add you to the Friday email list. Click the Monday session link at your chosen time – camera optional!

Pay What You Want: Suggested rates: £5.00, £7.50, or £10. Easy via PayPal link in the invite.

Questions? Just ask.

– Liz (Writer Revealed)

Writer Revealed now available on Bluesky

Hello and welcome to Writer Revealed.
If you are new to what I do, I’m about peeling back the layers of the onion (my logo, see?!) that are built up around your relationship with your writing.
It’s not about getting rid of those layers – those layers are what help to make us all unique – it’s more about getting to know them, finding out how they support or hold back your writing, getting inspiration from them...
I’ve started posting regularly on Bluesky – so if you want to explore the Writer Revealed approach, these prompts are a good place to start. It is a gentle process. Revelations may arrive slowly, like the slow changing of a habit, or all at once, in a flash of inspiration. Along the way, you may like to remember the mantra – be kind to yourself.
Let me know how you get on with the Bluesky prompts in the comments or message me – part of the joy of writing for me is building a writing community.
I wish you happy writing!
Elizabeth

Writer Revealed is back!

Hello and welcome back. Over the next few weeks I will be working on new materials for workshops and workbooks. I will be putting these up on the website and promoting them on social media so you don’t miss them.

I’ve been away for a while due to illness, which has meant very little public work. On the plus side, it has given me time to focus on my own writing and I am really pleased with progress on that. How are you getting on with your writing? If you have any writing queries, let me know in the comments or via email (info@writerrevealed.co.uk) and I will try to help.

In the meantime, I wish you all the best in your writing. Here’s to a happy, creative 2024.

Writer's Walks – Inspiration on the Suffolk Coast

This year I return to three favourite places on the Suffolk coast for a brand new set of writer’s walks – three locations that have provided inspiration for my own writing. The Suffolk Coast is a place of constant change – it can be edgy and unsettling, as well as beautiful – perfect material for gripping writing of all kinds.

With one Saturday workshop a month in June, July and August, we will be visiting three very different places, with their own tales, histories, and landscapes to explore.

Workshop 1. Arrivals and Departures – Felixstowe’s Wild Edge

The first Writer’s Walk, on Saturday June 11th 2022, is at Landguard Peninsula in Felixstowe, in the south of Suffolk – a place that is not as well-known as it should be. Jutting out into the sea, under famously wide Suffolk skies, this shingle peninsula has a well-preserved Napoleonic Fort and rusting WWII defences. Nearby is a modern port that hosts the world’s biggest container ships, while in the past famous ships sailed out from Harwich, just across the water. The peninsula is also a nature reserve, with rare plants and migrating birds. It is windswept, wild and very beautiful.

The aim of this workshop is to find inspiration in contrasting landscapes, as well as to begin to explore the benefits of mindful writing.

Workshop 2. Mermen, Bombs and Smugglers’ Trails – Strange Tales of Orford Town

My second destination, on July 2 2022, is another of my Suffolk haunts, Orford Town and River. This workshop is set along the Ore estuary, and in the well-preserved village of Orford. We will uncover its once important past, as well as legends and tales associated with this secretive part of Suffolk. We will also look at the natural landscape of tides, mud and saltings – the Suffolk word for salt marsh.

The aim of this workshop is to use the tales, legends and tidal landscape as tools for creating a strong sense of place in your writing – wherever you are setting your work.

Workshop 3. The Sea Spell – The Lost City of Dunwich

Workshop 3 is on 6th August 2022, at Dunwich Beach. Dunwich is another of Suffolk’s so-called lost towns. This once bustling medieval port is now reduced to a few houses – its harbour slowly silted up, and then much of the town was destroyed by a tidal surge. Here are evocative ruins, tales of underwater bells, the sweeping shingle beach and crumbling cliffs.

The aim of this workshop is to use landscape to create atmosphere in your writing. Like the previous two workshops in Felixstowe and Orford, you will come away with tools that you can apply to your own landscapes, as well as a workbook to develop your ideas.

Click here to find out more details and to book. Places are strictly limited.

I really look forward to seeing you out in the landscape for these writer’s walks. I hope they inspire you to explore writing through landscape, and landscape through your writing! I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Email Liz at info@writerrevealed.co.uk.

Overcoming Hurdles

How Spending Time With Blocks Will Move Your Writing Forward
Is something stopping you from starting, or finishing, a writing project? Do you find ‘stuff’ gets in the way? Does writing feel like an uphill struggle? Then you’re not alone – I suspect you may be in the majority. This is a whistle stop tour of a process of discovery that is worth spending time on. I hope you can use it to find a way to start unpicking what is holding you and your writing back.

Awareness is the First Step
If you’re like me, then you’ll spend decades being aware of “not doing”, but not why you’re “not doing”. In my case it took a crisis to push me into writing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Taking a look at what’s holding you back will be worth every minute you invest in it.

So, What is Holding you Back?
Start with a list, divided into sub-headings. Here are a few that work for me: personal, psychological, historical, social ­– but you’ll come up with your own, and you’ll probably find they change over time.

The Power of the List
Under personal you might put: family and work commitments; grammar and spelling; lack of writing experience; health. The psychological focuses on personality. Examples: lack confidence; sensitive to criticism; not good with focussing on myself, and so on. My historical category might include something said or experienced in my past, particularly as a child, that has kept me from writing (though I have a note on this later).

Widening the Circle
My next category is social. I’d put expectations in here, covering family, friends, and your wider community; social/cultural barriers: for example, do you come from a group that is traditionally less ‘heard’? These barriers can be powerful hindrances; limiting beliefs about writing and writers; and so on.

Acknowledging the Problem
It’s hard to be creative when you have family commitments, or work or financial issues to deal with. It may be that you want to write about upsetting or emotionally challenging topics, but are worried about doing that. It may be that you simply don’t know where to start. It will help to take an objective look at the issues.

Divide and Rule
Next, divide your lists into things that are in your control and those currently outside your control (I like to use different coloured markers for this!). Then, choose one thing (and only one) that you think you might be able to find a way around. Try your idea out. Get some help or advice. Maybe even write about it. Experiment. When you are ready, work on another.

Be Kind
Don’t push it. If you’re busy, set aside five minutes a day to jot down ideas. If you don’t want to explore difficult topics, write about something else, or fictionalise. You don’t have to attack something head on – all writing can be therapeutic (more on this in a future blog).

Look Inside
This exercise will help, but it’s equally important to list what motivates you to write – push the boat out, be honest, be bold. Then use your motivations list. It’s there to help you take those steps into writing you’ve always wanted to.

 
Liz Ferretti is a writing mentor, and award-winning fiction, features, and educational writer. Part way through an MSc in the Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health, Liz is interested in the links between creative writing and mental wellbeing. She posts regular writing tips on her Writer Revealed Instagram and Facebook. Find out more at: www.writerrevealed.co.uk

For more information on mentoring and support for your writing, email Liz at info@writerrevealed.co.uk

 This blog was originally published on the Writers’s Company website. The Writer's Company Blog

NEW FOR SPRING 2022 – THE WRITING SESSIONS ARE BACK!

If you are anything like almost every writer I meet, then you never seem to have enough time to write. If this is you, then read on…!

There are so many demands on our time that writing often gets squeezed out – but if you love writing, then that’s not what you want. I’ve developed The Writing Sessions specifically to help answer that problem. Each course includes inspiring writing exercises; focussed writing time; free workbooks; AND professional feedback on your writing – all designed to give your writing a real boost.

Each session (find out more here) kicks off with writing exercises to fire your ideas and get your creativity flowing. These are followed by shared writing time – this is where the magic happens – and we end with a short round-up exercises to deepen your writing practice.

The Writing Sessions help maintain focus, and support your writing throughout your week – each session is complemented with a workbook, and after weeks 1 and 4 you will get professional feedback on a submission up to 1000 words each.

If you are interested and want to find out more, drop me, Liz, an email: info@writerreaveled.co.uk. I will be happy to chat to you over phone/zoom before we begin so I can hear all about your project and any specific issues you want to discuss.

I really look forward to working with you – numbers are strictly limited to ensure everyone gets the support they need. Book here.

The nights are drawing in but don't let that slow your writing down!

It’s never easy to keep the momentum going on a writing project, that’s why I’ve come up with an experimental new format. Winter Warmer Mondays starts online 19.00-20.15 08 November for 4 weeks.

Winter Warmer Mondays is a mixture of
• inspiring writing exercises to get your creative energy flowing
• shared writing time – a powerful way to make progress on your writing
• a short writer’s surgery – a combination of activities and discussion to offer solutions to your writing queries. Just send me your questions in advance!

This course is designed to help you keep up the momentum whether you are starting a new project, are part way through, or are taking the NaNoWriMo challenge. I’m super excited to be back to online teaching after a very busy period of my own writing. It’s always a privilege to support writers.

I’ve priced this course very competitively as it’s an experimental format. Places are limited, so book now. If you have any queries at all, please email me at info@writerrevealed.co.uk.

The 4-week course starts on Monday 08 November at 19.00-20.15 (UK time).
To book, click here.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Liz Ferretti

Find Your Voice – Summer Writing Course

Make the most of the summer with this six-week, online and self-study writing course!

The course is designed to help you:
• explore your writer’s voice
• boost your natural creativity
• feel inspired to try out new approaches

For pricing and to book click here.

What will I get from this course?
You’ll come out the course with renewed confidence, feeling you can achieve your writing goals, and with plenty of practical tools and tricks of the trade to help you keep on track – how do I know? Because that’s what previous students have said!

You’ll be in a small class of like-minded people, with an approachable and supportive guide – Liz Ferretti – a multi-disciplinary and award-winning writer with over twenty years writing and teaching experience, and the founder of the Writer Revealed approach.

Why Writer Revealed?
Previous students have described my courses as “inspiring”, “a breath of fresh air” and “liberating”. The course is based on my experience as a writer, with its struggles, challenges and satisfactions, and on my work with hundreds of writers across the UK and internationally. It’s designed for all writers, whether you have been writing a while, or are starting out. I’ll be on hand throughout the course to answer queries.

When is the course?
The course runs over 6 Monday evenings from 5 July, 19.00-20.30 BST (UTC+1), via Google Meet – you don’t need any special software. Your welcome email will give you instructions on how to join.

Each one and a half hour session includes:
• insightful thinking and writing tasks
• guidance on starting and developing projects
• full programme of booster tasks for home practice
• free workbook to accompany each workshop

Book here.

If you have to miss a live class, don’t worry. You will be sent a full workbook and I will be happy for you to email me with queries. The material will be the same thoughtful session, and you can work through it in your own time.

Sessions take place on:

1. Monday 5 July 19.00–20.30 BST (UTC +1)
2. Monday 12 July 19.00–20.30 BST (UTC +1)
3. Monday 19 July 19.00–20.30 BST (UTC +1)
4. Monday 26 July 19.00–20.30 BST (UTC +1)
5. Monday 2 August 19.00–20.30 BST (UTC +1)
6. Monday 9 August 19.00–20.30 BST (UTC +1)

If you have any queries email me, Liz Ferretti at info@writerrevealed.co.uk. I’ll be happy to help.
Click here to book.

The Barbellion Prize

NEW WRITING PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT
I am proud to be a trustee of The Barbellion Prize – a writing prize launched earlier this year, and dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing.

I am passionate about creating space for voices we don’t hear enough. This prize both encourages and rewards writers who explore their experience of chronic illness and disability – their words increase understanding, which can only ever be a good thing.

The founder of this prize, Jake Goldsmith, has written a memoir of his experiences of living with illness – Neither Weak Nor Obtuse: A memoir on the phenomenology of illness, and what it means to live and think while chronically. Working with Jake on the prize has broadened my understanding and my thinking immensely. Jake’s an inspiring, thoughtful person, and I am grateful to be part of this important project.

Advisor to the Prize, Professor Tom Shakespeare FBA, Professor of Disability Research at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, comments: “Writers with illnesses and impairments, from Robert Louis Stevenson to Flannery O'Connor to 'WNP Barbellion' himself have contributed mightily to literature. I applaud the creation of this new prize, hoping it will shine a spotlight on their contemporary successors.”

Author and Assistant Professor of Literature, Dr Shahd Alshammari, and member of the judging panel says: “The Barbellion Prize seeks to amplify voices that are seldom heard, and if they are, they’re not heard enough. It is a privilege reading all this wonderful work and I hope that more publishers discover disabled writers’ writing.”

The Barbellion Prize is awarded annually to an author whose work has best spoken of the experience of chronic illness and/or disability.

HOW TO SUPPORT THE PRIZE
If you would like to contribute to the prize fund you can do so here. The more we raise, the more we can support the work of writers living with chronic illness and / or disability.

For our latest press release: click here

MORE ABOUT THE BARBELLION PRIZE
The awarded work can be of any genre in fiction, memoir, biography, poetry, or critical non-fiction from around the world - whether in English, in translation, traditionally or self-published.

​The prize is named in homage to English diarist W.N.P Barbellion, who wrote eloquently on his life with multiple sclerosis (MS) before his death in 1919.

It is to be awarded on February 12th 2021, with prize money amounting to £600.

Submissions are open now and end October 31st 2020.

Find out more about the prize and how to submit here

Read our latest press release here

Writing for Wellbeing – New course starts 6 July 2020

Join a small group of writers during July to explore how to support, and be supported by, your writing.

Book your place here! Limited places available.
Special offer – Get £20 off per person for the full month, if you book with a friend. Book here.

What is Writing for Wellbeing?
My new online course, Writing for Wellbeing, comes from my desire to encourage people to write, and explore different ways of writing. The focus, as always with Writer Revealed, is the person behind the words.

I’ve been working with writers, and developing my own writing practice for nearly 15 years. I founded Writer Revealed as I began to recognise patterns in the stories we tell ourselves about our writing practice. I realised that in all our work to improve our writing craft, we rarely focus on the person behind the words – and that we often unwittingly hold ourselves back in ways that we are not aware of, or that we are not sure how to unpick. Those were powerful realisations.

Writing for Wellbeing is ambitious, but it’s also grounded and practical. It is student centred, with tasks designed as catalysts and springboards for your own exploration. It will help you re-energise your writing practice, offer a wide range of fun and stimulating activities and thought experiments, and get the most out of your creativity.

Writing is a whole body experience, so the course explores different ways you can bring balance into the mind and body relationship; we shine a light on habits and ways of thinking that support our writing; bring awareness to aspects of ourselves and our writing that need a good spring clean; and open up our writing horizons, focussing on potential and possibility.

The workshops are based on four themes – Settle, Flourish, Ground, and Create. During the course of the month you will build up layers of understanding, and take home a toolkit of practical ideas and techniques to support you in your writing. We work in small, supportive groups, in a friendly but professional atmosphere.

The feedback from previous participants of Writing for Wellbeing, is that it is just what they needed to boost their writing practice, refocus and re-evaluate their work, and to write from strong foundations based on possibility and potential. We do a lot of introspective work, and it’s worth it for the feeling of liberation that work gifts you.

Writing for Wellbeing helps you to understand yourself as a writer. It helps you to build a supportive practice, to free up your creative intelligence, and to develop a strong, healthy relationship with your writing. The course is about how writing can support you, and how you can support your writing. It brings into awareness aspects of your writing, and your relationship with writing, that you may not have been aware of. When you understand, you can move forward with confidence, a sense of excitement, and potential.

If you are interested, but not sure if this is for you, please do feel free to email me, Liz Ferretti, at info@writerrevealed.co.uk.

COURSE DETAILS
Writing for Wellbeing JULY
An exciting new course designed to support your writing and find support in your writing.

Includes 
4 x one-hour online workshops – live on Mondays in July – from 19.00–20.00 BST (other times are available on request – email info@writerrevealed.co.uk);
July workshops are on 6, 13, 20, and 27 July;
12 x additional activities to support each workshop. These will be emailed to you at intervals during the week between workshops;
end of course ‘goody bag’.

Further information
small group size;
this is a space for exploration, we share observations and thoughts, but we don’t share our writing during the sessions;
these workshops are conducted online using Google Meet in a supportive and friendly atmosphere. You will be sent a link beforehand and do not need to download any special software. Click on the meeting link and you will join the class;
you have the option to use or not use the video during the class.

£80.00 per person.
Get a £20 discount per person if you book with a friend!

Join me for a month and uncover the power of writing as self-care.
Writing for Wellbeing is a specially written online writing course that focusses on the wellbeing of the writer behind the words. Workshops are friendly and supportive, and while we often share thoughts and impressions, we don’t share our work. If you would like feedback on your writing, please contact me for a one-to-one session – info@writerrevealed.co.uk