This post was submitted by Penwortham67.

This post was submitted by Penwortham67.

This post was submitted by John D Rutter.

Writing in Libraries 2012.

Lancashire Writing Hub, in partnership with Lancashire County Library & Information Service, will be delivering three fantastic developmental writing courses this year.

Following the success of the Creative Writing courses LWH delivered in Preston in 2011, we are extending our writing courses in partnership with Lancashire Libraries.

There will be three courses, each one lasting for four weeks, and the courses can be treated as individual creative writing development courses or you can sign up for all three.

More details about the content of the courses will follow shortly, but they will be aimed at prose writers.

The first course, Getting Started, will enable you to get started on a piece of writing or get back into writing after a break;

The second course, Progressing Your Work, will aim to develop your writing further and enhance your skills in characterisation, plot, and managing the whole writing project;

The final course, Advanced Creative Writing Skills, will aim to develop your re-drafting, editing and finishing skills to an advanced level to enable you to take your work to a professional standard.

This year, we will be running the courses on Saturday mornings to minimise the problems you may face in having to dash home from work for an early evening workshop.

Each course comprises four x two-hour workshops, delivered over four consecutive Saturdays. There will be a month’s break between each course to allow any writers planning to sign up for more than one course to develop your writing further before the next course starts.

Each course costs £60 for the four weeks, and includes refreshments.

The dates and times of the three courses are as follows:

Getting Started: Creative Writing Course – MARCH:

Saturday mornings 11am – 1pm on 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th March.

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Progressing Your Work: Creative Writing Course – MAY:

Saturday mornings 11am – 1pm on 5th, 12th , 19th and 26th May.

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Advanced Creative Writing Skills Course – JUNE / JULY:

Saturday mornings 11am – 1pm on 30th June, 7th, 14th, and 21st July.

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All three courses will be held at Accrington Library, which has excellent road and public transport connections, and has a great meeting room with refreshment facilities.

Accrington Library is 5 minutes walk from Accrington Railway Station, and there are at least 2 trains per hour from Preston, Manchester and Lancaster;
Or by road it is 20 miles from Preston on the M65, and 22 miles from Manchester on the M66.

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TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST, please email Jane at writing@theyeatculture.org

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Accrington Library is on St James Street,  Accrington, Lancs BB5 1NQ

You can find out more about Accrington Library and how to get there here.

This post was submitted by John D Rutter.

Kim has been a volunteer copywriter for the Hub for just a couple of months and expressed interest in the Guest Editor role, so when the February Guest Editor-to-be had to pull out due to work commitments, we asked Kim and she jumped at the chance.

Kim is our 3rd Guest Editor and is particularly interested in non-fiction writing, having already submitted interviews with a ghost writer and a non-fiction writer to the website in January.

During her Guest Editor placement, Kim will be responsible for managing all copy on the Lancashire Writing Hub website, including the submissions to our “Your Writing” pages, as well as contributing her own articles.

“Hi, I’m Kim Chamberlain and I’m a writer, speaker, trainer … and chocaholic. I mainly write non-fiction books, e-books, articles, newsletters, blogs and a daily email service. My topics include Communication; Inspiration; Personal development; and Brain training, games & puzzles.  

Some of my work can be found on: http://www.successfulspeaking.biz/products/ 

and  http://www.successfulspeaking.biz/newsletters/

I’m really looking forward to being involved with the Lancashire Writing Hub, its people and events, and would love to hear from you.”

Kim’s articles published during her Guest Editor placement are here:

• Article 1
• Article 2
• Article 3

This post was submitted by keithdalton.

In my experience, you become so familiar to the words you’ve written, that the mistakes don’t stand out as easily as they would if you were reading someone else’s work.  Even if it is intimidating, ask someone to read it for you.  They don’t have to be an expert in the written word; anyone can spot an obvious mistake.  Then of course, you have this website, so don’t be offended if someone offers you constructive criticism, it’s there to help (and we don’t allow offensive comments).  Not only that but it’s good practice for when your work is published or judged in a competition.  When you put your work out there for the world to see, it will be criticised whether you like it or not.  There will be negative opinions alongside the positives.

The rules to proofing are simple but below are some tips that may come in useful.  If you have any good advice, please share with us.

Claire’s Proof-reading Tips:

• Edit in the morning when your mind and eyes are fresh.
• Play some music in the background as long as it doesn’t distract you
• If possible, natural daylight is better on your eyes.  Try and avoid fluorescent lighting if you can.
• Take plenty of short breaks and make sure you eat something.  Food fuels the brain!
• Ask someone to read it for you and make sure they are honest – sometimes people are afraid to criticise.
• Read your work out loud – it’s a great way to find grammatical errors if you’re unsure.
• Read it backwards to focus on the spelling alone.
• Check for repetition as well as errors, i.e. how many sentences start with ‘she’?  Can you alter them?  How many times have you used ‘and’ in one sentence?  Would a comma work instead?
• DON’T depend on Spell Checker alone
• DON’T proof for everything in one sitting, check for spelling in one, formatting in another etc.
• Print a draft before you proof – I find it easier to highlight mistakes with a red pen rather than using the tracker on Word (this is personal preference).
• Check for continuity, has your character’s name changed half way through? Did you spell a number in one sentence then use a figure later on?
• Proof your punctuations as well.  It’s just as important as the spelling!

In time, you’ll learn what bad habits you have and recognise these mistakes straight away when you read through future work.  You can use a proof-reading service; however they will charge a fee.  Chances are your acquaintances are dying to see what you’ve written.  I am constantly being asked for samples of my writing by friends and colleagues.  So don’t be shy – be proud of your talent and show off!

If you find a mistake in this article – let me know, I’m still developing as a writer too and I haven’t asked anyone to proof-read this!

cutaway is a new literary magazine based in Manchester and now open for submissions of both poetry and prose, literary and genre fiction. Mix poetry with prose, text with numbers, your shopping list with a love letter, dragons with teenage angst or just push yourself to create something dynamic.

cutaway magazine is a collaboration between Craig Pay (http://craigpay.com/) and Dave Schofield (http://manchestersartisticson.com/), both published short story writers, bloggers, poets and novelists.

Submissions will be considered through to the end of February. Send prose pieces of 3000 words or less (preferably 1000-2000) or up to four poems (25 lines or less). First British Rights are requested. Electronic submissions only. No simultaneous submissions.

cutaway will be a visual gripping literary experience. Published in May this year and available in both paper and electronic formats with an ISBN number, cutaway will feature a colour cover and a black and white interior dotted with photography and artwork alongside the work of contributing authors.

Further details are available via the cutaway website:

http://cutawaymagazine.co.uk/

This post was submitted by John D Rutter.