Writing festival 2018

Hey all,

I'm putting together another blog festival (the official name is TBC)! If you're a writer, either published or aspiring, I'd love for you to contribute. I've already got a few excellent articles lined up from past guest bloggers, but I'd love to connect with as many writers as possible.

Take a look at these great articles from last time:

How to Leave your Readers Cold, Hungry, and Afraid by R.A. Black
Finding Inspiration in Likely Places by J.P. Jackson

Developing Ideas by Nikki Morgan
Nine Questions Every Writer Needs to Ask by Herb Mallette:

As long as the article is about writing, writing sites, critiquing, publishing process, indie publishing, or fiction books, it will be considered. I'll work with you to edit up the piece and add in an author bio, so please note there will be feedback to get the article into good shape.

Types of content

Let me know if you're interested in any of the following:

An article on one of the above topics.
Print and/or eBook giveaways of your novel.
An author interview (your book can be published, indie, or at the beta-read stage, but should be complete). I'll send over a series of questions and we can have a bit of back and forth to get the most of out it.
Offering up Chapter 1 of your unpublished novel for a free critique. With your permission, I would like to post critiques of your opening chapter. I may not post the whole first chapter, depending on length. If you know me, I can be quite critical, but I'll also look for positives and won't post anything unless I feel it's helpful. Thank you to anyone brave enough to apply!
For a limited time, I'm accepting review copies of self-published books again. Please note, I usually get a high number of requests so I'll have to pick and choose. See past reviews for the types of books I usually read.
If you have a completed manuscript which you are looking for beta-readers for and would like a shout out, let me know where your story can be found, a pitch, genre, word count, and if there is anything you'd like the reader to focus on.

If you're thinking about getting involved, just send me a message via the contact form on the side, or post a comment below. It would help me out if you followed the blog in some way, but it's not necessary. Just let me know you're interested and I'll make sure to keep in contact.

EDIT: Final entries are needed March 31st!

Cheers for reading!

Comments

Book Review: Children of Blood and Bone

CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi 5 Stars Verdict: So good it hurts. The night magic died, Zélie watched her mother's murder as the Maji were slaughtered. Now Zélie has a chance to bring back magic. With the help of her brother and a rogue princess, she must outrun the crown prince and battle her self-doubts to restore magic to the world. This West-African inspired fantasy is powerful and all round awesome from start to finish. The writing is emotive and imaginative, the pacing is as perfect as it gets, and the characters are real with flaws and charm. I hardly know what to say. A brilliant book like this tells the editor in me to shut up and enjoy the ride, so I'd need to read it again to offer more of a critique. If every book was as good as this one, I would never be able to stop reading. The struggles, anger, and pain are carved into this book so deeply that the desires bleed through the pages and the triumphs feel earned. The emotion in this book is ...

Book Review: The Astonishing Colour of After

THE ASTONISHING COLOUR OF AFTER by Emily X.R. Pan 4 Stars Verdict : A synesthesiastic tale of dealing with loss. When Leigh's mother commits suicide, she visits Leigh as a bright red bird. Leigh follows her mother's memories to Taiwan to meet her grandparents for the first time and to try to understand her mother's passing. For a book so sad, it's very colourful. Leigh often shares her emotions as colours and it works very well, especially as the book travels through a whole river of emotions. It shows a battle lost, families broken, and the dark struggles of depression through the lives of Leigh and her family. To anyone affected by depression and suicide, this book contains those triggers. I felt it handled these themes with tender care and respect, without glamorising suicide or mental illness. The author also went to great lengths to portray a single instance of depression, and even clarifies at the end note that the story isn't mean to explain away d...

Book Review: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns

FOREST OF A THOUSAND LANTERNS by Julie Dao 5 Stars Verdict: Rich, gradual, and gory. Xiefeng is destined to be Empress of Feng Lu, but only if she lets the darkness guide her... I’ll admit, I can only read one high fantasy story a year and it has to really stand out. In this case, the East-Asia mythology aspect of this one drew me in within an instant. The darkness of the story, the unconventional twists in the relationships, and the gorgeous writing had me slithering through this book slower to enjoy it for longer. I always know a book has me where it wants me as soon as I stop counting pages. Xiefeng is an antihero I could get behind. She’s jealous, selfish, righteous – but her desires, suffering, and efforts and so strong, I rooted for her all the same. For a writer to make me like someone who is morally grey is a kind of magic I want to understand more. There’s no crescendo for this book. No huge twist or gut-wrenching moment which turns the book back on itself. That’...

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