Out & About

Recently I was invited to HMS Sultan as part of World Book Day.

The naval children's readers group Reading Force was holding a book fair with real pirates in attendance. I was asked to give a talk on the process of creative writing. How to write a book and the publishing process. Start to finish. Odd feeling to return to HMS Sultan as an adult. Played many happy games there as a child.

Great audience thank you HMS Sultan!

“Times of separation, through a deployment cannot be easy for families, but if you can find common ground through books it can help keep you talking with each other, which can be a very valuable thing.”

In addition, local author, Fiona Ballard, gave a talk on how to get into creative writing and the many routes into publishing. She currently has five books published to date and an active member of the Portsmouth Authors Collective. She said: “The Portsmouth Authors Collective was started to bring local authors together under one umbrella and runs market stalls, presentations and workshops, and provides support to writers with questions within publishing and editing.”

“Our writing groups and workshops which are available to support anyone looking to write, right across the genres. If you’re interested then I think you have to have a go and join a writing group, make sure you don’t get despondent if things don’t go to plan, and surround yourself with likeminded people who will help put you on the right road for publishing.”

The author concluded: “I discovered I had a gift for writing through a global competition in New York where you were given just 48hrs to write and submit a piece based on an object, location. I found that as the rounds went on that I kept getting through and the judges thought that I had a voice.”