'Why is rejection inevitable?’ My game-changing Rejection is Actually an Essential Part of the Process theory. I’m aware that the name needs some work.'

I’d managed to publish three collections of poems alongside my academic career but had been too busy working and caring…

I’d managed to publish three collections of poems alongside my academic career but had been too busy working and caring to build on my achievements. The time I should have devoted to producing academic papers had been spent writing poetry. I managed to publish three collections alongside my academic career but had been too busy working and caring to build on my writing achievements.

The post Elizabeth Holloway – The Writing / Life Balance appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.

'I’d managed to publish three collections of poems alongside my academic career but had been too busy working and caring to build on my achievements.'

It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it…

It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it well beyond any horizon of mine. I came to writing late in life, having never for a moment thought I would become a published novelist. It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it well beyond any horizon of mine.

The post Guinevere Glasfurd – The Writing Life appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.

'It simply never occurred to me that I could or ever would become a writer. My working-class roots put it well beyond any horizon of mine.'

It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not…

It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not enquire whether there had been any blood shed, or bones found. It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not enquire whether there had been any blood shed, or bones found in the priest hole. Becoming a crime journalist and then a crime novelist was always on the cards.

The post David Mark – The Writer And The City appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.

'It was impossible for me to go into a stately home (a treat for a seven year old) and not enquire whether there had been any blood shed, or bones found.'

As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we…

As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we would eat and sleep. I had no desire for a fictional world. As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we would eat and sleep, and charged with the encounters and conversations that shaped each day. I had no desire for a fictional world.

The post Phoebe Power – Life-changing Literature appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.

'As pilgrims we were captivated by the landscape as it changed around us, concerned with basic facts of where we would eat and sleep. I had no desire for a fictional world.'

There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us. A young couple came in with their baby, only to leave…

There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us. A young couple came in with their baby, only to leave after a hushed conversation with the waiters. There was no one in the once-a-monastery-now-a-restaurant but us — maybe the festival had booked the whole restaurant, which didn’t strike me as out of keeping with the general oddness of this globetrotting cohort of writers and translators.

The post Thomas Bunstead – The Festival Experience appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.