More than Writers

  Auscot Partners - Susa, Wendy and Shoma I love writing retreats. Last year I spent two weeks in Israel writing in Eilat at the hostel run by ACW member Judy Pex and had the most productive time of writing. There's something about getting away from it all and changing one's environment which helps the creative juices flow. This year, at roughly the same time, I was running my own writing retreat in Scotland under the auspices of Auscot Publishing and Retreats, my new company, set up with my partners, Susan McVey in Scotland and Shoma Mitra in Australia. Hence the name Auscot. Anyway, I digress. I learned so much whilst running my first retreat and found there was so much value in spending time away, writing with others.  Retreats come in many shapes and sizes but we made a conscious decision to keep this one intimate as we wanted to foster an atmosphere of friendship and support. This worked as attendees go to know each other well and discussions both in the sessions and afte...

What would you say were the writing highs?  Your first piece of writing (aka “the I did it” moment!)? Your first publication credit (the “family start to take you seriously” moment!)? Your first book acceptance (the “some of the rest of the world start to take you seriously” moment!)?  Sadly, it always is some of the rest of the world… Writing - the old school way.  The VERY old school way!  Image via Pixabay. What would you say were your writing lows?  That first rejection?  Having your novel come back for the umpteenth time? Countless short stories turned down? I recall using a manual typewriter.  Pixabay image. The great irony, of course, is, with the right spirit and attitude, a writer can use those rejections and set backs to (a) fill them with determination to keep going, (b) to improve on what they do so the turn downs don’t arrive so often as they once did, and (c) recognise all writers go through this.   There...