Posted inWriting Life
10 Years as a Columnist
Marsali Taylor about to launch her novel. Photo: Margaret Forrest For ten years, much of my writing life consisted of generating a weekly newspaper column. It was for the Times.…
Posted inWriting Prompts
SUN, SAND, SEA AND ?
I grew up in Folkestone, an English seaside town. Summers in the 1950s were often hot, my mother would pack a picnic, and with my sister, we would walk the…
Posted inAuthors Writing Life
Launching ‘Pens Around The World: An Anthology’
On Sunday 4th October 2026 PATW will be launching 'Pens Around The World: An Anthology', our first book, and we'd like you to join us! Links and more in the blog post
Posted inWriting Prompts
Writing and Wild Camping
Peter Bond / Wild camping by the River Torridon. Wikicommons Some of my strongest writing ideas come when I am out in the wild. They arrive while I walk through open hills,…
Posted inWriting Life
The Life in Writing Life
When Pens Around the World writes about the Writing Life we, as would naturally be assumed, lean towards the ‘writing’ part of the title. But today, I want to talk…
Posted inWriting Prompts
Confessions of a Repentant Reader
If you’re a writer, you’ve probably already discovered the delightful rabbit warrens that make up Substack. What’s not to like? You can fritter away those hours when your magnus opus…
Posted inWriting Life
On Theme – making the specific universal
cover image by JEShoots via Pixabay I promised several months ago to write a follow up to my post The Origin Story and here it is. After that post, some…
Posted inWriting Life
Can you write creatively in any situation?
John takes us through a less than successful attempt to make a YouTube video about writing creatively in any situation
Posted inWriting Prompts
Can acting inform writing?
I joined an improvers acting summer school at the City Lit, Covent Garden, at the end of July. I'd previously attended an introduction to screen acting weekend and I've completed…
Posted inGuest Blog Posts Writing Life
5th March 2022: My Executed Uncle and the Fear of Burning Alive
Guest blogger Snizhana tells of her experiences following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.