Louise Tondeur - Editor

Grandma’s stories, ‘…would always start in the place where we were,’ and so it is with Unusual Places. Human remains are concealed in the Greenwich Tunnel in a world where London is a prison; a market is the setting for sexual and sensual awakenings; a professional picnicker finds love. Louise Tondeur’s stories skip along, rich with detail and musical prose, only to trip us up with turns and surprises: the unusual lurks in the most ordinary of places.

A Small Steps Guide to Time Management and Goal Setting is a no-nonsense guide to discovering goals and making them concrete. It is ideal for goal setting for health, career, study, family, finances, travel or leisure. Written for those who want a straightforward guide to getting their dreams on track, with special sections for those who lack motivation or who never seem to have time, readers have access to the small steps method website for further tips and advice.

Rachel, Alex, Billy and Jemima: four women whose lives are changed for ever by the Haven, a home for unmarried mothers. Theirs are tales of sadness and heartbreaking loss, but also of discovery: of intense and magical friendships, chocolate sponges, unexpected kisses and the secret world of the Memory Lane café. When Erica, a young woman just out of prison, begins to stir up the past, she discovers that the Haven’s story is far from over.

After her mother dies, Rice, an awkward but highly imaginative teenager, is sent to live at the Water’s Edge, a gloriously ramshackle Bournemouth hotel. There she meets Beatrice, an old school friend of her mother’s, and her witchily beautiful daughter, Esther. Rice gradually falls for the world of the hotel – its rhythms and routines, its eccentric guests, and its rich history, which touches upon her own identity. She also begins to fall for Esther. Watching over her like a guardian angel is the figure of Persephone, who each year is washed up to Bournemouth from Hades, and who finds herself equally seduced by the Water’s Edge, which for her offers an intriguing window on the mortal world.

All four books in the series include lesson plans and ideas sheets for busy teachers. In this first book you’ll find the following four sections: Foundational Drama Skills, Storytelling, Communication, and Using Props and Costume. You’ll also get a bonus section on putting on a radio play using the Babushka story. There are forty sessions in this book, divided into four sections, enough material for you to run one drama session a week over the school year (plus the bonus section). You can turn the lesson plans and the individual activities into one off sessions, or use them to build schemes of work. They’re flexible, so you and your students can add your own topics, learning objectives, stories, or ideas throughout.

Ready to begin? How to Write is a short, alternative guide to starting to write that packs a big punch. By practising these proven techniques, you’ll no longer think of yourself as a beginner and finally find the courage to master the craft of writing.

This book is made up of practical writing activities without the extra fluff. Like all the Small Steps Writing Guides in the series, How to Write is based on two principles. One, you can take any big project, goal or task and break it down into smaller and smaller steps until it becomes doable. Two, if you take small but specific actions regularly enough, they’ll have a snowball effect. That means, using the writing prompts in How to Write, you can take small steps towards achieving your writing goals today.

Ready to fit writing into your life? Discover some of the best time management and productivity writers out there and kickstart your writing habit today.

Think of Find Time to Write as a habit formation system. You don’t need to start with an idea. You need time and space to write, and you need to show up regularly. Find Time to Write will help you do exactly that. If your life is so overcrowded you’re wondering how you’re ever going to find time to write, then this book is for you. If you simply want a set of powerful time management resources, this book is also for you.

All the small steps writing guides are based on two principles. One, you can take any big project, goal or task and break it down into smaller and smaller steps until it becomes doable. Two, if you take small but specific actions regularly enough, they’ll have a snowball effect. That means, using the time management techniques and writing prompts in Find Time to Write, you can start taking small steps towards your writing goals.

Brimming with ideas but struggling to fill a page? Afraid you’ll start another book only to file it away with other half-finished projects? Overwhelmed and in need of a productive plan that will keep you sane? Accomplished wordsmith, speaker, and editor Louise Tondeur has spent over two decades helping countless creative writing students move past self-doubt and hit the ground running on their literary journey. Now she’s here to show you how to take your vision and break it into manageable steps so you’ll stop staring at an empty screen and type “The End” on a polished manuscript.

How to Write a Novel and Get It Published is your easy-to-digest guide for building confidence and flourishing as a storyteller. Packed with tips for developing skills one step at a time while demystifying the process, Tondeur breaks down every detail using bite-size paragraphs and hands-on exercises. And by practicing these proven techniques, you’ll no longer think of yourself as a wannabe and find the courage to master the art of crafting compelling fiction.

This book is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate Creative Writing students and their tutors. Arranged into weeks, the book contains enough material for a 2 x 10 week programme, plus additional workshop material to help students think differently about creative careers and being a writer in the world. If you are not on a course, the tools in this book will help you to establish a writing habit, especially if you need help getting over fear of the blank page.

How to Think Like a Writer introduces you to a writer’s toolkit, a set of tools that you can use to generate words and connect with your creative side. These tools will help you to accept and confront your internal censor or judge and to develop a writer’s mindset.