My experience on the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme: Month 12 

Hello again! Welcome to the final blog in my series of monthly insights into what it’s like to undertake the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme.  

So, we’re here: month 12. 

A year ago, I joined the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme hoping to learn how to write a better novel. What I didn’t expect was that it would change how I understood myself as a writer. 

I think back to my initial decision – that this was the year I would apply for the course. I’m reminded of the definition of success I set myself, so I could judge whether the time and expense had been worthwhile. I expected to leave the Ultimate Novel Writing Programme with sharper tools, clearer habits, bigger ambitions, better plotting ability… fixes for my nascent manuscript. Greater discipline, overall. 

I expected to know exactly what questions to ask of myself. 

What I didn’t expect was to leave with fewer technical questions, but larger and more meaningful ones. Because when craft becomes embodied, the questions stop being mechanical and start becoming existential. At first, I worried this meant I had lost curiosity. In fact, it meant I had crossed a threshold. 

What this course has given me is not just skill, but self-trust. 

The writer I was a year ago chased hooks. The writer I am now trusts accumulation.  

The writer I was a year ago tried to sound like “a writer.” The writer I am now recognises my own voice.  

The writer I was a year ago thought I needed to write fast books. The writer I am now knows I write deep ones. And that isn’t a flaw—it’s a signature. 

So, back to that moment of decision. 12 months ago, I told myself that, even if nothing else were to come out of this year, I’d be happy if I could get to the point where my tutor, a two-times Booker shortlisted author, said of my work: “This is good. I like it.”  

When that day came – after being guided and challenged throughout by my tutor – it was a moment of coalescence. A bringing together of not only who I am as a writer, but why I write, and what a meaningful writing life looks like for me.  

The writer I was a year ago used to think in terms of “How do I write a great novel?”. The writer I am now is confident and happy to ask, “How do I behave in a way that makes a great novel possible?” 

As the course ends, I am realising this isn’t an ending so much as a change in how I walk into the work. 

The Ultimate Novel Writing Programme did not simply improve my manuscript. It altered my relationship with writing itself. I leave it not with certainty, but with something far more durable: clarity about who I am as a writer, and the resilience to keep going. That, I suspect, is where the real work truly begins. 

Thank you for being here across the 12 months with me in these blogs. It has been a pleasure to write and share them with you. 

Rachel Davidson was a long-term Premium Member of Jericho Writers, prior to joining our Writer Support Team. Rachel loves helping hopeful writers, such as herself, to solve their problems and take a step or two closer to achieving their writing dreams. Rachel has previously self-published a trilogy, the first of which achieved bestseller status in fourteen Amazon categories in the UK, US, Australia and Canada. She is now seeking her traditional publishing debut with her latest manuscript. You can find out more about Rachel via her Instagram @RachelDavidsonAuthor.