An open embrace

OK, battle of the clichés. Which is truer: “You can’t judge a book by its cover” or “A picture is worth a 1000 words”? Well,…

Harry 25 April 2025

3 Comments

The crown of my life

I yap on a lot about novels in these emails: I’ve written plenty of novels; I like writing them; the vast majority of you guys…

Harry 18 April 2025

0 Comments

A line of green lamps

All agents have passions. At our Festival once – late at night and after plenty of wine – one agent started listing hers. I know…

Harry 11 April 2025

8 Comments

A black shirt and glops of golden yoghurt

As you’d expect, there’s quite a lot of research into what makes people buy stuff. And, as you’d expect, writers are mostly very, very, very…

Harry 4 April 2025

0 Comments

The ghost in your query

Last week, we talked about query letters and I asked you to pop your draft letters up on Townhouse for feedback. That’s always an illuminating…

Harry 28 March 2025

0 Comments

How to hire a plumber

Last week, we dealt with hyper-intelligent beings in the form of robots. This week, we turn to… literary agents. The gist of this email is…

Harry 21 March 2025

1 Comment

Arranging tables – and the importance of making readers work

Well, golly gosh, I thought last week’s Feedback Friday was interesting – and brave for the good souls who took part. We asked people to…

Harry 14 March 2025

4 Comments

AI, a Viking longship and the future of writing

For a long time, I’ve held off writing about the impact of AI on what we do. Partly, none of us knows the answer and…

Harry 7 March 2025

3 Comments

Don’t just do something, stand there

A new air, a fresh day, the first narcissi and a sense of spring. The Write with Jericho course no longer occupies these emails –…

Harry 28 February 2025

5 Comments

Feedback Guidelines

As part of this writing community, offering thoughtful and constructive feedback to others is a key way you can help other authors to grow and…

Tanya 21 February 2025

0 Comments