Author: Peter

I'm a retired civil servant in Surrey, UK and long-time blogger. These days I'm spending more time writing stories and doing other creative stuff

Sonder submissions

July 21, 2026

Sonder books invites submissions for four anthologies. One is for stories based on real sea shanties, one for tales of the afterlife. Another is for stories set in Cornwall, and the last for contributions to the story of Middle Itchenstoke, a fictional village which Sonder has created, complete with settings and a few characters which writers are free to use.

They’ve accepted my story ‘Seven Ways to Let Go’ for ‘The Great Beyond’!

8 June – Fact or Fiction? 

May 31, 2026

Many thanks to David for a really informative and thought-provoking talk on the subject of telling true stories as fact or as fiction, using the example of Sarah Woodbine, a black nurse who trained and worked in Victorian Croydon. We came away feeling that with hard work and dedication anything is possible when you’re a writer! The meeting went very quickly and it was great to spend a little time writing our responses to a newspaper article.

David has provided an update on Sarah’s story – I’m afraid it’s a disheartening read.

11 May – Emma Darwin

April 27, 2026

On 11 May the award-winning writer Emma Darwin, author of The Mathematics of Love and A Secret Alchemy gave us an interesting talk about writing historical fiction. As well as publishing novels and well-received non-fiction, Emma teaches creative writing, in which she has a PhD. Read more about her and her work here. Her latest novel The Bruegel Boy was published in November, when it was the Times book of the month. The novel is a profound exploration of humanity, love, brotherhood, vocation, loss and reconciliation: she talks about the challenge of writing it here.

Members might also be interested in her longstanding blog This Itch of Writing, on Substack: https://emmadarwin.substack.com/. It’s a real treasure trove of discussion and advice.

WOTM – a new beginning

April 6, 2026

There has been a muted response to Writer of the Month this time round, and the committee has decided that a different format may fit more easily with our aims.

So we are working to set up a replacement for it – Writers’ Forum – which will provide members with an opportunity to submit a piece of writing for peer review. This will replace the competitive emphasis of Writer of the Month with a collegiate, developmental and productive one.

Look out for further news!