In my little corner of existence, spring has sprung, the clocks have leapfrogged forward, and the colour is gurgling back into the fabric of the world after the greys and browns of the winter months. The birds are twittering. The sun has got its pork pie hat on. And the evenings are starting to stretch like blueberry-flavoured bubble gum.
That paints such a peaceful portrait of vernal bliss, but there’s no denying it (even if you’re the most ostrichy of ostriches with your head firmly buried in the dirt) - around the edges, the wider world is on fire. Bad stuff is happening all over the place to put it mildly.
But spring, for me, is always a time of optimism. And I’m choosing to hold onto that optimism for all that it’s worth, embracing a defiant brand of optimism and forging forwards with a defiant spring in my middle-aged step.
I suppose this is something I’ve learnt from living with a chronic illness. To paraphrase Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, we can let the bastards grind us down or we can pay attention to the fire without letting it completely consume us.
With that in mind, I’m springing into spring with a whole host of shiny new things. A new editing course. Eight (!!) new workshops. A new writing competition. New dates for my writing retreat with Ruth Brandt. New discounts on my editorial services. And a new determination to make progress with my novel draft which has sat in a cobwebbed drawer for the last few months!
A Snow Globe on an Iceberg: World-building in short fiction
With so little space to play with, how do we effectively bring a story’s world to life? How do we best evoke place, time, and wider context without it overwhelming the story?
Tuesday 7th July 2026 (19:00-20:30 BST) OR Saturday 11th July 2026 (09:00-10:30 BST)
What is Learnt in the Cradle: How our childhoods affect our adult selves
How do a character’s early influences affect who they become in later life? What do they inherit? What do they learn? And how do we use all of this within our writing to create character depth?
Tuesday 4th August 2026 (19:00-20:30 BST) OR Saturday 8th August 2026 (09:00-10:30 BST)
***NEW DATES / JUST FOUR PLACES LEFT***
Monday 14th - Sunday 20th September 2026 in Thurlstone (Holme Valley)
Join us in the idyllic landscape of the Holme Valley for a six-night writing retreat where you’ll learn from two widely experienced creative writing teachers through a series of workshops, feedback sessions and one-to-one chats. You’ll also have plenty of unstructured time dedicated to putting new words on the page.
***BRAND NEW COURSE / JUST FOUR PLACES LEFT***
1st - 21st June
You’ve come up with your idea. You’ve put that idea down on the page. But how do you take that first draft and make it the best version of itself it can possibly be? How do you create enough psychological distance from your work so you can read it like a reader would? How do you identify what is and isn’t working? And how do you fix the possible issues you pick out?
Working on a novel, memoir, story collection or other long-form work? Have you reached the end of your first (or fifty-first) draft and don’t know what to do with it next? I’m currently taking on editorial projects for May, and for the next two weeks (until 26th April), I’m offering a 10% discount for structural reviews, submission reviews and first steps reviews of long-form works between 40k and 90k words. I have two slots to fill, so if you’re interested, get in touch before they’re gone!
![Against a background of a spiral universe, the text reads "Welkin Press"](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!_QSD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdc1d39e8-0f3c-42bb-ab2f-9352f331d287_591x591.png "Against a background of a spiral universe, the text reads "Welkin Press"")
The Welkin Press is a shiny new re-branding of The Welkin Writing Prize. It’s still a place that aims to celebrate microfiction in all its glory, but rather than “just” having the yearly prize, there’s now a NEW competition in town, and I also have PLANS for 2027 to bring together a printed micro anthology / writing craft book (and a few other things as well!!!)
The Welkin Genre Prize
The Welkin Genre Prize is a competition for microfiction up to 100 words that aims to celebrate writing around different genres and themes. For 2026, the categories are:
The “Earth” Prize - writing about landscape and the environment, or about the human connection with the earth
The “Joy” Prize - joyful or humorous writing, or writing that moves towards a sense of hope
The “Body” Prize - writing about the human body or writing that engages with the theme of illness or disability
The “History” Prize - writing that takes us into the past, whether that be a real past or an alternate past
The “Firefly” Prize - writing with a speculative bent (fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, ghost stories, horror)
The prize will be open for entries between the 1st and 30th June and each prize will be judged by a different superstar judge (well, there’ll be four superstar judges and little old me!)
The Welkin Micro Workshops
To hopefully inspire a few new micros by gazing backwards at Welkin micros past, I’ll be teaching six (!!) generative workshops in the lead-up to the new prize. Each workshop will be a mix of readings, close analysis and writing prompts. You should hopefully come away from each session with two new micros.
The cost is £10 per workshop or you can block book all six for £50. Note that there are a few free places available for each session for low-income writers if price is prohibitive for you. Money raised will be used to cover the administrative costs of running the press and to ensure the competitions stay free and accessible to all:
The Scales of Juxtaposition. The power of placing one thing next to another - microfiction in which time, place, emotion and scenario are juxtaposed in interesting ways. Thursday 7th May 2026 (19:00-20:00 BST)
Breathless Wonders. The rush of a story told within the space of a single breath - microfiction that unspools through a single, flowing sentence. Thursday 14th May 2026 (19:00-20:00 BST)
The Humorous Touch. Pieces that make us laugh - microfiction that uses humour to describe a ever-building chain of events. Thursday 21st May 2026 (19:00-20:00 BST)
The Backwards Gaze. The emotional burden of the past - microfiction that builds itself around a character reflecting on prior events. Thursday 28th May 2026 (19:00-20:00 BST)
Stand-out Oddities. Leaning into the weird, the unsettling and the surreal - microfiction that uses speculative elements to hold a mirror up to the world. Thursday 4th June 2026 (19:00-20:00 BST)
Unforgettable Voices. Crafting microfiction that puts tone of voice centre stage - evoking and tempering voices that soar off the page. Thursday 11th June 2026 (19:00-20:00 BST)
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