Plotting vs Pantsing was a blast!

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On Monday 23rd February @ 9AM (UK time) the plotting vs pantsing panel included Denise Beddows, Jack Chandler, John Lynch. Poet and novelist Lee Benson joined us as sadly Alan Meredith and David Wake couldn’t be with us for that session.

I therefore decided to repeat it at 9pm the same day. So…

The 9PM panel (UK time): plotting vs pantsing included AA Abbott, Alan Meredith, David Wake, Donna Morfett and Ryan Stark.

These are free events but we’re raising money for local libraries and we’d be really grateful if you would donate whatever you afford via the Charities & Donate page. Thank you so much.

MMF #2 – Ideas

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On Monday 16th February 2026 @ 8am (UK time), I ran a short ideas workshop and chatted with thriller novelist and soon-to-be romantasy novelist Jack Chandler about the topic. The recording is below.

At 19 minutes in, I show you a word web (picture on the left), using ‘hand’ as the prompt word where you can fill in associated words on each thread, e.g.:

  • Hand: handmade; handmaid; Margaret Atwood; dystopia; alternate world; global warming
  • Hand: handle; kitchen cupboard; new kitchen; rich; sauce; ketchup; catsup; cat; Felix; black and white; piano; tuner; radio… and so on

You can go off from any of these words to make new threads. If you (left-)click on this picture it’ll take you to my teaching page. You can right-click on the picture and save it onto your computer or phone.

These are free events but we’re raising money for local libraries and we’d be really grateful if you would donate whatever you afford via the Charities & Donate page. Thank you so much.

Change to 23rd March Mini-Fest

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Following a chat with crime novelist and soon-to-be romantasy novelist Jack Chandler (page coming soon!) during this morning’s ideas mini-fest, I realised there was no session on description vs dialogue.

So the 23rd March mini-fest will be on this topic rather than novels vs short stories, which will be combined with the following week’s mixing genres to become mixing genres and forms. See the Monday Mini-fests page for details.

Are you an indie author?

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Other than the 26 Apr 2026 In-person Festival, which is full for panellists, there are currently spaces on all the panels going forward including the Monday Mini-fests…

On Monday 16th February 2026 @ 8am (UK time), I’m running an ideas workshop then on future Mondays I’m inviting self-published authors to join me on various topics.

If you’re an indie author and would like to take part in the panels from 23rd February onwards, please go to the Participate page for details and/or email Morgen for the information pack. 

If you’d like to view the ideas workshop live, the link (valid at 8am on 16th Feb) is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88343786107. I’ll look out for you in the chat.

Should you need them: Meeting ID: 883 4378 6107 Passcode: 409887

These are free events but we’re raising money for local libraries and we’d be really grateful if you would donate whatever you afford via the Charities & Donate page. Thank you so much.

Monday Mini-Fest #1 – Moderators

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On Monday 2nd February 2026 @ 7pm (UK time), the panel listed below talked about themselves, their writing and books. You can watch the whole recording on Morgen’s YouTube channel  as well as previous and later sessions and (currently) 66 author spotlights!.

These are free events but we’re raising money for local libraries and we’d be really grateful if you would donate whatever you afford via the Charities & Donate page. Thank you so much.

Monday Mini-fest

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Yay! We will have mini versions of the festival. During the first online all-day... actually, soon after it started… I thought what a shame it would be if it only ran once every six months so it’s going to be a regular thing.

I then thought monthly? weekly? It depended on how many people wanted to take part. Shall I offer a selection of dates and as soon as long as there is at least one author on it, it would go ahead. But then, don’t we love our alliteration, I thought let’s make it Monday Mini-fest.

So, every Monday ~ as long as there are authors and/or self-publishing experts wanting to take part ~ there will be a mini-fest. There can be up to six authors in each session so plenty of space in a fairly short amount of time. Some will have one author, others will have more.

Forthcoming dates are listed on the main Monday Mini-fest page ~ with the relevant author pages when they’re booked ~ and when the recordings are ready they’ll be uploaded to YouTube and embedded on the relevant dated and authors’ pages.

If you would, go to the Participate page for details and/or email Morgen for the information pack.

If you are happy to go ahead, send the completed form back to me and book a ‘chat’ slot so we ‘meet’ and check that your audio and video are fine. I’ll then create a page for you on this website (which will be linked to the Authors and relevant dated pages) where everything related to you will appear.

You’re also welcome to book two subsequent consecutive slots (using the same link) to book an Author Spotlight. That will appear on Morgen’s YouTube channel and your page on this website!

Are you an indie author? There’s still time to take part…

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Yes, even though the January festival takes place in this Sunday (eek!), there are still spaces on some of the genre panels below. Go to the Participate page for details.

The deadline for the Sunday 25th January panels is 2pm (UK time) on Saturday 24th January to allow time to return your completed form and book a ‘chat’ slot (so we know your audio/video are working and you’re displaying the correct name!).

Any requests after this time will be deferred to the 5th July online event.