Words Unboxed | Publishing Your Work Seminar Series 1

About the Words Unboxed Series

Over the past few years, the most requested information from my online community and past students has been around getting published and building a body of work, with a view to publishing a collection. Journal credits, competitions and awards all help to build your reputation and audience, which in turn makes you a more attractive prospect to publishers.

These sessions will focus on the practicalities and how to:

• Make your work more impactful to readers, editors and judges,

• Stand out from the crowd in both journal and competition submission piles,

• Make good choices to prioritise your resources and opportunities,

• Assemble your work in a meaningful way, and

• Put your best foot forward as a professional writer.

Together, these session will provide an overview of the most common pitfalls and how to avoid them when sending out your work for publication.

Who’s it for?

Suitable for emerging/intermediate writers who are preparing and submitting either individual poems or poetry manuscripts to literary journals and competitions, or to publishers.

All sessions will be recorded, have live subtitles, and the recordings and transcripts will be provided to everyone who has booked.

Why work with Angela?

In the past 12 years, Angela’s poems have been placed or shortlisted in over 40 national and international writing competitions, judged by renowned poets like Liz Berry, Daljit Nagra, Wendy Cope, Andrew McMillan, Rebecca Perry, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and former UK Poet Laureate, Dame Professor Carol Ann Duffy.

As well as being published internationally, Angela has many years experience as both a poetry editor and a creative writing facilitator, and knows what journals, competition judges and publishers are looking for when they read your work.

Recent students have won, placed or been shortlisted in national and international literary competitions, and had both individual work and manuscripts selected for publication in respected literary journals, anthologies, and publishers.

Read more about Angela’s writing experience >>>

What Writers Say About Working With Angela:

‘Angela is a wonderful facilitator and listener. She created a very safe and professional space. All feedback was warmly and competently given and participants were encouraged to participate in discussions. It is very encouraging to share your work in a small group and to have an opportunity to have one of your poems critiqued every week. A really great learning opportunity to work with such a gracious and talented poet.’ – AO’R (Ire)

‘Angela's specific, detailed feedback, enthusiasm, and encouragement have helped me to focus and finish poems I've been wanting to write all my life. Her follow-up email--with a helpful quote from another writer, links to specific poems, and continued encouragement--was worth its weight in gold.’ — CW (US)

‘I really don't want it to end, it's been by far the most useful editing workshop I have ever taken part in. I now have a growing confidence that I can take my work to another level. Learning to look at a poem through the eyes of an editor improved my understanding of how I work but also how to read other peoples poems.’ - RG (UK)

‘The clear structure for the feed back let me internalize ways to consider my work so that I can improve all of it, not just what I bring in to the workshop. And yet I loved the camaraderie of all the poets. The way Angela runs it, there is such a respect for the work, I never had to worry about being sideswiped with some painful remark. It's a safe space.’ - ESG (US)

I’d definitely recommend it to other writers – it offers a great balance of support and challenge in an absolutely safe, respectful, friendly atmosphere. The genuine encouragement and honest searching feedback has helped me fine tune my writing further, and it's helped re-ground me at a time I was feeling quite wobbly about my writing.’ - PE (UK)

‘I really cherished the opportunity to share work in progress with like minded people who provided a rich and often surprising source of critical comment and feedback, in a supportive creative environment… What I came away with was much improved and revitalised.’ - TS (UK)

‘I don't know how Angela manages to keep the ideas coming and the energy levels up! Miracle Machine 30 Days of Writing the Body was a wonderful, seamless experience and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm starting to think of the challenges as a way of storing up ideas to work on, this store of first drafts are my poetry preserves to see me through the winter.’ — SF (ire)

‘Angela gave intelligent and instructive advice in a gentle and encouraging manner... She made several good suggestions and these are things I will try to implement as I progress. I’ve no hesitation in recommending her mentoring service to other writers, and have in fact already done so!’ — TK (UK)

‘Be prepared to be taken out of you comfort zone - in the nicest possible way - and enjoy the experience, the collegiate atmosphere, the sense of engaging in a collective enterprise, the growth in the number of drafts, the positive vibes associated with writing every day and the feedback from supportive colleagues all embracing a new adventure. — MK (UK)