Consultants

Jacqui is delighted to welcome five new consultants/mentors to The Writing Coach.

 

Sara Bailey

Sara has taught Creative Writing and ‘Novel in a Month’ at Richmond Adult College for the last 6 years and is a lecturer in Contemporary Fiction and Screenwriting at Solent University, Southampton,teaching Screenwriting and contemporary fiction (and shortly also Horror writing. Her professional work is varied and includes: a fantasy autobiography for Alison Moyet’s World Tour; winning the Bristol Poetry Slam; and writing and performing poetry for the Ashton Court festival and International Women’s Day. More recently she has worked as a script consultant for the award winning director and documentary maker Madeleine Farely. Sara is also writing a novel for her PhD in Creative Writing and a thesis on ‘The How to Write’ books. "The sessions with Sara were perfect. She has been so helpful to me and I feel more motivated. I have made some great changes since we got together. One needs direction and this is what I got from her."

 

John Harding

John Harding was born in 1951 near Ely, Cambridgeshire. He read English at St Catherine’s College Oxford and then became a newspaper reporter. He has written for the Sunday Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday and a variety of magazines including the Sunday Times Magazine and You magazine. His first novel What We Did On Our Holiday (2000) was a bestseller and short listed for the W H Smith Best First Novel Award. It was filmed in 2006 by Granada TV with Shane Ritchie, Pauline Collins and Roger Lloyd-Pack. His second novel While the Sun Shines (2002) was published to great critical acclaim. His third novel One Big Damn Puzzler (2005) was published in the UK and the US to great critical acclaim. The Times Literary Supplement review suggested it was ‘sure to become a Hollywood romcom’. John's new novel Florence and Giles will be published by Blue Door (Harper Collins) in 2010. John is married and lives in Richmond-upon-Thames with his wife and two sons.

 

Paula Gardner

Paula Gardner's first printed work was a romantic story for Just Seventeen magazine, published at the age of seventeen. She used the pay cheque to buy her first pair of unsuitable shoes, and since then has combined a twenty year career as owner of Do Your Own PR, a PR coaching consultancy, with freelance writing. She is the author of Get Noticed: How to Boost Your Small Business Profile in 30 Days or Less, and her follow up book, Do Your Own PR, comes out in summer of 2009. Paula has advised many clients on how to plan and write a non-fiction book. As a journalist, Paula has had work published in New Woman, Ms London, Eve, French, The Local Government Chronicle, The Edge, Mother and Baby, TV Hits magazine, Junior and Pregnancy and Birth, and The Stage, amongst others. She is the editor of the women's literary website http://www.chicklit.co.uk. She works with clients to help create, shape and sell stories to the press, and can advise on the business, as well as creative side, of setting up as a freelance writer.

 

Emma Darwin

Emma Darwin was born and brought up in London, with interludes in Manhattan and Brussels. After a drama degree and a spell in academic publishing she took to photography and writing fiction. Her first novel, The Mathematics of Love, was published in 2006, and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers' and Goss First Novel Awards. To date it has been translated into seven languages and looks particularly nice in Russian. Her second novel, A Secret Alchemy, will be published by Headline Review in November 2008, and she has also won prizes for her short fiction. Emma now lives in South East London and teaches at Goldsmiths College, where she's doing a PhD in Creative Writing.

 

Fiona Robyn

Fiona Robyn is a poet, novelist and daily blogger. Her three novels,'The Letters', 'Thaw' and 'The Blue Handbag' will all be published in 2009 by Snowbooks. Her previous books are ‘Small Stones’, ‘A Year of Questions: How to slow down and fall in love with life’ and a collection of poetry. She is a qualified coach and therapist with many years of experience, working with people to help them find their own answers. Fiona grew up in Norfolk and Malaysia and now lives in rural Hampshire with her partner, cats, and a vegetable patch. She is particularly interested in helping writers to set up sustainable working practices and to find their own authentic style.