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Our October retreat was the second one we have run since the lockdown restrictions were lifted and what a retreat it was. As always, the writers were from a wide and diverse range of backgrounds, all with very different projects under way and, as always, this fuelled fabulous and vibrant discussions. The retreat venue was […]

Last week saw our first retreat since lockdown began. Our writers arrived to lovely welcome packs in our new, reusable cotton tote bags with another new addition, mini whiteboards, marker and eraser for quick notes and exploring creative ideas. They went down very well! Food was home-cooked across three meals a day, with our additional […]

We are delighted to announce the winners of our latest Short, Short Story Competition. They are: 1st place – Skin of the Dark by James Rickards 2nd place – I’ll Crawl Home to her by Kathleen Drake 3rd place – A Swan Glides Past by Anamaria Ciucanu The winning story will be published on writersretreatuk.co.uk […]

The Skin of the Dark By James Rickards Izal medicated toilet paper. Furry dice. Liebfraumilch. People who still think it’s witty to write ‘I wasted 90 minutes of my life watching this, and I’ll never get it back’ on film forums. Multi-centenarian Derek The Tangerine Baboon Derekson, luminous on daytime TV, surveying antique knick-knacks with […]

Day 1 The door closes behind me. Silence. A hallway leads into the room. I push open a door on my right – shower room. I consider having a shower. It has been a long journey A shower, then bed? The curtains in the room are drawn, a lamp burning beside the bed. The TV […]

Lisa couldn’t climax during intercourse because the Watcher would remind her how fat she looked lying down. “Turn of the lights,” he would hiss at her before Phil and her got down to business. “Someone might see your hideous body through the windows.” If she dropped any food on herself, the Watcher would call her […]

APRIL 15th 2020 1030-1100 Hi everyone! Hi Geoff, nice book case! Thanks. Hi everyone, are we all OK? Guys, Dave’s texted me – he hasn’t got a mike on his laptop so he’ll just be listening in. Yeah, OK, I guess we can type in the chat box if we need to. Hi, Sally here! […]

We are in the process of putting together our WRUK Novel Writing Method that will see a new novelist write their novel and have it publication ready in 12 months. Requiring only the desire and the time to commit and, of course, the ability to write, our budding novelists will be mentored and have the […]

Jean paces around the house, repeating a familiar phrase like the groove in a well-worn path. She waves her arms continually into the darkening air around her. Grubby furniture turns to shadow. When she trips over the stool in the kitchen, she pays no thought to the need for light, merely lying on the sticky […]

The results are in for our Lockdown Short Story Competition. We are delighted to announce the results, as follows: 1st Place: Dusty Bottles by Julia Spargo 2nd Place: The Watcher by Anna Ellam Joint 3rd Place: The Task and Finish Group by Dan Harwood 14 Days Lockdown by Helen Cormack We would like to extend […]

The Writers’ Retreat UK Monday Writer’s Group has met for its third time, now. Delivered remotely via Zoom, the group starts at 19:30 (BST) and runs for 90 minutes. The group was set up to bring writers together during lockdown but it is clear that the format is working well and it will be continued, […]

We are now introducing a new subscription model for our member’s only online platform. Instead of a single payment, we will move to a monthly subscription with two levels to choose from: Our Standard subscription costs just £5 per month, and comes with these great benefits: Access to all of our online writer’s guides. These […]

Writers’ Retreat UK’s Jan Birley has had a short monologue piece recorded by the Green Curtain Theatre in London. Responding to a call for submissions on the theme of lockdown, Jan wrote a monologue following a daughter’s attempt at talking her dad through getting a video chat app installed on his new smartphone. You can […]

With the government looking at a plan for lifting restrictions, we are tentatively putting plans in place for resuming our retreats. We want now to give our clients the confidence to book ahead for retreats. All of our venues will be deep cleaned, prior to the start of each retreat. At each retreat, we offer […]

As writers, we spend our time immersed in plot and character, building stories that aim to engage and enthral our readers. The craft of becoming a successful writer is often one that is often a labour of love, hate, block, flow, elation, despair and many more emotions, along the way. The way to become a […]

A Contemplation of Rain and Ducks The rain kept on raining. Geraldine kicked at the puddles. “Fuck this weather,” she said. “Fit for fucking ducks.” A drake mallard waddled onto the pathway. “Good morning, Geraldine,” he said. “Fucking great,” Geraldine said. “A talking duck.” “Deux langues,” he elaborated. “No idea what you’re saying.” She flicked […]

Writers’ Retreat UK is proud to present the winning entry in our first short story competition of 2020: Milk without Honey by Philippa Kelly The wind blew extraordinarily hot for late October. It left Cairo feeling tinderbox dry. This intensified the usual franticness of the days’ activities, pedestrians spilled from the pavement into gridlocked traffic. […]

The results of our short story competition are now in! Given our lockdown status across the country, we will be releasing the results, in reverse order, live on our webinar platform. The live announcement will start at 19:30 (BST) on 6th April, 2020. Please come and join us! Please register to join, completely free of […]

The short story competition results were announced this evening on our live webinar link (apologies for the initial sound problems to those who tuned in). Here are the final results. The 15 shortlisted stories, who will feature in the 2020 anthology and receive a 30% discount on a retreat place are: An Unremarkable Life by […]

Writers’ Retreat UK is delighted to announce that it will be running a monthly writers’ group where our members can come together to share their work and seek constructive feedback. The group will run remotely, so our members can join from anywhere in the world, provided they have access to a browser and an internet […]

We have been overwhelmed by the response to our most recent short, short story competition. The entries are out with our readers, at the moment. All entries are read blind with readers having no knowledge of who has written which story. We expect to be able to announce the winners and shortlisted stories by the […]