As previous guests will know, our property in Corwen was operated as a guest house by the previous owners. Part of what attracted us to it was the potential for it to be transformed into a retreat centre - and the journey towards that end is one we have been travelling since we arrived! To explain, when we first took over we had little choice but to operate primarily as a guest house. It was the middle of the tourist season (not a great time to move into a hospitality busines

This week, and long overdue, I am reading Mary Karr's The Art of Memoir. And yet again the link between acting and writing is at the forefront of the text - although I'm not sure how much Karr herself realises this (maybe it will become clear in due course). I had read to page 32 when I had to stop and turn my attention, briefly, to this post. So here goes... Karr makes clear that one of the most challenging and dangerous parts of memoir writing is the event/memory that elici

N.B. The following blog was drafted, coincidentally, just one day before I read page 114 of Bernadine Evaristo's autobiography, in which she confirms the influence of acting on her writing. A link to the book on Waterstones' website is provided at the end of the blog and I have added a couple of quotations from it to demonstrate Evaristo's view of the kind of things I am saying. The power of the connection is as strong as ever! I have been reading Bernadine Evaristo's memoir

As many of you will know, I am currently editing and revising my thesis for publication as a monograph. This has involved not only eliminating and shortening many of the references that are not relevant for a book on the subject, but also reviewing all of my arguments for clarity, consistency and coherence. Of course, this work on argument was 'completed' before I submitted my thesis but, as my wonderful supervisor once said, 'Nic, you'll never be finished! The day after you

Over the past few days I have been working my way through Hester Lees-Jeffries' wonderful new book: Textile Shakespeare . It was only published last week and offers a detailed examination of ways in which textiles were created, handled, used and subsequently viewed in Early Modern England, with occasional reference to the intervening years between then and now. Hilary Mantel's use of textiles in her Wolf Hall trilogy gets special coverage. I am reading Textile Shakespeare be

Another unique feature of writing retreats at A Place to Write is the reading by candlelight on the final evening. Retreaters are often...

One of our new signs This month, with my doctoral thesis finally out of the way, there has been time to move things forward behind the...

One of the benefits of a summer retreat is the fine summer weather: walks at Rhug Estate or to the top of Caer Drewyn or Pen Y Pigyn are always a delight but the views are particularly spectacular at this time of year.

The past three months have been extremely busy at A Place to Write. A bit like the proverbial swan: floating serenely on the surface but...

So much has been happening at A Place to Write in the past two months that it's been difficult to catch my breath! Aside from two...

Conversations with past guests have indicated that a blog post about writing retreats in general, and the different types of retreat...

It's been too long since I wrote my last blog entry (almost two months!) but happily that's because of the major developments taking...

The day has come and passed.... after four long years of research, on Tuesday 27th August 2024, I finally submitted my doctoral thesis...

Looking ahead, our July untutored writing retreat has been sold out for sometime now and, with nine guests from all over the UK booked to...

A year to remember at "A Place to Write" where we have already entertained more than 60 writers of all genres in 2024

It's been a busy few weeks at A Place to Write as we have welcomed our son, Alex, back for a short break from Australia, launched our new...

As we say goodbye to our latest eight retreaters, and look forward to welcoming them back again before too long, it's time to take stock...

For the first time in what seems like weeks, the sun is out at A Place to Write - just in time for us to welcome eight new writers to our...

I have been asked by several people about the tutors and the tutoring that we provide at A Place to Write. So, for this blog, I thought I...

This month sees our largest retreat to date: 6 writers joining us for our February tutored retreat at A Place to Write - exciting times!...