STARTING YOUR BOOK?
Join a year-long month personal mentorship to finally get your book written. I have a method and process to get your book from zero to finished over this time. I like books to be commercially publishable - and over 200 published authors will show you that it works. At the end of our process, and if you really commit to it, you will have a final book ready to publish.
'STOP MUCKING ABOUT' online WRITING COMMUNITY
Join the online writing community. For a monthly subscription of $40 you join all our online groups and events.
We have a weekly writing group every Wednesday for a four hour writing session.
We have a monthly online 'three day writing at home retreat' which is a serious push to clock up your word count.
JOIN A RETREAT
We run writing retreats in Greece during the summer, Lamu, South Africa and Italy. Here is a list of upcoming ones.
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I’m no writer but had a story I needed to tell. If you have a book “inside” you and you have determination then catch a ride. Sarah's wealth of knowledge on the craft of writing, the industry, and process and the motivation around it all was priceless. With all the content for my book in hand and a message I wanted to share, I needed someone to help me structure my thoughts and give life to my ideas. Sarah Bullen masterfully brought all the words together into a completed manuscript. Thank you for your patience, persistence, integrity and professionalism. You made my dream come true! Kim Potgieter, Your Midlife Money Makeover 2020 |
The demands and trends in contemporary publishing mean authors need to be aware of reader requirements. We write a book for many reasons; to share a journey, to entertain, to build a brand or to highlight a cause. I like to make sure your book is the best version it can be. For me, that means well-structured, edgy and authentic."
Sarah Bullen
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Sarah's expertise and heartfelt care are a rare find. I highly recommend her services as a writing coach and literary agent and am very grateful to have found her.
Colleen-Joy Page Author The Apple Tree and The Wisdom Well Way
WHAT'S COMING UP?
Writing Room Sprint Sessions
Join our weekly dedicated four hour online Writing Room sessions and get your writing locked down and in progress.
You can join for one hour, or all four and can be working on any project (writing or book related).
In theory, this isolation time should be good for writers. Writing is solitary. You sit alone at your desk for a year. But too much alone is not good for anyone. We have all started to crave the company of other crazy writers for connection and support, feedback, a giggle or a moan. That's why we have started to write together in weekly 'bum time' sessions online. It is powerful and productive. I invite you to join in those sessions and just write with a global family.
We start at 11am GMT (please convert to your timezone)
The first 15 minutes we will take questions and connect,
Then all writers will mute audio, put off their cameras and write.
We connect again at the top of each hour, take a 5 min break and check in on our progress before sprinting the 55 min writing session.
You can join any time and pop in and out.
When you sign up you will be sent a link to join.
Crossing the Threshold: A 12 Week Creative Writing Journey into Story
ONLINE COURSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
There are no refunds for online purchases.
Please read the full course description here
“In many shamanic societies, if you came to a medicine person complaining of being disheartened, dispirited, or depressed, they would ask one of four questions: "When did you stop dancing? When did you stop singing? When did you stop being enchanted by stories? When did you stop finding comfort in the sweet territory of silence?
Gabrielle Roth
When were you last enchanted by a story? When last did you allow the words to flow? Can you allow silence into your life, and allow creativity to rise into that void?
This is a 12-week creative writing journey with writing mentor and author Sarah Bullen, and a call to write. But it is also a call to dive deeper as we will follow a pilgrim’s descent through exploration and writing.
Over the course of the 12 weeks we will follow the ‘path of the hero’. We will find the key elements that make writing powerful, and unite stories across time. We will track the path a hero must walk, and into Magic, Adventure, Conflict, Struggle Descent and Resurrection.
Each module, and week, will set up a new lesson in the craft of writing – in scene structure, plotting, story build and pace. Then the week will develop that in your writing as you take this into your own project.
Over the 12 weeks you can use the structure to write up to 40,000 words if you are working on a book.
WHO CAN JOIN THIS?
Writers of any genre are welcomed. Any levels of experience can join. You may want to use this process to work on your current book and intensify the journey and language. You may want to start a book, or write your personal story. You may want to write poetry, songs, essays, short stories or blogs. You may want it to develop and deepen character or plotting.
This (unlike many of my courses), does not have a fixed outcome in mind. You don’t have to end up with a book. I do love to push writers, but it is a delight of writing that will bring you here. But of course, it will also give you the technical tools, prompts and pushes to make sure you actually write.
HOW DOES IT RUN
We will all start together and work as a community across the 12 weeks. Each writer, of course, will do their own work. But The Writing Room is also a community of authors, writers and poets. We use a community platform that will function as our writing group, and your place to connect, get support and advice, share and get feedback on your writing throughout the journey.
HOW IT WORKS
Three days each week you receive an email with a link to the day's content. The materials are in written, video, and audio format which you can view and listen to at any time. Every second Monday we will have a live call,
Each week operates with a theme to explore, which you will receive on the Monday lesson.
On Monday evenings at 3pm UTC/GMT (every fortnight) there will be a 45 min live call with Sarah Bullen with a lesson and tasks for the week. Please see below for session times as depending on your location they may change for two of the weeks. All sessions are recorded.
- On Wednesday there will be Writing Tasks and Reflections taking you into a week of writing.
- On Sunday you will submit or share your piece of writing – or a portion of it – with the other writers for feedback or comment.
Culturally we do not allow enough space or value to darkness – the night’s deeps, winter solstice, dreaming in a cave, Yin energy, the formless, infinite, indefinable, unknowing realms of unconsciousness and shadow. Yet this is where creativity and energy and aliveness are born.
ONLINE COURSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
There are no refunds for online purchases.
Professional Manuscript Appraisal
You have written your best possible version of your book, and now you need someone to make it better. The good news is that there are other people (professionals) who can take your book to the 'next level'.
Please note that a manuscript (MS) appraisal is not an EDIT, but is a high-level structural assessment of the MS. The onus is then on the writer to 'fix' the structural suggestions and accept and work on the changes.
This is for writers who have completed a full draft of a book and feel it needs input / improvement or a professional eye to assess it and give critical feedback. A MS appraisal report is a professional assessment of all aspects of the structure of the MS such as plot, character, dialogue etc . It is a commercial assessment that gives you a fresh, objective outsider's perspective done by a qualified editor The overall aim of this high-level assessment is to improve your MS and give you real ways to make it better and more publishable. During the process they will make significant notes and changes. At the end of the process you will get a full written report. The report will make suggestions, changes and act as an overall assessment. It will suggest specific large-scale changes / improvements / refinements (plotting changes, structure changes, pace, characters and overall novel read).
Some editors will also make detailed edit notes on your manuscript, or comments, for you to work with.
In a novel a manuscript appraisal focuses on structural strengths and weaknesses: Character. Setting. Plot.
The process will be completed in 3-4 weeks.
Beta Reader Report
A Beta Reader report is highly useful and honest report by someone who knows and loves books. It will be someone who we know will give you an honest report and feed back to you what a reader thinks of the book, with some ways to make it more readable.
This is not a professional Manuscript Appraisal (see below for that link).
As an author you are looking for fresh eyes and honest feedback.
The reader report needs to be objective, honest and constructive.
An author will use this beta feedback to re-assess, re-write the next draft and take the book forward.
It will cover
1. Overall impression
2. Beginning of the book / hook
3. Characters (general, lead character, other main characters)
4. The middle
5. The ending
6. Plot progression or argument development (this is about the book structure)
7. Language use
8. Weaknesses
9. Strengths
Do you need a more professional review?
Then look at rather booking a Professional Manuscript Appraisal here
https://www.thewritingroom.co.za/store/p15/manuscriptappraisal.html#/
The Writing Room Community
Writing is solitary. You sit alone at your desk for a year. But too much alone is not good for anyone. We have all started to crave the company of other crazy writers for connection and support, feedback, a giggle or a moan. That's why we have started to write together in weekly 'bum time' sessions online. It is powerful and productive. I invite you to join in those sessions and just write with a global family.
Here's what it includes:
- WEEKLY WRITING SESSIONS
- MONTHLY LONGER IMMERSIONS
- Monthly writing chat and Q&A
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Three Day Writing 'Retreat at Home'
BOOK FOR NEXT ONE
We have one of these every month
24 - 26 September
29 - 31 October
19 - 21 November
9 - 11 December
21-23 January
Three days of solid and real writing.
We connect in 9 hour sessions over three days.
Times are 11am-9pm UTC/GMT (convert to your own timezone! - please check your timezone here.
For all writers on any of my mentorships this is a no-cost weekend so ask me for that link to register.
HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS....
So here are the rules... you can join for all three days of it... or a few of the times.
Once you register you will get a link for the entire time, and you can pop in and out using the same link.
We connect and chat at the start of each session.... and we break to connect every 1.5 hours.
You set your goals and your word count.
You can be working on any creative project.
This is a serious push to write, connect and get something done.
Don't feel alone. Weekends are for writing!
Storytellers ought not to be too tame.They ought to be wild creatures who function adequately in society. They are best in disguise. If they lose all their wildness, they cannot give us the truest joys.
Ben Okri.
Just some of my published authors
Writing a book is a long and magical journey. It takes time, hours of work and a good writing strategy. It takes a deep calling to share a story. We can start at any point in the writing process. Most often I work with an author for 6-12 months to get a book from IDEA to publication. Some books take longer. Some take less time. The way I work is initially over 6 months.
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STORIES
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