November 2025

Last weekend I celebrated the second birthday of my favourite literary child. 

Twisted Branches is a short story cycle following five generations of one family home. It’s about a lot of things I’m about – art, love, loyalty, food, family, friendships, Richmond – but mainly it’s about how as human beings we, knowingly and unknowingly, mess up and light up each others’ lives. 

If you haven’t read it and want to, you can find it in all the places you buy books – of which Waterstones, Amazon and the publisher’s website are just a few – and if you enjoy it and want to leave a review, please know that makes a huge difference.

Speaking of making a huge difference by doing a bit of writing…

Green Ink Sponsored Write 2025 nearly doubled its total for Macmillan Cancer Support

Enormous thanks to everyone who joined me on the writing team this year – Isabella Barbieri, Sarah Brooks, Stephanie Brown, Dan Coxon, Alex Davis, Kayleigh Dobbs, John-Paul Flintoff, Marianne Izen, Penny Jones, Nic Lamont, Ashley Lexine, Tim Major, Lisa Morton, Katharine Orton, Kenny Reid, Jennifer Steil, Vanessa Thompsett, Steve Toase, Ben Unsworth and Stacey Michelle Warner.

Further thanks to Rhianna Pratchett for our title, Elspeth Hannen for our cover image, Steve Shaw for typesetting and publishing, Andy Gould my excellent Macmillan officer and, absolutely most of all, you if you donated any part of our £1815 for Macmillan Cancer Support. 

We all hope you’re enjoying the anthology – not just in content but in the very fact of what can be achieved in 48 hours. 

Yep, 48 hours from creation to publication. Take that, our ‘but-I’m-not-in-the-mood-to-write-today’ brains. When we know we have to, we discover we can. The trick is to know we can when we discover don’t have to. 

If you’re coming to World Fantasy Con or The NAWE Inspiring Writing Conference, I’ll see you there. I’m running creative-confidence-building workshops suitable (and, more to the point, enjoyable) for everyone whether writing is a large, small or yet-untapped part of your life. 

The most important thing for me about any of my workshops is that they build creative confidence for life as well as art: that it’s not just about turning fear into curiosity on the blank page, and finding a new story by finding the fun: it’s doing that in our careers, our personal lives; discovering what we want ‘next’ to look like and that we have the power to create it. 

Scroll down to Coffee & Creativity at the Century Club on 12 December for a gentle way in to your next chapter in life or art – or join any session below.

Coming up in November and December…

Fiction and Memoir Writing: Tuesdays 11-25 November 2025
I’m back at Riverside Studios in November with Fiction and Memoir Writing with Riverscribes at Riverside Studios. Use your Writers’ Gym member discount code when booking here.

Focus and Flow – a creative confidence masterclass
10am-11.30am, Friday 14 November
Explore writing and speaking coaching tools to narrow the gap between who we are on the inside and how we show up in our careers and personal lives; to identify where we want our next steps to take us, harnessing the power of curiosity to turn creative thinking into authentic choices. A members’ event for Olympic Studios with a limited number of guest spots. Book here

A Story as a Gift – Christmas Writing Workshop
10am-11.30am, Friday 5 December
Sharing our stories is the most human gesture of love. This winter, create a short story as a seasonal gift for a loved one or for yourself. Suitable for beginner and experienced writers alike, enjoy gentle exploration through the unique cocktail of memory and imagination that makes each of us, and our unique mix of story ingredients, utterly unique. A members’ event for Olympic Studios with a limited number of guest spots. Book here

Coffee & Creativity at The Century Club
10am-11.30am, Friday 12 December
Build creative confidence and unlock inspiration for life, work and art with fiction and non-fiction author, creative writing lecturer, qualified business and personal coach and founder of the Writers’ Gym membership and podcast, Dr Rachel Knightley. Dr Rachel’s gently powerful facilitation provides a space to turn curiosity into creativity, whether you’re building creative and professional writing skills, or writing a new chapter in your professional and personal life story. Book here