Category Archives: Milford

A typewriter?! by Juliet Kemp

Posted on 25 January 2022 by Jacey Bedford

I learnt to type in the mid-80s, aged eight, on a real typewriter. I asked to ‘play’ with the exciting shiny machine with all the letters, and  my mum handed me a teach-yourself workbook. By the time I got bored, … Continue reading →

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Emerald to Ice: Adventuring in Ecological Science Fiction by Matt Colborn

Posted on 18 January 2022 by Jacey Bedford

There’s a sequence in David Attenborough’s insect series, Life in the Undergrowth, when he describes the annual life cycle of the bumble bee. The story of the queen bee founding her nest after hibernation, raising a whole society, producing new … Continue reading →

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Happy Book Birthday to Me! – by Jacey Bedford

Posted on 11 January 2022 by Jacey Bedford

My new book, The Amber Crown is released into the wild today, published by DAW, and available on both sides of the Atlantic as a trade paperback (large format) and also as an electronic book (Kindle, E-book etc.). I’m delighted … Continue reading →

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Old Versions and New by Jim Anderson

Posted on 4 January 2022 by Jacey Bedford

At the most recent Milford workshop in September 2021, I brought a (heavily, wildly) reworked version of a story that I’d first brought to Milford in 2011. The core of the story is an idea that I’ve been struggling with, … Continue reading →

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8) The Irresistible End by Colin Brush

Posted on 21 December 2021 by Jacey Bedford

The last instalment in Colin Brush’s series on how to write the perfect blurb for your book. ‘But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a … Continue reading →

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7) The Many Shaped Blurb by Colin Brush

Posted on 14 December 2021 by Jacey Bedford

The seventh in a series of how-to posts by Colin Brush ‘Poetry is precise a thing as geometry’ – Gustave Flaubert We’ve looked at beginning our blurb and structuring it utilising opposites and tension and now we’re going to see … Continue reading →

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6) Middling – the power of opposites to structure your blurb by Colin Brush

Posted on 7 December 2021 by Jacey Bedford

‘Elric knew that everything that existed had its opposite. In danger he might find peace. And yet, of course, in peace there was danger. Being an imperfect creature in an imperfect world he would always know paradox. And that was … Continue reading →

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5) Beginnings, or How to Get People’s Attention by Colin Brush

Posted on 30 November 2021 by Jacey Bedford

‘It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.’ Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell We’re just over the halfway point in my guide to writing blurbs and you’re probably wondering when we’re going to get around … Continue reading →

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4) Pitching your story’s Emotional Hook by Colin Brush

Posted on 23 November 2021 by Jacey Bedford

Number 4/8 in a series of weekly posts on how-to write your own cover copy by Colin Brush reprinted from Summer 2020. Follow this blog to get all the instalments. I never take on a client unless I can pitch … Continue reading →

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3) Who are we Talking To? by Colin Brush

Posted on 16 November 2021 by Jacey Bedford

Number 3/8 in a series of weekly how-to posts on writing your own cover copy by Colin Brush reprinted from Summer 2020. Follow this blog to get all the instalments. ‘Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the … Continue reading →

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