I am writing this on the fly because between running away last week to go to the Milford Writing Retreat to dealing with shingles (yes, shingles. It has not been fun) to coming home and catching up with all the things, it dawned on me that Cymera, the SFF/H writing festival held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland, is right around the corner. And, more important for this newsletter, the sign-ups for the Masterclass close Friday! eek!

I’m running a Masterclass from the morning of Wednesday 3 June to the morning of Friday 5 June, which is when the festival itself starts. I love working with newer writers and know how difficult it is to suddenly find yourself in an industry that can be really opaque to “newbies.” So, this year Cymera has brought me in to run this class for newer writers who have little experience with critique (giving and receiving feedback), editing (not just what the types are but what working with an editor is like as well as how to approach editing your own work without falling into the AI trap), and the publishing industry (from short fiction to novels, covering everything from traditional to self publishing). And on the last morning, the Masterclass participants will take part in the Writing Folk Horror workshop I’m running. (And, if you are going to be there, I am also running the Writing Witches workshop again that was so popular last year!)

If you’re interested, act quickly because, as noted above, sign-ups close in a few days and there aren’t too many spots left. You can find much more information here: https://www.cymerafestival.co.uk/programme-26/2026/4/10/masterclass

Until next time: