As Emma Claire Sweeney and I judged all of the entries anonymously, the identity of the winner and all those who made the shortlist had been a secret to us until today, so it’s great to be able to put a name to such an engagingly written story.
Congratulations also to Viccy Adams, Terry Edge, Sarah Evans, Hilary Fennell, Caroline Healy, Sophie Mackintosh and Katherine Matthews, the seven runners-up.
For more details about the contest and the judging process, please visit the Circle of Missé website.
Emma and I really enjoyed reading all of the shortlisted entries, and I know I’d definitely love to see anyone who entered on my course at Missé in April.
Corner of the gardens at Missé. I took this picture last year during an afternoon wander.
Having had such a wonderful stay at Circle of Missé in 2011, I was delighted to be asked back for a second year. The location itself with its stone farmhouse walls, its garden vines humming with bees, the surrounding sunflower fields, is one that really inspires creativity. To add to this, there’s great food and wine, and Aaron and Wayne’s sense of hospitality. Really, what more could a writer want?
As usual, I’ll be doing a week’s teaching for the first half of my stay there and then spending the following week as the writer in residence, giving me the chance to focus exclusively on my own writing. From 2 to 8 April I’ll be teaching the course A Writer Progresses.
Open to all skill levels, A Writer Progresses is for writers who already have a project underway, either in the form of some completed draft work or just a strong set of ideas about where you hope to be heading. During the week participants spend at Missé, there will be opportunities for one-to-one feedback and group workshopping, writing exercises directly related to the projects individual group members are working on, discussions about the craft of writing, and solitary writing time too.
One real strong point of the Missé experience, in addition to the fact that everyone gets very well looked after while they’re there, is the small class sizes. The maximum numbers allowed for each course is always capped very low – something that guarantees lots of individual attention for everyone in the group.
This being the case, early booking for the week is advisable, particularly because reserving your place before 31 December will allow you to take advantage of the 10% Early Bird Discount.
For more information, I recommend you visit the Circle of Missé website. If you think you might be interested, but still have some questions, do send me a message using the Contact Emily tab above. Alternatively, you can get in touch with Circle of Missé directly, through their Any Questions page.
Emily Midorikawa 