Are you wanting to get started on your book? Complete your manuscript?

You need a lot of passion to write… Passion is a vital component of being creative and it’s passion that will get you to take your writing seriously, increase your chances of creating an exceptional piece and of getting published.

This ‘ordinary’ vine produced this beautiful passion fruit flower.

Our passion for the craft of writing distinguishes us from other writing retreats, other mentoring sessions and other manuscript editing services. We help countless writers on their journey to becoming a publisher author.

Does every manuscript need editing?

Well, of course, we’d say yes. But we’re not alone.

Anyone and everyone taking a writing class knows that the secret of good writing is to cut it back, pare it down, winnow, chop, hack, prune, and trim, remove every superfluous word, compress, compress, compress. — Nick Hornby, The Polysyllabic Spree

Editing your work can be time consuming and difficult. It can be expensive, too. It’s easy to resist. But it’s a joy once you see how a sensitive and astute edit can sharpen your story, polish your words and remove any (and all) weed-like words.

And you can save yourself heartache (and money) if you learn to edit your own work.

At our Writing in Paradise retreats you’ll be inspired to begin or continue a piece of writing… any genre, any length.

We give you skills to look clearly at what you’ve written. Before you even join us we read a sample of your work and provide focused, relevant feedback in group sessions and in our one-to-one time. Together, we put the manuscript into the best shape it can be.

When she got back from taking Cassie to school Fancy knew that she ought to be working on her wilderness romance. She had promised thirty thousand words to her editor by tomorrow, and she had only written eleven. Specifically: His rhinoceros smelled like a poppadom: sweaty, salty, strange and strong.
 Her editor would cut that line.
 ― Jaclyn Moriarty, The Spell Book of Listen Taylor

Getting published

All our courses — Writing in Paradise and Editing in Paradise provide the stepping stones you need to get published.

We offer guidance to:

• Identify your market. How do you improve your chances?
• Identify the publishers to submit your manuscript to. (Step 1 = don’t muddy the waters and send to too many or the wrong sort of publishers.  A scatter gun approach won’t work.)
• Ensure your manuscript has been edited even before you submit. (Step 2 = Even before it’s accepted and given the in-house editor’s expert handling, your manuscript deserves to be ‘well baked’. An undercooked manuscript will flop.)
• Have your proposal/submission tight and targeted. (Step 3 = Follow guidelines and be clear about genre and pitch.)

With writing and manuscript editing programs in Byron Bay, and Bali, you’ll get the chance to work on your writing in such beautiful locations that you’ll be inspired to create a masterpiece!

For more information on our manuscript editing services and programs in Australia and Bali, or to make a booking with Writing in Paradise please contact us today.