The Seven Stages of Manuscript submission
News, events, resources and opportunities
Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition 2025 - deadline 2nd June.
Idea Idol is BACK! Judged by Katie Blagden. Open until 30th June.
Faber Launches 2025 FAB Prize - deadline Friday 25th July.
Undiscovered Voices - deadline 8th September.
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Hub Calendar (all times GMT/BST)
June
Hub catch up Monday 2nd 8pm with Melissa
YA Chat Tuesday 3rd 7pm with Melinda Salisbury
Writer’s Toolkit: Wednesday 4th 12pm - Polish your Pitches with Florianne
MG Chat Thursday 12th 7.30pm with Vashti Hardy
PB Chat Tuesday 10th 7pm with Rachael Davis
Agent/Editor Q&A: Friday 20th 10am with Hazel Holmes, Agent at Northernlit and Publisher at UCLan Publishing
July
PitchHero July 1st Hazel Holmes, Agent at Northernlit and Publisher at UCLan Publishing
YA Chat Tuesday 1st 7pm with Melinda Salisbury
Hub catch up Monday 7th 8pm with Melissa
PB Chat Tuesday 8th 7pm with Rachael Davis
MG Chat Thursday 10th 7.30pm with Vashti Hardy
Writer’s Toolkit: Monday 21st 11am Melissa Welliver, How to Show-Don’t-Tell in Fictional Worlds
A full calendar is here: https://write-mentor.com/events/
All sessions are recorded and available to watch back, so don’t fret about being there ‘live’. This is just a few of the many sessions/opportunities that happen every month in the Hub and are all available on catch-up if you join now.
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WriteMentor Picture Book and Novel Awards 2025
The Final Word
By Tara Potter
The Seven Stages of Manuscript submission, NOT by Shakespeare.
All the world’s a stage,
And all the people merely players:
And one writer in their time plays many parts,
Each manuscript passing through seven ages.
The first is an INFANT who’s puking out words,
Which fly from the heart like a huge flock of birds
Then SCHOOL-CHILD unwillingly starts the hard chore
Of edits and rewrites and courses galore.
[They edit and edit and edit some more]
Now LOVER … “This story’s the BEST to exist.
And perfectly matched to a Dream Agent’s list.”
Next SOLDIER on guard for their email to ‘ping’.
The agent will, no doubt, decide it’s their thing.
[Refresh and refresh and refresh and refresh.]
The much wiser JUSTICE refreshes much less,
Still certain the Agent’s reply will be “yes!”
Then OLD AGE and slowly the hope starts to fade;
But writers love writing. New plans must be made.
The last age is when the rejection arrives,
The writer’s now progressed through all seven lives.
They try to forget their old dreams for that text.
No longer refreshing but thinking …
What’s next?
The story in this last scene of all, that ends the strange eventful history, is mere oblivion:
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything!
Writing can be lonely, but it doesn’t need to be
May the Force be with you!
Stuart, Florianne and Melissa
This was fun to read Tara and true too!
What a faff trying to write a comment on here! 3 codes later- none of them worked.