Welcome to FREE YOUR PEN

This blog is about writing and training your mind to free your pen. Explore the archives for inspiration, resources, and writing prompts, and discover more about the creative process. There are also free writing guides for you to download and share…

Discover the book: Free Your Pen: Mind Training for Writers and read extracts by following the links to these key posts:

• Mind Training for Writers – introducing the ideas in the book
• What is Lojong? – the Buddhist practice of mind training
• How to Practice with the Slogans
• Explore the Slogans

Discover the Book

Browse the Writing Guides

May your mind and your pen be free 🙂

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Resources and Advice for Writers

This is a collection of links to some of the sites I’ve found most useful in my writing over the years. You’ll find helpful articles, advice and inspiration to help you write and publish your work. I’ve also included some links to essential advice for anyone thinking of entering writing competitions, plus some competition listing sites… Bookmark this page!

Novel Writing Competition List

Novel Writing Competition List for 2018-19. These competitions are for unpublished or self-published novels and novellas for international writers, plus a few for UK residents only. It’s a long list and accurate as far as possible, updated monthly, so bookmark this page! I can’t vouch for all these comps personally, but if you have experience of them, I’d love to hear from you. Good luck!

Screenwriting Competition List for Scripts & Plays

Scriptwriting Competition List for 2018-19 including International and UK competitions for screenwriters and playwrights. Details are accurate as far as possible and updated monthly – bookmark this page! I can’t vouch for all these comps personally, but if you have experience of any of them, I’d love to hear from you. Good luck!

Reader review: Free Your Pen is a wonderful book!

A big thank you to Carol Hughes who got in touch to let me know how she was getting on with Free Your Pen. It’s always good to hear from readers and even better when they say your writing has helped. I’m so glad Carol has found hope and courage through practising mind training with her writing – it really does work! This is what she had to say:

Abandon Hope and Other Crazy Advice for Writer’s Block

The writing of Free Your Pen was a long a convoluted journey and for a while I thought the book would never be finished. I had wanted to write it for years, but life had other ideas, as life usually does…

Slogan 59: Don’t Expect Applause

Don’t expect applause is about not expecting recognition or applause for the things you do. The original slogan is the same and it encourages you to let go of attachment to the outcome, in a similar way to slogan 28.

Slogan 58: Don’t Be Frivolous

Don’t be frivolous is about finding the right balance between joy and seriousness, and focusing on the things that really matter to you. The original lojong slogan is the same, and on face value, seems to be telling you to not have any fun. But thankfully, there’s more to it than that.