Writing Hour Roundup: 29 March 2022


Shutterstock / 13_Phunkod © person using social media

Welcome back to another Writing Hour Roundup!

Writing Hour is when we get to chat to our writers and ask them some questions. It’s held every week on a Tuesday at 11 a.m. and it’s always a brilliant time!

Every week we summarise everything that went on for those who missed out.

Here’s what we got up to this time . . .

Does anyone have good news that you’d like to share?

There is plenty of good news. Garden successes, competition and lottery wins, family fun, travel plans and house renovation progress.

Of course, there have been plenty of writing wins, too – winning competition entries, submitting novel manuscripts, receiving great reviews and more!

Jenny Worstall’s ‘A Mystery At St Hilda’s’ (which you may have first enjoyed as a “Friend” Pocket Novel) is going to be published by Ulverscroft on Friday.

Angela Petch’s ‘The Postcard from Italy’ has been given a no. 1 bestseller sticker on Amazon! You can read Alan’s interview with Angela here.

Sales are going well for the 21 Stories for Ukraine anthology, featuring stories from many of “Friend” writers. All royalties go to Disasters Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Appeal.

And Glenda Young is living the dream!

Have you ever cried while writing a story?

Most of you have! In fact, some of you use it to gauge whether your readers will feel emotionally invested in the story.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve discovered during research for a story?

We learned so many new things from this thread! Here are our favourites:

What was your favourite childhood magazine? Did it have fiction in it?

This thread was full of nostalgia! These were magazines with the most mentions. Do you remember these issues?

Retro children's magazines

What question would you most like to ask our illustrators?

There were some great questions in this thread. We may have to do something with them . . .

Do you have a favourite quote about writing?

Let’s end on a happy note!


We’ll see you at our next Writing Hour on Twitter — 11 a.m. on Tuesday 5 April, 2022.

Or click here to see our previous roundups.

Abigail Phillips

Abbie is the newest member of the fiction team at the "Friend." She loves how varied the role is - every day is different and there is always a new story to read. She is keen to work closely with established writers and discover new writers, too.