Writers may be many things – often coming to the craft from all walks of life – but they do share one common and essential characteristic: they’re all excellent observers. We brought together three writing professionals to discuss the truth of this statement and if writers really are the best of us all at finding inspiration in everyday life.
In an exciting guide for writers, The Writer’s Eye, author and academic Amy E. Weldon draws on important new research into creative writers and shows how developing habits and practices of observing life, and writing down your findings without fear, can be the first step away from doubt and insecurity for many aspiring authors. With Amy’s guide, we’re confident that writers can learn to find inspiration in any environment and we were thrilled to have Amy with us for one night only to share with us what she’s learned in her research for The Writer’s Eye.
Our founder and Editorial Director, Nina-Sophia Miralles, shared her experience of working with writers and her advice to writers of essays and journalism wanting to be published by some of the city’s thriving scene of independent journals and magazines.
Amy and Nina-Sophia talked to author and lecturer Gavin James Bower taking a deep dive into how writers can find their writer’s eye and polish up their current writing projects for publication.
Amy E. Weldon is Professor of English at Luther College, USA. She is the author of The Hands-On Life: How to Wake Yourself Up and Save the World (2018) and has published numerous essays in edited collections and stories and reviews in journals including Orion, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Common, Midwest Gothic, and The Carolina Quarterly. Amy’s forthcoming novel is Eldorado, Iowa, published by Bowen Press Books.
Nina-Sophia Miralles is the founder and editor of LONDNR Magazine, a print and digital publication which launched in 2015. LONDNR’s focus is discerning journalism covering the arts, culture and lifestyle in the capital, with an emphasis on supporting the creative industries. She has also written for The Paris Review and previously worked at Harrods Magazine.
Gavin James Bower was born in Lancashire in 1982. He graduated from the University of Sheffield, before working as a model for John Galliano and Hermes in Paris. He is the author of two novels and one non-fiction work, and has contributed as a journalist to The Guardian, The Independent and Independent on Sunday, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and The Sunday Telegraph. He joined the writing team for EastEnders in 2014. He currently lectures in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.