In November, Debi Alper and I will be teaching at the Self-Edit Your Novel Retreat. We’ll be back at the beach house in West Bay, Bridport.

Debi will be running 2 classes based on her hugely successful online course, which I did a few years ago and it changed my writing forever. The course is great and Debi recently wrote a blog about the success rate of people that have completed it and gone on to get book deals.

You can get all the info on the retreat here – it takes place from 4th to 8th November. There are 6 places to join us and I’m running a competition to win one of them.

Competition details

Deadline: 23.59 on 10th July 2016

Prize: 1 place at the 4 night Self-Edit Your Novel Retreat in your own room with all food, drink and classes included. Outside of the classes your time is yours to read, write, sleep, walk – whatever you want to do!

Entry fee: £10

How to enter: Write a 500 word novel opener on the theme of a holiday at the beach. Send it in through Submittable using the button below with a short covering note saying why you’d like to win the place at the retreat and a bit of info on what you are working on.

Good luck!

Competition T&Cs

• £10 to enter
• You can enter as many times as you like as long as you pay the fee each time
• Do not put your name on your novel opening or your entry will be disqualified as judging is done anonymously
• Stories must be written in English, your own original work and unpublished online and in print
• Submit your stories through Submittable by 23.59 (BST) on 10th July 2016
• Winner will be announced in July 2016
• The judge’s decision is final
• By entering the competition you agree to attend the Self-Edit Your Novel Retreat and have your winning novel opening entry published on the Retreat West website
• The writer of the winning novel opening gets a free place at the Self-Edit Your Novel Retreat and the prize is not transferable