Inkitt launches a free program to help you turn your idea into a novel within 30 days.

Have you ever thought about writing a novel? There are millions of people in the world who have ideas floating around in their heads that they want to write down but never find the time. Inkitt, the world’s first reader-powered book publisher, will be launching their first ‘Writers Write Program’ on November 1st to help you turn your idea into an original novel. The 30-day program is completely free and filled with special benefits such as:

• Free, 30 min private sessions with professional writing coaches (including the editor of The Martian)
• Events and tips with bestselling authors like Andy Weir, Lauren Kate, and Gayle Forman
• A variety of community features such as the choice to get a writing buddy who you can exchange manuscript feedback with.

“Our intention is to enlarge the writing community by encouraging more people to become writers,” said CEO of Inkitt, Ali Albazaz. “The program is completely free so for us this isn’t about making money; it’s about encouraging talented and committed writers to keep going and finish what they started.”

If you are serious about taking on the challenge or want to finish (or start!) a manuscript then make sure to get your spot in the program now. There is less than a week left before it starts.

For more information click here. 

That One Word

There's one word I hate to hear.
It burns my ears and tears up my insides.
A reflex word, 5 letters in total.

Done something horrible?
bumped into someone in the supermarket?
hurt someone?
what are you?
what do you become?

The word I dislike hearing.
a lie of its own
bitter on the tellers tongue.
it doesn't stop you from doing it again.

Sorry.

Writers Block

The thing is,it was all last minute. The empty document on my laptop was where a few 1000 words were supposed to lie and they had only have to be there for one more week. 

So I up and left my usual writing place and traveled to Ireland. I had been a few times but it's beauty just seemed to relax me almost immediately.

With only my laptop a small bag of clothes and essentials I wandered the streets taking them in as I searched for a place to stay. In between searching and discovering I found a small B&B which upon inquiry gave me their last room. 

The woman who handed me the key, tall and curvy, long brown hair and blue eyes was very gentle. Her hand was cold to touch but the contact only lasted seconds. 

The room was average for what you payed for and had a great view as the room was in the loft so it got a great view from the windows installed to give the room natural light.

Almost instantly upon opening my laptop and the document, beautyou poured out of me and traveled through my fingers across the keyboard and up onto the scrrent and before I take a break after 2 hours of uncontrollable but amazing writing, I hit 6000 words. 

I head down to pay for some sort of a meal to fill me, last me for a while as I write but I only find the woman who had handed me my key and escorted me to my room. She noticed me immediately and flashed a quick smile before a blush hit her face and she looked away.

"I was wondering where best to get some food from" I say confidently as I close the distance between the desk and me. She smiles as she looks up and stutters as she opens her mouth to speak.

"George is in the back, he can cover me, I'll show you." She smiles and I nod as it was for the best. She leaves the room for a minute or so before escorting me out of the B&B and down a series of roads.

Out the corner of my eye I catch her watching me, absorbing my form and even when I look at her in conversation she watches me contently. 

"Do you like what you see?" I finally smile to her as we sit down at a small restaurant she had recommended.

"It is not every day someone so breathtaking walks into a shabby B&B" she smiles handing over the menu before looking to her own. She was not embarrassed by her words, she meant them it was written all over her.

She herself was breathtaking, her skin pale and flawless as her dark hair hugged her neck ànd collarbone. Every now and then she would flare her nostrils which made me laugh inside.

The truth is she was as breathtaking as she claimed me to be.

Over food we discussed ourselves, our lives and hobbies and how we got to where we were. She watched with content as I told her my story and I watched her with admiration as she told hers. 

I settle the bill against her wishes of going halves and we begin walking back, but much slower now. Our arms swung as we walked, brushing eachothers gebtly from time to time. I hadn't got any idea on how I felt about her, she was beautiful and kind and intriguing, funny and intelligent but did that spell love?.

As we walked further and further we fell into silence but smiled when we locked eyes from time to time. She stumbled on a cobble which had risen from its place. She reached out to grab me as I instinctively grabbed ahold of her arm to stop her from falling. She blushed then, embarrassed by the near fall she had had. 

"You good?" I smile to her as she seems to flex her toes in her shoes.

"Yes thasks." She smiles and I loosen my grip on her arm and let her move more freely. It had left her with a slight limp as she walked but with each stepid we worked with it. Her grip moved down my upper arm, now on my forearm. Soon enough I had gotten the momo and pulled my arm out of her grip before taking her hand.

"You could have just said." I smirk as she blushes again as she nods.

"I guess I could have." She smiles 

"This was deffinetly what I needed to write my book." I think to myself. And in 15 minutes we turn onto the B&B road back to my new sanctuary. 

Aunt Edna’s Money

So aunt Edna and I weren't exactly best buddies but when the inevitable man dressed in black came to her door and knocked 3 times before being let in, Edna passed everything down to me. We all knew the end was close with her, she had recently been wanting more time with each of us separately and even then that was the first time I had seen her and spoken to her face to face in over 5 years.

I had heard stories about my Aunt Edna, some of them I could believe, others I could not, but even this moment now I could not believe her whole estate was mine. I had read her will and all the terms which included instructions on what to do so that wretched unlikable cousin of mine, Wilfred got none of it.

Meeting up with my aunt for the first time in over 5 years was nerve wrecking but all of those nerves simply melted away when we drank at a great little coffee shop and spoke of music and books. Even after all of the bad stories I had heard about the woman, she was the most likable person I had met and we clearly bonded. She had expressed her concern for her own health as she leant back arched over the table holding firmly to my hands, then she expressed her concern of Wilfred who she feared would do anything to take all she had once she had passed but against my wishes she dropped the subject quickly and got back to talking about books.

As I browsed the isles of the old bookstore we shared a love for days after her death, I couldn't help but think of wretched Wilfred and the rules in my aunts will. I run my fingers over the spines of many books, picking out those which caught my attention before adding them to my pile at the counter. by the time I was finished I had bought many hundreds of pounds worth of books but it was all in the name of inspiration and research.

You see my aunts wishes were to be cremated, and not only that, but her ashes mixed in with ink, which she believed I could use to create a masterpiece of a book manuscript with within a year, and now I browse the same bookstore, looking over a small crowd of people who had gathered for the unveiling of the book now available in store. The main characters name? Edna of course.

Surprise On The Doorstep.

Harsh knocks pulled me from my dream, they echoed up the stairs where they filled each room.

I roll over misty eyed and squint towards the alarm clock which helped the numbers clear. 4:25 am.  Too early for a visitor surely.

By the time I've hauled the cover off of myself and sat up, the knocking seized to exist, but now I was too wide awake to fall back to sleep for a couple of hours now.

I drag my feet out of my room and down the stairs. There was no man nor woman standing at my door.

The door had broken time ago, the deadlock held it tightly shut. With a hard twist the lock grinder open and allowed the door to open. I glance down the street both ways. Dead.

Lay directly in the centre of my door mat, a parcel in a plain cardboard box. Glancing around again I make sure of no audience before bending down and retrieving it. Whatever was in there was warm.

I lock the door unbalanced by the box before entering the front room. I put the parcel down on the closest seat and then flick on the light. Tearing open the cardboard I smell heavy perfume, that is until I open the box fully to find a somewhat fresh load of animal dung.

I waste no time in banishing the box from my house. I turn off the lights and wash my hands in the bathroom before returning to bed. For hours on end I think of people who would send that kind of parcel to only come up short of a single idea. At 6am I propose an investigation starting in 3 hours. With my mind somewhat eased I slip off to sleep.

Home Sweet Home

I had spent months living in a damp smelling rat and cockroach infested apartment only a few miles from my childoodle home. But I was no fed up of the lack of hot water, wasting money on pest controllers because the rats and cockroadches only came back days later.

I had seen an advertisement in the newspaper of a 100% better apartment cheaper than this rat hole and closer to my family home. I dial up the number and ask for a viewing. Luckily it had only been advertised today and so barely anyone had asked to view. She had an opening in her schedule at 12 am which was only 30 minutes. It would take me 25 minutes to get there so I lock up and begin walking.

By the time I got there, the estate agent was already there, I quickly introduced myself and begun exploring the luxurious place. In the front room however there was a large hole in the wall. I peer inside to see more damage and only then do I notice that there is an arm in the darkness. I try to forget about for the rest of the tour but I find it hard.

"I'll take it." I smile to her.

"Okay that's wonderful." She replies

Paperwork was filed and keys were given. She was due to come back in when days time to hand over my official keys and rent payment calendar. She smiles as she walks off but all I can think about is the body in the wall.

No matter who it was or who did it, it was staying in the wall they will remain nameless and they will become nothing.

Thanks to my father's teachings, I patch up the wall and settle into my new appartment the next day. No matter what people say, cockroaches and rats were worse than the corpse behind the wall that was easy to forget about.

A Beautiful Voice

I open the envelope, gently sliding my forefinger between the seal. I pull out the folded bill and put the envelope behind it as I read.

It had been a list of all I had bought that month using my bank card. I tend to remember using ny card and how much for, but the pricing for one of the items was wrong. I knew because the reciept that lay in my purse told me so, but I had been charged and extra £57.

I look the bill over finding an 11 digit number which was listed as a contact number. I dial it and wait patiently, after a few seconds the line buzzes and then comes to life.

"Hello, my name is Clara, how can I help you?" She asks, her vioce was angelic.

Slightly distracted by her voice I don't answer right away and it causes her to ask again which slaps me to attention.

"Hello Clara my name is Jennifer and I've just looked over the bill I recieved today, I compared one purchase to the reciept and I've been charged and extra £57." I explain and she types away gently.

She asks for my details and types them in and asks for all of the information about the charge. She seems a happy and bubbly person over the phone but I wonder what shes like face to face.

The conversation had begun to come to its conclusion, she had to now contact those who charged me and enforce a refund of £57 which I was happy to hear.

"Well Jennifer, you'll be contacted about your refund and hopefully that will go smoothly."  She chimes, her words bouncing off the walls of my head.

"Thank you Clara." I smile biting onto my finger
"Actually," I cut up quick before she can hang up.

"I wondered if you'd like to go out for a meal sometime?" I ask, the line buzzes but she doesn't reply straight away. The phone comes alive again as she mumbles

"I will call you in 10 minutes, but yes." She replies and I feel the relief wash over me. The call ends then and I wait paitently for her call. I minute over the given time my phone rings with an unsaved number.

"Jen?" She chines
"Clara" I beam.

We spend 15 minutes on the phone talking of when, where and what time. Luckily she lived half an hour from me so picking her up wouldn't be too bad.

When the day came, it all fell into place. I drove to her getting there 5 minutes early and when she opened the door to my nervous but happy face she enveloped me in a hug.

"Jen?" She mumbled through the embrace to confirm my identity. It was safe to say her voice was beautiful and angelic and her looks enforced that idea.

The date was smooth and although I thought we were just friends for the time being, her hand fitted into mine well enough to say we were made for eachother. We ate and I payed, ignoring Clara's call of halves. We then walked down the streets to the beautiful park hand in hand where on an old bench did we confess.

"I know I havent known you for long, but I feel there is something here." She sniles gesturing between us. I gladly feel the same and I tell her so.

We spoke of ourselves and pur lives, our jobs and pass times. By the time we made it back to my car the time was well past 11. I drove carefully and when we reached her home I opened the door for her and escorted her to her door. She unlocked it first before stepping in to address me.

"Its been a wonderful night" she smiles.

"It has indeed." My smile is uncontained and when we make eye contact she lets out a small giggle.

"I hope to see you again." It was not a question from her but a statement. I nod in response and in her doorway she pulls me closer to her before pressing her lips to mine, gentle and slow is how she kisses.

Once parted I bid her goodnight and she did the same, allowing me to kiss her this time which left me only wanting more as I drove home. I could still smell her perfume in my car and it was making me giddy, like a small child and their first crush.

Crime Log

I sip my tea and sit down unfolding the days newspaper in my lap. I flick through the pages, dog with six legs, a page all about the sun for some reason which I cared nothing for.

Then I reach the section I wanted. The crime log. It listed pictures and names of criminals from all over the country. Today I notice a few familiar names who had made it into other crime logs.

Three rows down I spot an even familiar name. My own. I was wanted for assault with a deadly weapon. I look over the section again to make sure I have it right.

After the third look I understand it's there. My heart begins to thump louder in my ears, a lump in my throat and a taste in my mouth that my tea couldn't cover.

I don't understand, I haven't touched anyone. Im 5ft 5 how could I? I'm snapped out of my thoughts by a loud knocking on the front door.

"Open up its the police" and I try not to panic, it's a case is mistaken identity. All I had to do was let them in and iron out the creases.

With my tea in had I slowly walk to the door.
"I'm opening the door now' I tell them as I open the deadlock, pull out the chain and twist the key. As soon as the door opens I'm grabbed by several hands my cup of tea is now all over me and the mug has been taken away.

Everything happens so quickly I don't get a chance to talk. I'm read my rights as I'm cuffed and placed in the back of the car and taken to the station.

It takes them 3 weeks to realise I wasn't their person.

Post Apocalypstic Wasteland

So much war
So much death.

The screens in my bunker had shown it me all, the day I came down here I was 17, and by my count I now stand at a very old 67. My skin has begun to loosen, my sight worsen and I cant hear anything anymore, which when war is raging seems best. I had always been sure I would die by the time I was 40 but I had defeated my own expectations and although the war is still raging on outside of my pimped out bunker I can longer stand the sight of the same old 4 walls. They had been my only company for 50 years.

my knees shaking as I climb the steps, my breathing becoming a harder chore by the second. By the time I reach the door I deliberate on waiting another day and turning around and walking back down the steps but I know this is my only chance to see what it our there with my own eyes.

I push the door open, the seal of protection breaking within a second. The air barely changes and I I take my first weary step outside. The once green grass now stood yellow and weathered, the soil bumpy in random places. The air was thick with the smell of smoke yet none was visible. I circle the bunker, no building stood for a fair mile and a half and those that did were unstable.

There was no sign of life, I was truly alone. 50 years in a bunker to avoid what seems to be an endless war but now I was going to continue living in a bunker knowing I had avoided a war for no reason.

I circle the bunker one last time,sloeer than before taking in all I could before climbing back down the steps in my bunker closing the door after myself with a heavy heart and stinging eyes.

Cat Got Your Tongue?

It begun the same as it always did.

I roll out of bed at 6am, knocking over the buzzing alarm clock on my way and by the time I've gathered my things for my morning shower, it has stopped buzzing. I wash quickly and leave my hair slightly wet as it would dry as I made my breakfast. 2 pieces of toast as per usual and they're well buttered, as usual. They're consumed within 7 minutes and I clean up after myself, the house begun to wake up then, around 6:45 when the sun was beginning to rise, heating the house slightly causing it to creak and crackle.

I brush my teeth, scrubbing my tongue as hard as I could before using minty mouth wash for effect and then I left the house, climbed into my car and made the quiet journey to my workplace 34 minutes away. I pull up and wave to a colleague who has pulled up just before me and was collecting his things. he waved back, a gracious smile on his lips.

I carefully work across the car park after locking my car and then walk through the large doors which I barely manage. Michelle, our receptionist looks up to greet me as I walk forth ready to sign the sheet on the desk like we always would.

"Morning." I smile, except for the work never left my lips, it stayed sealed behind my lips, stitched to my throat. I try again this time wiping the look of mild concern off of my face.
"Morning." I smile again, and like the last time nothing came out. Michelle looks to me, her eyes glazed with concern and guilt.

she quickly looks around before looking back to me, then she pulled out a piece of paper from the near by printer and with a fake smile wrote something down. She smiled and slid it towards me.

"Smile, they're watching, none of us can talk, we need to act like normal." she smiles and as she had written I smile back at her and mouth a thank you for the note and made it out like the note passing would happen each day.

As I walk from the desk I turn around and wave at her tucking the note into my pocket, goose bumps rising on my skin.

Its Not About Me

Caught in a wild storm of emotions
How can I escape this thing? I cant see a way out
Are there even ways out of things like this?
Rarely, they say. Today was not a rare day it seemed.
Let me out, is all I can scream
I can't breathe, I cant take this,
Exits exist if you create them, someone whispers. It's my voice but I didn't say a word of it.

I Can Hear You

Three months ago, I was involved in a terrible car accident, a drunk driver had been behind the wheel of a fast traveling pick up truck driving the wrong way up the road which I happened to be traveling up. By the time I swerved my car out of his path, he had hit his brakes a lot slower than he could have and spun his wheel the wrong direction, following me onto the grassy bank before ploughing into my side of the car. I've been in a coma ever since, but unknown to anyone, I can hear everything they say.  Everything.

The beeping of the machines, the constant whoosh of the machines as they pump the oxygen into my lungs had become the background noise now, every day I would receive visitors. Today was my Parents, my partner Jason and my work colleague Sarah's turn.

I heard them quietly walk into the room not saying a single word, someone placing a glass vase on the side table where so many others had done the exact same over the months.

"You've got to wake up soon baby doll." Jason says, the anger towards the drink driver in his voice, the genuine need for me to pull through, barely showed.

"They're exploring the possibility of shutting down your machines, you've been under too long." my mother sobs from my left side as my dad holds my left hand offering a reassuring squeeze. It broke my heart to hear all of it, I wanted to pull through, I've been trying a long hell of a time to pull through and to make it out of this damn coma but nothing worked. Jason's hand was cold on my right hand, he was always cold, I wish I could tell him to warm up before touching anyone.

"You've got this, you can pull through this." Sarah urges me on

"Thanks Sarah, I'm trying." I sarcastically think to myself.

The room falls silent for what seems like a long 3 hours but it had only been 20 minutes, everyone had sat down around me, like a sacred shrine. Everyone had ran out of things to say now, but I had a lot to say, like how Sarah and Jason had the balls to sit around pretending to care when two and a half months ago, they stood alone in the room once my sister and brother had left for tea before speaking about what they would do to each other when they were behind closed door later on.

Then my mind begun to run wild, the anger burning in me, boiling my blood, I wanted to pull through just to rip them both apart. My chest begun to burn now, my throat filled with pipes I begun to choke. The machines begun going haywire, the visitors sprang to their feet calling for the nurses who ran in to aid me. I was coming around, my anger had awoken me. If I had known this two months ago, I'd of been awake by now.

Sharing Some Of My Work With You.

I've always wanted to share my work with other people and so I thought that today I would do exactly that. I've been working on a little things and I wanted to post two small parts of what I've written to get some feedback. I would love it if you could read each of them and give me your thought and feedback in the comments?

 

The pieces are not in order of how I've originally written them and I cant say they're perfect but I guess that's the whole point of feedback right?

 

 

 

She drops her legs down from her chest and opens her eyes finding that she's not shaking like she was before, everything else was. Vibrations travelled through her feet and up her legs, and they stop at her knees and hips so her upper half doesn’t move much but she could still feel them. Inhaling deep, a wave of panic grows in her stomach when after the silence she hears creaking, muffled bangs and groans.

“Jake.” She calls to him, shaking his sleeping body hard, he doesn’t budge at first but the second time around he groans, his eyes opening slowly.

“We need to get out right now.” She alerts him, feeling the vibrations strengthen, the smashing and groans growing louder like it was right beneath them.

Jake is fully awake when he hears a large grumble from their left and the fear in his eyes registers and by the time he’s off the sofa and Jennifer has her phone in hand, he’s holding tightly to her free hand and rushing out of the house and down the path not looking behind until they reach the road where the traffic was thankfully non-existent.

The inquisitive side of Jennifer got the better of her and led her to getting changed into a pair of black skinny jeans and a white tank top and black shoes. Throwing her pyjamas onto the floor as she'll pick them back up later. Running down the stairs she quickly opens the door and steps out, shutting it after herself.

The air was cold, raising goose bumps on her fair skin. Folding her arms across herself and rubbing at the skin trying to rid herself of the bumps as she walks down the path looking through the traffic for anyone watching her. Luckily no one was, and the traffic was below a steady flow, so crossing the road was easier than usual. Looking around again Jennifer checks for peering eyes but getting the all clear again, she crouches below the yellow police tape and takes a step.

Thursday Thoughts - Writing

Finally after several years, around 4-5 years I finally informed my mother that I enjoyed writing and at the time we were discussing my future and the rest of my education, I informed her I loved writing after she asked me what I loved to do, her response unlike most, was positive. She said I could be an author and write several books, but not everyone is as understanding as my mother was on the 'I want to write books' front.

I guess writing was my way to express who I truly was as I faked to be someone better and loveable. My best friend, informed I want to write is supportive and really encouraging when it comes to me writing, she once made a point of me writing and she could create the covers. Others, an ex or two, a large proportion of my friends, many others find that writing is only a pass time and not an actually career yet they fail to see that several people out in the big wide world made a career when it came to writing.

I write to pass time, re-live a time, create a new time. I do it because everything I see, hear or do stores itself in my mind and over time it arranges into a perfect sequence that I can write, it usually happens at 2am most times, I would be in bed and staring at the ceiling when suddenly this fantastic story unfolds and I have to wake up fully and write it down as soon as I can in fear that if I don't write it down in that moment, it'll soon disappear and that opportunity will never come around again.

The thing is, writing, is beautiful it creates worlds, breaks and mends hearts, it gives us 1 or 200 lives to live and it is beautiful, so to everyone out there who writes for a pass time or writes as a passion, you are creating life and its an amazing thing, keep with it, people wont support you if you want to make a career out of it but I do, don't let them steer you away from writing, if you love to do it stay with it, if you think your writing sucks, get a friend to read over it. Truth is aspiring writers start to get sick of their work because they work on it over and over and they see it over and over but a fresh pair of eyes and a fresh mind full of imagination will love the work and you can get good quality feedback and constructive criticism.

If you love to do it, keep at it, you have worlds and life inside of you.