Celebrating Our Writers' Successes: A Year of Achievements!

A Year of Growth and Inspiration

I asked you to share your writing successes, and wow, what a year we've all had! From ideas to chapters to entire novels, we’ve seen incredible progress. Here’s just a handful of things our writers accomplished after attending either our day retreats for writers or our coffee morning for writers, 'Prose and Pastries,' this year:

• Shelley completed her 22nd novel (yes, 22, you read that correctly!). Multi-talented, she has written several genres of novels. You can find her website here: shelleywilsonauthor.com.

  
  

• Poppy attended our very first January retreat, and her novel Sepoy was longlisted for the 2025 Bridport Prize! You can follow her on Instagram at @dr_poppy_writesforlove.

  
  

• Kerry usually writes Romantasy but completed the first draft of a high fantasy novel. Check out her website here: kerrywilliamsauthor.co.uk.

  
  
  
  

• Oscar attended our retreat at Guy's Cliffe House in June 2025. He’s also a regular attendee of Prose and Pastries. Oscar was awarded a place on the much sought-after Room 204 writer development programme with Writing West Midlands.

  
  

• Katie attended our retreat at the West Midlands Police Museum in July 2025. She’s also a regular attendee of Prose and Pastries. Katie completed the novel she has been working on as part of her Creative Writing MA.

  
  

• Mart has attended almost every Secret Writing Retreats event this year. When asked about his experience, he said the greatest takeaway was finding his own authentic voice and style for writing. He’s written a lot of words too!

  
  
  
  

And lastly, there’s my own writing! I don’t always get time to write at events since I’m often facilitating them. However, I do try to join writers, even for a short time, to write. This year, I managed to complete the first draft of my romantic thriller novel. Of course, my proudest achievement is setting up Secret Writing Retreats to help others.

The Power of Community

If there's one thought I'd like to leave you with, it's this: This time last year, neither my draft nor Secret Writing Retreats existed! A lot can happen in a year, so don’t procrastinate—get writing!

If you want to join us in January to start 2026 off with a bang, check out our event with guest author Liam Brown, 'Stop Dreaming, Start Writing.'.

Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone who has attended an event this year or who has supported Secret Writing Retreats on social media. Your encouragement means the world to us!

Keep writing!

Love,

Jen