The Write Advice

“Commit” That’s my 2026 word of the year. I started doing this last year, and 2025’s word was “Joy”. It’s safe to say that one was a mixed bag of results, with multiple family …

New blog: my 2026 word of the year, and what I hope it'll help me achieve: anna-stephens.com/2026/01/27/c...

This looks like a great day!

This is your ongoing reminder to get weirder with your writing. Yes, I'm going to keep saying it. Weird is where cool lives and rule of cool makes stories alive.

a cartoon drawing of a person using a laptop with the words write written around them Alt: a cartoon drawing of a person using a laptop with the words write written around them

Who's writing this weekend? I'm at 48k on the WIP and hoping to get some good forward progress over the next couple of days.
But I also need to finalise the encounter(s) for next week's DnD session, and, you know, I have players to kill *cough* wound, I meant wound.
What are you goals? ~ Anna

Absolutely delighted to announce that I'm joining the team at @thewriteadvice.bsky.social where I'll be offering my mentoring services to budding writers. Click through to the website to read my introductory blog post (and, if you're interested, to have a look at our rates and services).

All change at The Write Advice Well, not ‘all’. A third is changing, to be precise. After two years of hard work, Justin Lee Anderson is stepping back from the business to concentrate on other commitments. While his …

Things are AFOOT at The Write Advice HQ. @justinleeanderson.com is stepping down - BOOO! - but @thomasdlee.bsky.social is stepping up. Hurrah!

Cat wandered in front of the camera during the #aurora long exposure

Hello #writesky, I have an opening for one monthly and one quarterly mentee in 2026.
If you're looking for support as a writer, whatever your level, contact me at thewritingadvisors@gmail.com ~ Anna

I say this often but it bears repeating: if you make your money from creating art then you NEED to find an art or craft where you just do it for fun and don't try to be perfect or make any money from it, and when anyone tells you to monetise it you say 'No', because otherwise your soul will die.

JAMES MERRILL CHRISTMAS TREE From loes torn hamin Had been fed, looked after, kept still, Meant, I knew— of course I knew - That it would be only a matter of weeks, That there was nothing more to do. Warmly they took me in, made much of me, The point from the start was to keep my spirits up. I could assent to that. For honestly, It did help to be wound in jewels, to send Their colors flashing forth from vents in the deep Fragrant sables that cloaked me head to foot. Over me then they wove a spell of shining — Purple and silver chains, eavesdripping tinsel, Amulets, milagros: software of silver, A heart, a little girl, a Model T Two staring eyes. Then angels, trumpets, BUD and BEA (The children's names) in clownlike capitals, Somewhere a music box whose tiny song Played and replayed I ended before long By loving. And in shadow behind me, a primitive IV To keep the show going. Yes, yes, what lay ahead Was clear: the stripping, the cold street, my chemicals Plowed back into the Earth for lives to come — No doubt a blessing, a harvest, but one that doesn't bear, Now or ever, dwelling upon. To have grown so thin. Needles and bone. The little boy's hands meeting About my spine. The mother's voice: Holding up wonderfully! No dread. No bitterness. The end beginning. Today's Dusk room aglow For the last time With candlelight. Faces love-lit, Gifts underfoot. Still to be so poised, so Receptive. Still to recall, to praise.

James Merril’s poem “Christmas Tree,” written while he was dying of AIDS. 1995.

Just want to put out feelers for a TTRPG writer/dev or two who would be interested in collaborating on a pulpy scifi/fantasy project in 2026 with myself and another artist/writer. Ideally someone who'd fuck with "Frank Frazetta but queer" as an aesthetic. Would love 2 chat if this sounds interesting

a festive themed graphic saying, wishing all our clients, past and present, a very happy festive season

The Write Advice elves are officially on holiday until 2026! We hope you get gifted lots of books, fancy pens and notebooks, and a wealth of new story ideas! Have a good one. ~ Anna

Groundbreaking HIV-prevention med won't harm trans people's hormone therapy - LGBTQ Nation Lenacapavir, approved in June, is a twice-yearly injectable.

18 Dec 2025 @rikiwilchins.bsky.social -- Big breakthrough for sexually-active/high-risk trans ppl: study of longest-acting injectable PrEP (lenacapavir) finds NO interaction with GAMT. Trans adults have long avoided PrEP for fear it impacts their hormone therapy with just 20% using it.

Graphic with a peacock feather background saying, Anna's 2025 editing year in review

Graphic showing how many mentees Anna has - 10 - compared with last year - 8

Graphic showing the number of pages developmentally edited - 1513 - and the number of words written in editorial reports - 23341

Graphic showing the number of pages copy edited - 1086 - and the number of words written in editorial reports - 3470

And the stats are in! Phew, it's been a busy one. Looking forward to doing it all again next year. Got manuscripts? Send them my way! Got writing questions? Over here! ~ Anna

And ffs get a sensitivity reader. Don't presume to know a community you aren't part of! Always, ALWAYS hire a sensitivity reader if writing about a culture/background foreign to you. It's not difficult, you'll learn cool facts, & it's just the right thing to do.

Turn around, award in hand, DT staring at you... instant implosion. Vanish from existence.

Study In The Journal Of Pediatrics Finds Trans Youth Care Lowers Suicidality, Few Detransition The groundbreaking study found that suicidality dropped for transgender youth receiving hormone therapy by nearly 70%, with only 7 patients of 432 discontinuing treatment.

1. A landmark study was just published in The Journal of Pediatrics.

It found a 68% reduction in suicidality for trans youth getting HRT.

It also found only 7 of more than 400 stopped taking HRT... and of those that did, 4 still identified as gender-diverse.

Transgender care saves lives.

Five days to go! Come and explore the world of the strange and monstrous with WRITING THE OCCULT's look at CRYPTIDS AND CREATURES! www.eventbrite.com/e/writing-th... #monsters #creatures #cryptids #writing #writers #authors #fiction

A profession struggling to sustain itself - The Society of Authors ALCS report on author incomes shows 60% drop in median incomes since 2006

A reminder that the median book deal for a debut author in the UK is £7000, paid over 12-18 months. (from 2022 Society of Authors report). Some of your favourite writers are struggling. societyofauthors.org/2022/12/06/a....

I would also be vibrating if I was that close to them! ~ Anna

Can confirm I now have a USB stick permanently attached to my laptop. Save to hard drive, copy to stick, every damn day.
Losing 1.5 novels to a catastrophic hard drive failure radicalised me. ~ Anna

A teal background with a logo of white birds over an open book over the words, The Write Advice

ANNA'S EDITORIAL CAPACITY:

I am currently fully-booked for editorial clients for 2026.

That said, my FTC employment runs out on 17 January, so if they decide not to renew my contract, I will have extra capacity early next year.
I'll update as soon as I know. Thanks.

Lovely one-off mentoring session with a writer, and a new editorial client in the books as a result! ~ Anna

Anna, Justin, and Stephen are all superlative editors who can make your book publishing- and querying-ready because they know how publishing works. Get them to edit your books right. fucking. now.

THE CRADLE OF ETERNAL NIGHT EARNED OUT The background is the three notebooks that turned into the final book

all right, big news time:
ALL THREE OF MY PROJECTS EARNED OUT

this is probably the first time in my life I've felt anything like success and accomplishment, and I'm blessedly too tired to have my eyes on what's next

I wrote 1.8K about what I learned

jowritesfantasy.me/2025/11/04/a...

The Write Advice Editorial Services from Experienced Authors

Editing slots are filling up for 2026 already!!!
Now booking for June onwards. If you'll have a manuscript ready for developmental or line editing next summer or later, get in touch at thewritingadvisors@gmail.com to secure your slot.
Prices at www.thewriteadvice.co.uk
~ Anna

Almost finished working on the copy edit for @angelacleland.co.uk and, guys, it is SO GOOD.
It has such a unique rhythm and style that I'm having to adapt my feedback and not be The Grammar Guy, so it fits.
But look out for it, and give her a follow, too! ~ Anna

YouTube video by Hiroshi Yoshimura - Topic Something blue

Here, have some Hiroshi Yoshimura.

So stoked for the beginning of @spotlightindie.bsky.social 's Big Indie Weekend!

Look at all these amazing guests!!

Spotlight Indie's Big Weekend kicks off soon! Follow them @spotlightindie.bsky.social to get all the goods!
Great people doing great work writing great books and supporting each other ... greatly. ~ Anna