Reminder that you're allowed to make up words; if 'florped' is the best way you can describe how your character throws themself on a couch, go for it! If it doesn't work, you can worry about it during editing. One of the most enjoyable parts of writing is the dynamism of language

Don't fret if you're unhappy with your first draft, revision is an essential part of the process! The first draft is just you telling yourself the story, every draft thereon is you digging out the gold. If you want to publish it, you WILL need to rewrite it at least once.

The radio show Les Be Honest, written and produced by our very own Heather MacLeod, can now be found in podcast form at soundcloud.com/dcfm-1032/les-…

Would anyone be interested in contributing to this?

After the event in January, QWI will be going on a brief hiatus to restructure, so keep an eye out for future events and possibly openings on our committee!

Our next event will be in Accents Coffeehouse, we'll be passing around a notebook and making contributions to a story in any format and reading out our contributions. At the very least, we'll have some coffee and a bit of craic!

In February, hopefully, applications for joining the QWI committee will open up! So if you'd like to help out, drop in an application!

We're currently set up in the basement of Accents, by the stairs!

Thanks to everyone at our event today, it was a great success! In the next month or so, we'll be getting a proper committee together so with luck, our events and prospects will continue to grow!

Submissions are now open for the first QWI Poetry Compilation! The goal is to give a voice and presence to the upcoming generation of queer Irish poets, and more information can be found here: facebook.com/QueerWritersof…

Queer Writers of Ireland is accepting submissions for its first poetry collection intended to debut and showcase the verse of the next generation of queer Irish poets! No guidelines or restrictions, as long as poems fit within six pages. Submit by 15/04 to John Ennis on [email protected]

RTÉ is having a short story competition, grand prize of €3000, and the top ten will be read out on RTÉ Radio One! Submissions close on 8th of May, and good luck to all! rte.ie/radio1/francis…

Ireland needs hate crime legislation. Badly. Our friends in the End The Hate Campaign are hosting a rally outside Dáil Éireann on Tuesday at 11 am to demand that the incoming government hate crime seriously and introduce the the Criminal Law (Hate Crime) Bill into law.

Hey folks! Anyone working on any interesting projects during the lockdown? Tell us about what you're writing!

Been working on poetry during the lockdown? You know where to send it 😎😎😎

Please send all collection submissions to [email protected] with 'Poetry collection' and the title of your book in the subject line. Please all send a biography detailing previous publications (if any), and a covering letter briefly explaining your book.