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Welcome to Litopia - the net's oldest community for writers
stablished over a decade ago, Litopia Writers' Colony is quite simply the 'net's pre-eminent community for writers. If you're serious about your writing, this is where you need to be.
The Orginal And Best
There is only one Litopia: the net's original writing community, and still the best. Yes, we charge a small subscription. But as Kurt Vonnegut wrote, "In this world, you get what you pay for". Litopia's low subscription (works out to a cup of coffee a month) is the best investment you'll make in your writing future.
Today's writer faces a myriad of tough decisions. Traditional publishing or self publishing? Physical or digital? Agented or alone? Don't panic! A helping hand from the net's most experienced community for writers is constantly available. Decades of practical knowledge, at your fingertips, guiding you to success.
Your time here in the Colony will be well invested. Expert and impartial (isn't that a nice word?) help is always just a click away. Stimulating and intelligent company is guaranteed. Our only concern is to support our members at every stage of their writing careers. Your success is ours.
What can you expect from your time in the Colony? Three vital things.
Develop
A good writer never stops developing their talent. Forget expensive and time-consuming courses and conferences: the best practical honing your craft can receive is right here, in the Colony. And yes, we cater for every genre.
Mix
Where else can you rub shoulders with some of the nicest, most talented writers on the planet? Yes, we have the net's best literary salon, run in the grand European manner. But it's not all wit and banter. Network with your peers here, and stay on the leading edge of change. If it's important to writers - you'll find out about it here first.
Sell
Selling your work is usually the biggest challenge for an author. Not for Litopians: you can take your first steps to market right here in the Colony. How do you construct your author's platform? We'll show you. Kick off your writing career with an unfair advantage. Litopians start - and stay - ahead of the game.
This week's Litopia After Dark features one of Britain's top financial writers, Alex Brummer. In his new book Britain For Sale, Alex shows how...
I sometimes ask myself this question. More often, I hear others answering it. That elusive big deal, or maybe just enough silver to quite the day job? The sheer joy of creation? Because if we don’t, our...
Litopians Get Published
Hone your talent & make the connections, right here in The Colony. Litopians get publishing deals - click here for the latest.
Momentary bursts of thoughtful action and character development sprinkled throughout.
In this show: why the publishing industry is angry that the Pulitzers snubbed fiction. And quite possibly the biggest story we have ever covered – the U.S. Justice Department lawsuit against publishers...
I've finally found a partner I can trust. Not in the sense that he won't spill my secrets--he wouldn't, but that's almost beside the point. Not in the sense that I don't fear for my safety when I'm with him--I don't, but then I've never really worried about that with anybody else either.
What I mean is, this is the first person I've ever shared my life with that I can trust to not screw up. He's steady and reliable in the big ways--see my last "Reflections" post--and in the little ones. I don't have to remind him endlessly about things. I don't have to nag. I know that when I ask him please to not put silverware in the bread...
 It's such a classic time travel gambit: You put a penny in a bank account, or forget you had a bank account with some money in it, and circumstances lead you to the distant future where your account still exists and compound interest has rendered you a few future-bucks richer. Wells Fargo, Co. killed that trope dead and good...
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 On Tuesday this week, I felt like a proud godparent. Two talented writers that I've been working with (and 13 others, that I haven't!) launched their anthology, Writes of Passage. I stood in Foyles Charing Cross with a glass of white wine, a label on my front declaring me to be a tutor and watched as agents and editors hustled to speak to 'our' writers. ...
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 Has anyone ever noticed how evocative music can be? The way it takes the mind back to a particular time and place? I was at an elderly relative’s house this week. Someone had been helping her clear out old cupboards. Rescued from the debris was a stack of old music, some of it still inscribed with the names of...
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 I see it all too often, on the writer’s forums I frequent, on blogs, on twitter, and even at my real life writers group – aspiring authors who have written their first book – who love every word, and can’t let it go – despite the piles of rejection slips that they are accumulating. They blame the publishing industry, the agents and editors, for their failure. Often these authors look for other ways into print. Maybe they self publish –...
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What is it about the early hours of the morning that makes bad things happen? These reflections start an hour or so after midnight. I wasn't awakened by what happened: I was already up and quite...
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 Turning into my street yesterday evening after another stressed-out day, and there's a body sprawled across my path. At first look it's a pile of clothes, but no, there really is a human being...
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 I have finally decided to confess. I'm coming out of the closet. I am a thespian. Frankly, it's about time I came out, as acting in... |
 Fair Warning: Opinion & Old-School Reflection For the past few weeks between rewriting, I've been watching the antics of a group of motley trolls inhabiting some of the Amazon...
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 A couple of weeks ago, The Good Wife dealt with at-will employment in an episode called The Penalty Box. In that episode, Cary Agos, the former colleague of our heroine Alicia,...
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 I think I'm being followed. It's never happened before and has triggered palpitations on an unprecedented scale. I've also had to make an extra visit to the bottle bank. By yesterday...
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 Just back from a ten night stay in Varadero. I fully planned on doing some quality writing on the beach but the beer poured too freely and the nightlife in Havana kept me too busy. It didn't keep...
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 Someone asked me why this blog is titled ‘Boneland’. There are several answers. The first is this: About six years ago I decided to stop dancing around the edges of writing...
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 I feel like a project some big developer has saved for his/her last meal. They have filed away plans, ideas, and planks of wood, bags of concrete and sand, steel girders, rolls...
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 I’m sure I’m not the only writer who is fascinated by names. The names of things, and of people and places – how they were acquired, what they mean, and the many subtle...
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I’ve just today, been on the receiving end of a flaming group of posts on an Amazon forum. I know, I know… why was I even there? The forum was...
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The fourth thing I did this morning, after rolling out of bed, swallowing a couple of aspirin and reciting positive affirmations in front of the bathroom mirror, was stare long and hard at my...
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Bragging Writes
Celebrating the latest successes of our talented Litopians...
