Congratulations to Nida Broughton, winner of the 2024 Exeter Novel Prize
for her wonderful novel
Last Castle Standing  ​
Go HERE for the judge's comments

We are pleased to announce that after twelve amazing years, we are handing over the administration of the Exeter Novel Prize to our friends at 
Word Kitchen

The 2025 Exeter Novel Prize is now open for submissions. Click below for more information, rules and how to enter.

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Click on the cover to pre-order

Cathie's new novel - The Luthier's Promise is now on pre-order. It will be published on July 9th.

It's 1595 and in London, Will Totman is making lutes of the finest quality. The last thing he wants to do is journey to Rome with his adopted brother, the celebrated musician John Dowland. When John's mother pleads with him to go, Will makes a solemn promise that he will bring her son safely home.
Once in Florence, and despite a papist plot to kill the Queen, the fury of a mad Prince, and a false arrest, it is love that captures both men's hearts and delays their departure. Soon, it's not safe for them to stay, go on, or go home. Will's promise is in jeopardy and so are their lives.

The opening chapters of The Luthier's Promise won a silver medal at the 2024 HNS conference.
 

If you're local to our HQ in South and East Devon​, and you're keen on reading and writing, then we highly recommend you tune in to this radio book club. 
Third Thursday of the month at 2pm and hosted by local author jonathanposnerauthor.com, there's always news, interviews and lively discussions with his invited guests.
​Click on the image to find out more.
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Exeter Novel Prize winner 2019. Click on the cover for more info.
Our Winners
Since 2009, thousands of writers have entered one or more of our competitions. We've often wondered what they did next, so we decided to ask them. Many have gone on to win other competitions and have had their stories and novels published. They tell us what the competition meant to them and what they've been been writing since.
Find out over on the blog. HERE
CreativeWritingMatters was founded in 2009 and the years since have  gone by very quickly. Our aim was, and still is, to offer encouragement, advice and opportunities to fellow writers through our appraisals, mentoring service and competitions. Opening a new competition submission always comes with a little thrill. Is it this one? Or this one? 
During these past years we haven't only been reading, we've also been busy writers. The  books on this shelf represent our output. Yes, that's right, there are three of us, but four names on the spines. Sophie is aka Lizzie Lovell. We hope you will enjoy reading our work.
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Our bookshelf - click to enlarge
What can a writing mentor do for you?
Read our happy customer testimonials HERE​​
Not sure about your writing?
Read about manuscript appraisal HERE
 Meet the Team: Cathie Hartigan, Sophie Duffy, Margaret James