Sinead Keegan

Some of you will no doubt notice the new layout to this site, where the emphasis is now being placed on my writing, teaching and editorial services. It's a brave new world folks, but with Aldous and Dolly on my side, I reckon I can't go too far wrong. For some time now - well over a decade, in fact - I've been providing high quality content for businesses, newspapers, and non-profit organisations, and, since completing both my MFA in creative writing and my higher education teaching qualification in 2013, I have also been working with writers of all levels and in many different fields to improve their written communication. I've finally decided to take the plunge and change this website from primarily being a blog to a landing page for this writing and teaching business. The blog will still be here, but it's taken a back seat to my other work in the last 2-3 years and now I've reorganised the website to reflect my current priorities. It's been a fun 18 (...

Only one week to go. In just seven days I will be packing my bags, ready to head of for a week of chatting writing for the internet with the wonderful students of the International Creative Writing Summer School in conjunction with the British Council and Kingston Writing School. We'll be building blogs, talking Twitter, writing for Wattpad, how to get work copywriting and, of course, all about creative writing and the internet - all together now: all the sins ! I'm hoping to get some collaborative digital writing going and to have some fun work to share with you all. I'm also hoping to survive the heat. I always think I love hot weather but then find myself teetering on the edge of death when it goes above 80F/25C. I'm a pastey northern european no matter how many US summers I've survived (I barely survived one summer in DC...oh, the humidity!). Fortunately, I'll have writing, writers and Greek food to get me through. What else could you want?

This summer is a very exciting time for me because I'm thrilled to be fulfilling my dream of starting a literary and arts magazine. The very talented editor and writer, Lisa Davison, agreed to embark on what can only be described as this bit of madness with me. And, after several months of preparation and more than one glass of wine, we launched all the sins on the 19th of July. The mission of the magazine is to embrace the internet as a way to broaden artistic discourse between different forms and to connect artists with one another. We hope that people will submit exciting work that breaks all the rules to tell excellent stories in a variety of mediums. The magazine will be published quarterly with a theme centred on an extended feature which is published in advance and, in between editions, we will be running a series of short features about arts (interpret broadly) and about the magazine. It's been hectic getting that off the ground so I hope you will forgive my abs...

The 3rd Annual Stories of SW1 Writing Competition is running again this year - yay! Our theme this year is Heroes and Heroines so we're looking for all sorts of heroic tales. Engage us, entertain us, tell us about heroic deeds attempted, achieved and failed. From superheroes with superpowers to everyday heroism - be creative! Send your best flash fiction and/ or poem to info@southwestfest.org.uk. Each writer can submit up to two (2) pieces of writing, e.g. 2 poems OR 2 flash fictions OR 1 poem and 1 flash fiction. Flash fiction must be under 500 words, poetry must be 20 lines or fewer, scripts must be 10 minutes or fewer. The entry fee is £3 for the first submission, plus £2 for additional submissions (2 = £5, 3 = £7 etc.) and is payable through PayPal via the email address info@southwestfest.org.uk You must include proof of payment with your submission. This payment is non-profit making and supports the prizes. Writing must be sent in the body of an email beca...

One update this year. Shocking behaviour! But I've had a busy year. Honest. Super busy. I ended up with loads of teaching this year, which regular readers will guess made me extremely happy. I had first and second years in class, did a bit with some postgrads and got to see the first students I had in their first year finish at uni. Wow, where did that time go? It was a privilege to see them grow and develop both as people and as writers. They are an impressive bunch. Some of them are throwing themselves into the professional writing community and are being recognised for their considerable talents. But the most satisfying thing for me has been to see how their work ethics and confidence have developed. Students who lacked confidence and didn't start at the top of the class have ended up there because they put in the work. This seems to be the overlooked element of creative writing. There's a debate about whether universities and adult ed centres are just making money...

I have always had very bad luck with basil. Perhaps more honestly, I ought to say that basil plants have always had very bad luck with me, as they are the ones that end up withered and dead in my kitchen. Sometimes up to three plants in a summer. A short, British summer. Until this year. This year I bought a little basil plant at my local supermarket and I now have a great, big basil bush. So enormous is this horticultural triumph that it garners admiration from all who visit our flat and our neighbours are complaining that it's blocking their light. Unfortunately, after a good three months of delightful growth, it appears to have aphids. Boo. Hiss. Aphids are little bugs that love to feed on soft plants. They decimated my parsley this spring and although I got rid of them ages ago and they were outside then, they now appear to have migrated indoors to the most magnificent basil plant this side of the Thames. I caught them early, though, and I think I have them on their last ex...

On the first day of my MFA in creative writing, I entered my first workshop and looked at my colleagues, the people who would critique my work and make me a better writer. Our tutor had us go around the table and introduce ourselves.  Hello, I’m Sin é ad . My favorite book is Dracula , my favorite fiction author is Margaret Atwood and my favorite creative nonfiction writer is Bill Bryson.  I write memoir and I've been blogging for ten years. I’m interested in writing a humorous literary travel memoir. Hello, I’m M---- and I don’t read. I don’t really write either. WHAT? What the hell are you doing here? This guy is never going to be any help to me. Cue eye-rolling, not-so-suppressed sighing and general outrage from me. I could not fathom what this man was doing in a postgraduate writing course and I took it as a personal affront that he did not have the dedication that I did.

On 10 October 2013, an author I know Twitter-declared that "the short story is officially dead." This was a direct response to the announcement that Alice Munro is the 2013 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Dead? Officially dead? Makes me want to go in and immediately lecture my students on the dangers of hyperbole. So here's a couple of thoughts on the latest Twitter death rumor:

I recently came across an interesting opinion piece by novelist Matt Haig called "30 Things to Tell a Book Snob" and it got me thinking about the value of art (again). Now, I don't agree with everything he writes, but I do agree with the sentiment and any reading is good reading. But does this translate to "any writing is good writing"? You can argue all day long that art is subjective and that one person may love what another person thinks is rubbish, but you can't convince me that all writing is good writing. People are certainly entitled to their opinions and entitled to love bad writing, but that doesn't mean that the writing is brilliant. A novelist I know often laments how many people tell him, "I would write a novel - if only I had the time." As though every person in the world can be a writer. His feeling is that people never think to themselves, "I would compose a symphony - if only I had the time." We accept that composer...