Waiting for rain, waiting for a baby, waiting for the right words for a novel. Writer Rym Kechacha asks what makes us want to grow a novel? And what do we do when the conditions are far less than perfect?

Claire Collison on whetting the poetic appetite with the right title.

Author and soil scientist Jennifer Jones explores the dissonance between writing that seems attractive to potential readers, but not to publishers. She presents the evidence for positive comments from publishers … followed by rejection.

Sally Jenkinson considers vulnerability, vulgarity, and viscera in the writing of women she admires, and their supportive influence on her writing process for Pantomime Horse, Russian Doll, Egg.

Poet Alun Hughes describes his perception of place via nature-based practice and his attempts to ‘language’ the times.

Summer was supposed to be for writing. Sound familiar? Anna Brizzolara, reflects on what she has or rather has not achieved and what that means for her creative practice.

Flash fiction author Keely O’Shaughnessy discusses creativity, how she generated stories for her collection, and how idyllic surroundings can sometimes present unexpected challenges.

The first in a triplet of posts, flash fiction writer and former Dialect mentee Keely O’Shaughnessy guides us through the birth of her debut collection, Baby is a Thing Best Whispered.

Performance poet Estelle Phillips tells how she wrote the trauma of a car crash out of her head for an uplifting theatre show.

Creative Writing PhD student Stephanie Hirtenstein attends a workshop and asks herself what should come first with eco writing - story or ecology?

From first inspirations and semi-legible scribbles to the big moment of publication, poet Frank McMahon writes about the journey on a slow train through a new landscape.

BA Creative Writing student Anna Brizzolara battles with calling herself a writer. As she walks by the river Nidd near her home in North Yorkshire, she contemplates the importance of being able to call herself a writer and if she ever will.

In the first of three posts on the creation of his debut pamphlet collection, Down the Heavens, Alun Hughes describes the journey to a place that claimed him.

Archaeologist Electra Rhodes on her first forays into writing an intersectional biography of the British landscape

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“the sound of flowing water pulled me towards a dense stand of phragmites growing on the northern margins of the lake” - in this last post of her year working as Writer in Residence Jacqui Stearn considers the potential for rebuilding biodiversity at the lake

‘The trail I’m on is based on running down questions: How does the land/nature speak through the conduit of the poet/artist who is listening? and how do we make it home?’ Writer in Residence Alun Hughes reflects on the relationship with his homeland.

Featuring chats and readings from acclaimed novelists Mahsuda Snaith and Melanie Golding, poets Fiona Benson and Pascale Petit and the talented emerging writers who won their places on the scheme: Sarah Hemings, Keely O'Shaughnessy, Kate Keogan and Audrey Healey.

In the last blog post for her digital residency, Hannah Persaud reflects on writing when the words won’t come… at first.