There were big changes for #WomenWritersNet in 2025, not least our leap across from X to here. Our new #authorinterview feature got off to a great start and our #skychats have been as stimulating and engaging as ever. A massive thank you to all our followers, old and new. See you next year!!

We've been sharing end of year lists of #bookrecommendations this week, and here's another fab one from @wwborders.bsky.social with the best books in (and on) translation #booksintranslation #WomenWritersNet wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

Hope you have all had a good week so far. What do the holidays have in store for you? Reading? Writing? Family chaos? #WomenWritersNet

And if you would like to know more about Beast by @luluallison.bsky.social check out our #AuthorInterview with her from September (find the posts on #WomenWritersNet

Continuing our theme of books being the best presents 😊, here's a list of recommendations from @the-independent.com culture staff. Do you have a book that you gift more than any other? www.independent.co.uk/arts-enterta...

'today’s sleeper hits emerge from an alchemical combination of influences: online enthusiasm, translation, design, political mood, bookseller advocacy and sheer serendipity.' Fascinating article in @theguardian.com about what makes a book suddenly become a hit. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

What are the books that you gift over and over? Here's a list from @thebookerprizes.com judges and authors of their personal favourites. Some great ideas here. thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-l...

Still searching for last minute Christmas gifts? Here's a post from our very own @lizchampion.bsky.social on the books she gifted last year. A selection to suit all tastes (doesn't matter that it was last year because books never go out of fashion 😉) lizchampion.substack.com/p/books-i-gi...

End of year #booklists can be very subjective but they do provide a good starting point for discussion. What do you think about this one from the BBC? Have you read many of these? What books are missing that you would put on your own best of 2025? www.bbc.com/culture/arti...

Great post about what we can learn from #JaneAusten. #WomenWritersNet #womenwriters #writingtips

Happy birthday Jane Austen! Born on this day, the 16th of December 1775 - it is her 250th anniversary today! #JaneAusten

Today (16th Dec) as part of their celebration of #JaneAusten at 250 BBC Radio 4 is devoting a whole day of programmes to the author. Tune in shortly to hear Val McDermid and Kate Atkinson talk about when they first encountered her work. #WomenWritersNet #BBCRadio4 www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

Read about "slop" here: www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/wor... (With thanks from this human editor!)

As a writer who started writing in my forties and who is published by a small but mighty indie press, I wasn't sure how I'd get on in the book world, but from day one libraries have been a great support, just like they were a great support to me all my life as a reader. Please support your library.

Ideas please #WomenWritersNet. A book gift for a bilingual 21 year-old young woman who has only just started reading again in English (put off by school exams). She's an artist and feminist. Not romance or sci-fi but any other genre. Any thoughts?

I bought #Trespasses by @louisekennedy.bsky.social for a friend when it first came out but didn't get around to reading it myself until now. What an incredible book. Beautifully written. Quietly devastating. Anyone see the @channel4.bsky.social series? How did it compare? #WomenWritersNet

What an excellent post for those writing period fiction. (Thankfully that doesn't include me because I got all the answers wrong!) #historicalfiction #WomenWritersNet

'When I die, I hope to think I have annoyed a great many people' - novelist and poet Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978) also enthralled and delighted them: good to see a statue of her unveiled today in Dorchester @womenwritersnet.bsky.social @womenwriters.bsky.social @womenwritebloom.bsky.social

Hello everyone. It's @drhelenmtaylor.bsky.social on the account this week. I'm a bit late starting today. I am so NOT organised for the celebrations to come. This photo is from last year. Will anyone have time for writing this week or will it be last minute present shopping like me?

Lovely to find Dance of the Earth on the shelf at my local indie bookshop (Regency, in Surbiton). #historicalfiction #ballethistory @womenwritersnet.bsky.social @musichallsociety.bsky.social

We’re delighted to reveal the Booker Prize 2026 judging panel. Mary Beard will act as Chair, and is joined by Raymond Antrobus, Jarvis Cocker, Rebecca Liu and Patricia Lockwood. Find out more: https://thebookerprizes.pulse.ly/omwonxgxjj

How has the week shaped up #womenwriters? I'm (dare I say it) on track with this year's day jobs, leaving me space to work on novel no.3. I've got a cinnamon bun to celebrate! What are your #bigwins and #littlewins this week?

You know what you want to write, and readers know what they want to read. How do you get from one to the other? Brand new on This Itch of writing: From process to product to market - and back again buff.ly/g7c0AOi link in bio or search this itch of writing

Call out to all writers. This message is important. Write hot and edit cold. You can always edit, improve and revisit what you've written. But you can only do that if you have the words on the page. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #Writers #Writing #AmWriting

#ThursdayThoughts #ThursdayMotivation writingforwellbeing.co.uk

For all the setbacks for the world’s women in 2025, the leaders and vanguards on the 2025 Forbes Power Women list stood as examples of resilience in turbulent times.

Excited to be on the list. Love some of these titles!

Some midweek promotion for local writers, OxPen, and guest contributors. 'Bananas on Toast': an anthology of friendship and food, in partnership with Scottish Book Trust/Book Wedk Scotland. Featuring #womenwritersnet member @sandybennett-haber.bsky.social Great gift idea!! amzn.eu/d/2ZeJIgm

Like, follow, and share if you love libraries, literacy, and books!

The Covert Talent Development Programme with Writing Our Legacy is open for applications. It's an opportunity for 12 Black, Asian & ethnically diverse/BPOC writers to develop their writing practice with online workshops, peer support & mentoring. writingourlegacy.org.uk/whatwedo/cov...

How's your Wednesday shaping up #womenwriters? Does anyone participate in Zoom 'write-alongs' or similar? Sessions where you join with other writers online to write together? I'm interested if they work for you - and at what time of day? #writinggroups #zoomwriting #writingcommunity

We can never have enough beautiful scenes to reflect on - here's one to fuel your creativity #womenwriters

What an excellent idea from one of Scotland's great indie bookshops. Do pop in, if you're near. #womenwriters tell us about similar initiatives near you?

#7syllablesentence #touch #wildflowers #bee #pollinator #bloomscrolling Your kindness touches my heart

Many of you are freaking out because you've done the math and it's going to be very hard to finish that manuscript by New Year's. That's okay. It really is. Targets are to help you get words on the page. No one will know or care that you finish days or weeks after your date. Just. Keep. Writing.

#99p for a few days only! (UK) She was a vet, working in beautiful English countryside... That was the good bit. The bad bit was – the family. mybook.to/TUF24 #KindleUnlimited 💙📚 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "brimming with family secrets” #kindledeals #booksky #suspense #thriller #familydrama

Publication day! My first novel, out in print and as an audiobook. #BookSky #TheCandidatesHusband A story about politics, marriage and social class.

What would be your ideal book gift #womenwriters? To receive or give? I'm part of a bookish Secret Santa and am wondering what to send... #bookgifts #secretsanta #favouritereads

Today's writing group prompt was to write a story about an Advent calendar...Each day there's another message behind the door - then the denouement on the 24th... We've had #romance #crime #magic What would your story be?? #womenwriters #writingprompts

Great opportunity for all #womenwriters to polish the fabulous pitches you've definitely scribbled down over the year...

Like, follow, share to help support libraries!

#quotes #writing #inspiration

SEASON'S GREETINGS! SEASON 5 continues in December with award-winning author Anna Monardo and a special holiday episode. Look for the new episodes on 12/10 and 12/24. www.shortstorytoday.com

Hello #womenwriters 😊 Anne, here, hosting this week from Scotland/Ireland. Where are you all following from? And what are your writing (etc) plans for the week? #writingcommunity #writinggoals

❛ I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear. Joan Didion, born #OTD in 1934.

My poem "Jagged Pink Carvings" appears in this issue of @doorisajarmag.bsky.social, out today! Thanks to Door Is a Jar and Editor-in-Chief @maxwellbauman.bsky.social for publishing more of my work! The magazine is available in print and digital formats. www.doorisajarmagazine.net/issues/winte...

This year, I'm especially thankful for other writers and creatives in my life. They give me such motivation, and I'm thrilled when they say I do the same for them. Here's more about my Writing Showcase which fellow writer Lou featured. #BookSky #WritingCommunity nastasyaparker.com/the-writing-...

Why we need indie presses. “There is too strong a need for books to be easily definable, to make marketing them as easy as possible, and I find that in itself makes me turn away. It creates a climate of dumbing down and patronizing readers.” lithub.com/life-giving-... #booksky #WritingCommunity

Sarah Hawley coming in with some excellent advice for romantasy and fantasy writers. Word count is important! Paper is expensive! Perseverance is a skill that is just as important as writing craft. Keep going. It’ll be worth it 💕 #booksky #romancelandia #romancebooks #podcast #authorinterview

Belonging Matters supports the adoption community while creating a conversation with those not directly touched by adoption. #Memoir #MustRead #BookSky