‘Liminal’ is much more than the name of award-winning author, journalist and Ovarian cancer wrangler Jennifer Steil’s Substack newsletter. In this extended episode, the winner of the Grand Prize in the international Eyelands 2020 Book Awards and Finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Lesbian Fiction Award for Exile Music,talks about the kidnap experience and resulting ‘what if’s that inspired her first novel, The Ambassador’s Wife,and how writing has become even more important to mental health during her cancer treatment. Liminal spaces she discusses with Dr Rachel Knightley include ‘home’, and how that truly means wherever her husband and daughter are – whatever country or even hospital room that is today.

Discover more about Jennifer by subscribing to Liminal:

https://jennifersteil.substack.com

Sponsor this year’s Green Ink Sponsored Write for Macmillan Cancer Support:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/somewhere-thats-green

Visit the Writers’ Gym:

https://www.writersgym.com/

Green Ink Sponsored Write brings together published authors and developing writers to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Each year's theme reflects Macmillan's mission of quality of life for everyone affected by cancer (with writers are sponsored for their time, not their word-count). This year, our theme is chosen by Rhianna Pratchett:

SOMEWHERE THAT'S GREEN: STORIES ABOUT PARADISES, UTOPIAS AND HAPPY PLACES.

Showing up authentically on the page — and off the page — can feel like a big ask at first. But all it takes is a few simple truths to make the process of connecting with others, in writing and in speaking, come naturally. Dr Rachel Knightley shares this year’s Writers’ Gym bookmark, and how it’s a reminder of everything you need for an authentic, enjoyable audience relationship.

Procrastination gets — entirely rightly — a pretty bad press. So how do we differentiate it from warming up and getting into the zone? In this episode, Dr Rachel Knightley celebrates landing patterns and how they can add to our enjoyment of the journey.

Anxiety is not a documentary. It’s creative writing at its most natural and automatic. Yet we so often hear our own projected worst case scenarios more loudly than our own interest in our writing. In this episode, Dr Rachel Knightley invites you to grab a water-pistol and give the ‘should fairies’ the response they deserve. Step beyond your ‘shoulds’ into curiosity, confidence and creativity at the Writers’ Gym.

Being in your character’s body as well as their mind isn’t always first-draft territory. For many writers, it’s easier to begin in an internal monologue, lost in thoughts and feelings which can then be frustrating to pin down to their causes: the triggers in the physical world for each thought, each feeling. The good news? It looks scary from the outside but, inside, that’s where the greatest fun is. Dr Rachel Knightley celebrates natural time and taking space in our own narratives.

Trusting your reader is one of the most famous phrases in creative writing teaching. But how do we do that? And what might be stopping us? Dr Rachel Knightley explores the temptations of ‘telling’ versus the greater rewards of showing (not explaining) the reactions, feelings and thoughts that illustrate who a character is and why they show up in their world the way they do.