Here comes the weekend!

Let's celebrate the small things with VikLit and Co. Details here. I'm celebrating:

• A four-day week because I was away in Chester and didn't come home until Monday
• Managing to get all my work done on time
• A nice email from someone who'd read something I'd written and enjoyed it
• Live music: off to another house concert this evening
• Family: off to Staffordshire in the morning for the gathering of the clans

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Just had this from the mumsnet academy (who knew there was such a thing). Haven't explored it: might be worth a look,might not.

Looking to take your writing to the next level, and perhaps even make a living from it? Then do check out MN Academy’s Starting Out As A Freelance Writer course, which is designed to help kickstart your writing career. Joanna Moorhead, who freelances for the Guardian, the Independent, Good Housekeeping and more, will guide you through the entire process - from coming up with sellable ideas, to working out your market, to the somewhat scary prospect of pitching to commissioning editors.

Or, if you think you’ve got a novel in you but find yourself blocked when you sit down to write, do have a look at MN Academy’s Start Writing course. It's a 2-day workshop course, held at MN Towers, and is led by best-selling authors Esther Freud and Raffaela Barker. They'll help you find your authorial voice - offering tips on character creation, marking out a plot line and creating a convincing story - in the supportive and collaborative company of other aspiring writers and journos. Incidentally, am I the only person who HATES the use of 'looking to' (see above). 'Are you looking to take your writing to the next level?' No. Am I wanting to? YES. Grrr.