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Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers Prize

Writing

Blood Moon

by Tabitha Potts
written by Tabitha Potts

I’ve just finished proof-reading a final draft of my debut novel and sent it to Rowan Prose Publishing. It’s been an intense few weeks editing and re-reading but I really welcomed the opportunity to go through absolutely every line and tweak it more thoroughly than an A-lister about to walk on the red carpet.

I’ve been living with my three sisters Lucia, Isabella and Sara in their remote Norfolk manor house for over seven years now (I’ve even dreamed I was one of them and walked through their dining room). I think I am finally ready to say goodbye to my unrepentantly Gothic du Maurier and Bronte love-child and release it into the wild, where I hope it will prosper.

If you would like to pre-order it, the link is below, and as always, don’t forget that writers love to get reviews!

Pre-order The House of Dust and Shadows

I am now free to start thinking about my next project. I am happy to say that I am already ten thousand words into this and was long-listed for the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers’ Prize last year. I am still in the honeymoon period with it and I think (hope) it will be a lot easier to write than my first. My first novel is about the horrors of the patriarchy for female artists and is (I think) remarkably restrained considering I finished it at the same time as the Epstein files were released.

My next one is going to be a lot less restrained and will feature some forgotten Celtic goddesses getting fairly mediaeval, or perhaps I should say Iron Age, on various asses. I can’t wait to finish writing it. I’ve been reading strange occult tomes, studying ancient history and learning to translate Anglo-Saxon in preparation. It’s been a fascinating journey. I hope to finish it in the next six months or so – we shall see. I am not a fast writer.

There was a ‘Blood Moon’ solar eclipse on March 3rd. That inspired me to choose the title for this entry, and it seems appropriate as I am going through a difficult time personally at the moment. It’s very strange how just when you think things are coming together, they fall apart. I’m glad that I still have the gift of being able to send my words out into the world.

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Writing

Wild and magical

by Tabitha Potts
written by Tabitha Potts

Greetings from Japan, where my husband and I have been celebrating his birthday. We’ve visited Tokyo and Hakone where we’ve been admiring the Autumn leaves (Koyo), bathing in the onsen fed by natural hot springs and eating traditional ryokan-style meals. 

It’s been a much needed break after a stressful year including being made redundant. I’ve decided to focus on writing for the foreseeable future. As Mary Oliver asked, ‘Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’ The answer becomes clearer the longer you live. I’ve decided to treat my life as both wild and precious, rather than jumping through any more hoops for other people. I’m in a writing group which explores creativity through Women who Run with Wolves and The Artists’ Way, and we are exploring a short story about Vasilisa and the sacred fire she brings back from Baba Yaga’s hut in a skull and uses to destroy the obstacles that stood in her way. That is the energy I’m bringing to 2026…

I did not get shortlisted for the competition I entered, the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers’ Prize, in the end, but I am extremely proud that I was one of the 50 out of 500 longlisted and the judging panel also gave my WIP a special commendation in their very kind email, mentioning it by name. I do feel in my bones that this is going to be an exciting novel so I will be going full speed ahead to finish it in 2026. It will be full of magic, lost languages and ancient goddesses. Congratulations of course to all the shortlisted writers!

Meanwhile, my wonderful publisher Rowan Prose Publishing has added a special one-off pre-order discount for my debut novel, The House of Dust and Shadows. In the US, it’s 99 cents, but it’s on special offer everywhere until the 1st December! Please do take this opportunity now if you’re interested in dark, Gothic-tinged mysteries about (very) dysfunctional families in haunted Norfolk manor houses. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about fire – you’ll find it featuring in The House of Dust and Shadows. Some of the early British people used it as part of a ritual, burning the bones of dead animals. It must have symbolised warmth, home, food, light and comfort for them, but of course was also dangerous, destructive and a weapon of war. Like the old goddesses who symbolised both birth and war, fire has two aspects, creation and destruction. The House of Dust and Shadows is about creation and destruction, and how sometimes creation needs destruction to happen first, as when forest fires spark new growth.

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