Lindsay Hawdon is a writer of fiction, travel and adventure.
On leaving school, she spent three years travelling around Europe, Africa and India, hitching rides and sleeping under canvas. She has since travelled to over one hundred countries and writes regularly for The Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph, The Australian and The L.A Times.
Her travel column “An Englishwoman Abroad,” began in the Sunday Telegraph in 2000 and ran for seven years. Throughout that time she travelled to every continent, ventured across every terrain, experienced every climate, writing stories about her experiences and the people she encountered along the way.
Her articles for The Sunday Times, “Have Kids Will travel” followed a year’s trip travelling solo with her two young boys around South East Asia. Their most recent trip, inspired by Jakob’s Colours and featured in a monthly column for the Independent called “The Rainbow Hunters, took them around the world to seven different countries to find the origin of seven different colours, raising money for the charity War Child as they travelled.
She writes regularly for the LA Times, The Australian, Red Magazine, The Guardian and Conde Nast Traveller, among other publications.
In 2015 her first novel Jakob’s Colours was published by Hodder and Stoughton. It was shortlisted for The Authors Club First Novel Award and was an Elle Magazine novel of the year. Her short stories have won awards, including the Ian St James Award and World Wide Writers, and have been published in several prestigious anthologies.
She is an Associate Lecturer at Bath Spa University’s Creative Writing MA, and also lectures on the Travel and Nature Writing MA.
She is an editor for Curtis Brown, Jericho Writers and Cornerstones. She works across all genres.
My Approach to mentoring
I feel very passionate about championing aspiring new writers. It is continuously rewarding to help a new author find their feet and watch them grow in confidence and skill as their work progresses. Writing can seem like such a daunting venture. Bringing together character, plot, structure, narration, style and voice in each and every sentence of a whole manuscript. It can also be as much a psychological endeavour as it is a creative feat. It requires dedication and stamina. And it can really help to know that you’re not alone, that someone is there to support you throughout the difficulties of writer’s block and self-doubt. Part of my job as a mentor is to take the weight off your shoulder’s and to cheer you on from the sidelines. There always comes a point in the lonely pursuit of writing a book where you can no longer see the wood for the trees and having someone by your side, to talk through character and plot issues, to help you step back and see the story as a whole, can make all the difference.
I’ve worked across all genres and have experience with writers of all ages and backgrounds, from undergraduates to university professors and published authors. Mentoring is a flexible process. I’m very happy to be led by the writer, to use the allocated time in a way that suits you best. We can discuss, agree priorities and set objectives. I’m of the mindset that there are no real rules, but throughout the process I will be honest and constructive, and most importantly, supportive. Zoom, Skype, FaceTime and good old fashioned phone calls are all fine with me.
Whilst it’s true that writing a book can be a difficult, challenging process, it can also be a wonderful one, thrilling, inspiring and gratifying in equal measure. Especially when you feel properly supported throughout.
