Writersbridge 2026

Writersbridge is as free group generally meeting the second Saturday of the month at the Ostrich Pub, Robertsbridge, East Sussex.

All welcome. Here is our schedule for the year.

No need to register or book, but you can click here for an e-booking form for your convenience.

Saturday, February 21 - Poetry workshop led by Sophia Bartleet

Saturday, January 10 - Elevator Pitches

Intro to elevator pitches, and a chance to practice and share your pitch.

An elevator pitch is a 1-3 sentence mini-synopsis (10-50 words)  that captures the essence of a piece of writing,  without giving the whole thing away. It is the heart of a query letter and may also be used in isolation when pitching via a submission form, through social media “pitch party” events, or when discussing your manuscript in person.

Crafting a pitch is hard work -- and requires a lot of craft and revision, but it's vital exploratory work for you to do as a writer. You aren't just crafting a markting plug but rather, getting= to the heart of your story, and figuring out what makes it unique and worthwhile. When I coach writers, one of our first steps is to craft a "working pitch," to understand a work's potential and focus. A good pitch will drive your writing and revising. Therefore, writers often craft pitches at every stage of writing process, in order to understand the what and the why that drive their work. 

Click here for the pitch for Writersbridge member, Danny Singer's forthcoming novel, Nothing Left to Lose  (Go, Danny!) 

Click here for additional advice from Jericho Writers on writing a pitch for novels. 

Here are some formulae for pitches for narrative books for young audiences:

Useful question to consider, as you prepare your pitch:

• What makes your project unique? 

• What would you tell someone, to make them want to read more? 

• What is the core question that would drive a reader to keep reading?

• For narrative: Who is your hero/heroine? What is his/her problem/obstacle? What action do they take? What life lesson do they learn.

Some cautionary points:

• Don’t reveal the whole story. Spark the reader's curiosity.

• Avoid rhetorical questions.

• Be selective with adjectives, adverbs and superlatives. Intead, focus on strong, specific verbs and nouns.

• Avoid comparing yourself or your book to extremely famous authors or boffo bestsellers.

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