Liza Krejci – Where are they now?

Liza currently resides in Portland, Oregon, where she is involved in the Art Museum’s Rental Sales Gallery, writing plays and short stories while breaking into the not-for-profit field of Grant Writing.

Ben Field – Where are they now?

Since the release of Restless Minds, Ben has been writing a few short stories, continued working on his sitcom and has just started the beginning stages of his first screenplay. He is still in the part-time modelling game but this has not taken off as much as he was hoping, with him still waiting to land his first gig. However, he remains optimistic and is available for bookings. Ben can be found rambling on twitter @benfield88.

Peter Newman – Where are they now?

Returning to Nottingham to finish his dissertation, Peter ended up staying there when the course ended. He let his writing and composition slip but has kept active by doing bits of musical theatre, and his brain is turning back to songs and poems again. Although it turns out that a facility for formal poetry does not aid in finding steady employment, Peter volunteered at Oxfam and Citizen’s Advice until a kindly gentleman gave him a writing job at his startup craft toy company… speaking of which, check out Simbrix: launching soon on Kickstarter!

Silvia M. Lopez – Where are they now?

Since completing her MA in Creative Writing, Silvia moved back to Spain and is now working in tourism. She recently joined a workshop group for YA and NA fiction with some former classmates and Nottingham Writers’ Studio members. She is currently working on a YA novel about a teenage hacker. You can follow Silvia on Instagram:@aivlis_ml.

Nora Al-Rasheed – Where are they now?

Since completing her MA in Creative Writing, Nora travelled to Shanghai, China last fall, and it’s been the biggest adventure of her life. The differences when it comes to culture still surprise her. It’s been almost a year now, and she’s been working in an English speaking training school, for children between the age of 3 to 9. For extra curricular activities, she encourage students to write poems. It’s usually the older ones, and every once in a while, they write poems in colourful cards for parents and grandparents.

She is the only foreign teacher in her school, so it has been a struggle, but she managed to build great relationships with her students, their families and the staff at her school. All in all, it’s been a fantastic experience for her. She is planning on staying there for another year since she has enjoyed the challenge.

You can follow Nora on Instagram:@alrasheed_n.

Kristian Elliott – Where are they now?

Since the launch of Restless Minds, Kristian successfully completed his MA Creative Writing degree, achieving a commendation. He is a member of the Nottingham Writers’ Studio where he continues to work on two novels – The Enigma of Thornwood and Escape – with a critique group. He also runs his own critique group, Makeshift Authors, which is not affiliated with the studio but includes some writers from Restless Minds. Over the summer he worked as an Admin Assistant at Heanor Jobcentre Plus. Kristian aims to finish the draft of his first novel by December 2015.

You can keep up-to-date with Kristian on Twitter (@krizzon). He also has his own blog The Writer’s Purgatory, although he’s neglected it the last few months but he aims to reboot it in October.

Lauren C. Terry – Where are they now?

Since the publication of Restless Minds, Lauren has successfully completed the second year of her English with Creative Writing BA (Hons) degree, achieving a 1st overall. Alongside her studies, Lauren has been working with the NTU Outreach Team as a Student Ambassador and has been offered an additional position as a Library Student Mentor for the upcoming academic year.

Lauren is currently working on a new collection of poetry for her dissertation, and is supporting the newly affiliated NTU Creative Writing Society in her role as Publications Manager. Whilst preparing the society magazine for launch, Lauren has been planning her first novel and has recently been selected for publication in The Great British Write Off – England anthology.

Paul Adey – Where are they now?

Paul is about to enter into his third and final year of University and has been working on a number of short stories and flash fiction pieces over the summer. Paul’s short story ‘Black Gold’ was chosen to be included in this years NTU anthology entitled Black Balloon and his first novel entitled TRO is in the final stages of completion.

L. D. Lapinski – Where are they now?

Since graduating, L. D. Lapinski has completed two YA manuscripts, both fantasy, but neither what she submitted for her dissertation!

In the last year, her short story After the Fall has been published in the charity publication Flash Fiction 14. She has also been lucky enough to be published in the second volume of Fugue from The Siren Press, with her story Scarlet Streets being accompanied by an original illustration by Alexandru Savescu. Scarlet Streets is described as ‘rich in language’ and worth ‘repeated reading’ in a review by Sabotage. L. D. also had her flash story Leaves published in the 2015 National Flash Fiction Day ‘Flash Flood’. In July, she attended Young Adult Lit Con and was thrilled to get the chance to pitch her manuscript live, with positive results.

L. D. is currently editing a YA novel manuscript following editing notes from a literary agent.

You can follow L. D. on Twitter @ldlapinski or at her website ldlapinski.com

Clare Stevens – Where are they now?

This year Clare has developed her portfolio as a freelance writer. She has an ongoing contract as a press and publicity officer for a national charity, she runs creative writing workshops for the Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Nottingham, and she’s just been recruited as an associate Writer for a bid and tender writing company. Alongside this she has almost finished the third draft of her novel after which she will approach agents and publishers. She’s had a short story ‘No Ordinary Day’ published in a Notts anthology and has published an e-book version of Seven Echoes, an anthology she co-wrote and published previously.