WRITING
Copywriting/Editing
Copywriting/Editing
Copywriting/Editing
I am a copywriter and editor and have worked for several major organisations. Most of my work has been in the voluntary sector. Before going freelance (in 2002) I worked in communications and press for several leading charities including the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (now RNID), British Agencies for Adoption & Fostering (now CoramBAAF), and Muscular Dystrophy Campaign (now Muscular Dystrophy UK). I can turn my hand to annual reviews, press releases, reports, guides, magazines, etc. More recently, I have worked for The Centre for Research on Multinational Organisations (SOMO), CAFOD, Age Concern (now Age UK), Orbis International, Chelsea Physic Garden, and ActionAid. I'm good at reorganising and restructuring large amounts of copy/information, simplifying complex or technical information, and writing engaging copy for a general readership.
I love working on creative long-term projects such as ghost-writing a book or producing an in-depth report.
Fiction
Copywriting/Editing
Copywriting/Editing
My second novel, Alice & Iris, will be published by Neem Tree Press in the UK and US in April 2026. It's based on the true story of Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright who, in the early twentieth century, faked photographs and fooled the world into believing they had seen fairies in the West Yorkshire village of Cottingley. Alice & Iris was shortlisted for the 2019 Bath Novel Award, and longlisted for the 2019 Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize and the Blue Pencil Agency First Novel Award. You can read an extract here: https://bathnovelaward.co.uk/extracts-from-shortlisted-novels/
My first novel, Scapa Flow, set in Orkney during WW1, was longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition. My third novel, Come You Out, is based on a true story about a religious cult that existed on the Scottish island of St Kilda in the 17th century. I am working on this novel with my writing mentor, Jill Dawson (Gold Dust Mentoring Scheme).
I am a founder member of the writing group, Angles, based in Cambridge, and I also occasionally write short drama performed by the WRiTEON scriptwriting forum. In 2017 I was Writer In Residence at Rock Road Library. I have an MA in Creative Writing from Anglia Ruskin University.
My play, Drive, was selected as one of three plays to be performed at the Corpus Playroom in Cambridge, in December 2021, as part of an evening of ghost plays called The Shadows. I am currently working with WRiTEON on a verbatim drama project to be staged in 2024.
I am an Associate Artist at the National Centre for Writing.
LINKS:
GOLD DUST MENTORING SCHEME
ANGLES www.angleswriting.com
WRiTEON www.writeon.org.uk
NEEM TREE PRESS https://neemtreepress.com/ntp-author/leigh-chambers/
Helping you with your writing
Helping you with your writing
Helping you with your writing
I have an MA in Creative Writing and have written two (almost three!) novels.
I know how useful outside feedback is to the writing process. Another eye can spot something that you can't see yourself because you're too close to the text. It might be something small such as a change in the eye colour of a character or it might be something more substantial such as flaws in the plot or a character not being quite credible.
Perhaps you're at the stage in your writing - whether it's a novel, PhD, short story collection or feature - that you need someone else to help you? I can offer advice, suggestions and feedback (whether detailed or big picture). How much it costs depends on how lengthy the project is but, as a rough guide, I charge £800 to look at a 80,000 word novel. I also offer a mentoring service and that is charged per session.
I am also available to ghostwrite memoirs or non-fiction books. Price depending on project, and your name on the cover not mine.
Non-fiction
Helping you with your writing
Helping you with your writing
I have had work published in The Guardian, The Sunday Correspondent, The Independent, Mslexia, and the Radio Times. In 2020 I was commissioned by Humanists UK to write a book about conducting humanist ceremonies (due for publication in 2024). I am the co-author of six fiction/non-fiction books aimed at children and young people in the care system, published by British Agencies for Adoption & Fostering. Titles include Hoping For The Best, Feeling Safe, and Joining Together, and the books address issues such as trans-racial adoption, adoption disruption, and long-term fostering.
In 2018 I coordinated and wrote an exhibition about the effect of World War 1 on Cambridge for Rock Road Library (supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund), entitled Stories From A Neighbourhood.