Your stories

Making it as a playwright is no easy task but with the right connections, perseverance and a large slice of luck you can achieve great things.

Leah Chillery from Selston in Nottinghamshire has always dreamed of being a writer and, after being invited onto the 2005 Momentum Young Writers' festival, her career has well and truly taken off.

Since then Leah's been invited to the National Theatre, got herself a literary agent and been commissioned to write more plays.

"It's just manic at the moment because I have a baby as well," she says, "I have a little schedule in my head - this week I'm working this play, next week on that. It's multi-tasking."

New productions

Her latest play, Earl of Mo'Bay, focuses on two young British girls on holiday in Jamaica. Leah says it's based on her experiences but also has a fair bit of fiction thrown in to give it dramatic effect.

The production is headlining this year's Momentum festival. Leah accepts success brings a fresh set of problems.

"The frightening thing is that people expect great things every time you write something new. It's double the pressure I had this time last year. Let's just hope I'm not a two hit wonder!"

Rehearsal shot from Earl of Mo'Bay

The future

Leah shouldn't worry too much. The upward curve seems set to continue. She's currently writing a play called Twilight, a darker edged story about people involved in the illegal DVD trade.

On top of that she's going to shadow the comedy writing team behind the BBC show Grownups. The hope is she'll eventually write her own TV sit com for the corporation and has tentatively based it in Nottingham.

As for the help gained from participating in the Momentum Young Writers' festival she urges would-be writers to apply.

"I'd definitely go. They really take care of you if you're good and willing to put in the work."