For anyone who has ever submitted a manuscript then the day finally comes when the package returns. (With apologies to Frank Sinatra.)And now, the post is here;And so I face the mail uncertain.That jiffy bag is mine,I want to hide behind the curtain.I sent a full typescript,I edited, not in a shy way.And still, I …
Month: October 2009
The Lost Contract
(From the late, lamented Writing Centre website.)To any would-be novelist, the sight of a book – your book – on the shelf is surely the Holy Grail of writing. And, like any true grail quest, the path is fraught with challenges, monsters and dead-ends. Here are two of my tales.My novel Covenant is an unusual …
What sort of writer are you?
Newspaper and magazine questionnaires are always popular (as distinct from surveys, which aren’t). If there’s one thing we like to know about, it’s ourselves. Writers, whether they are aspiring or published, tend to define themselves by their output. It’s useful from the writer’s perspective because it reinforces the way we see ourselves – a little …