1. If you acted on every request to visit a site, check out a link, comment on a blog, read a blog and read the white paper you’d decided you had to download, you’d never get any actual work done (although you would make a lot of other people happy). It follows then that you …
Tag: creative writing
What he said… aka thanks for that
While there is no magic formula, there are certain recurring themes in the ‘How I Made It’ stories of successful writers. They all had absolute faith. They all wrote with almost religious zeal and they all refused to take ‘No’ for an answer from life. Most drew upon their own personal experiences and few seem …
I’d just like to thank…
Well, all of you really. (The ones who voted, anyway!) I’m thrilled to announce that The Silent Hills won its general short story category in the recent Preditors & Editors Readers’ Poll: http://www.critters.org/predpoll/final_tally_shortstory.ht Needless to say – but I’ll say it anyway – everyone at Musa Publishing is delighted with the result, especially as The …
Context
Context is a wonderful thing. Take that image, for example. Just a random pile of coins that I snatched out of my pocket and slammed down. Now notice how many are upright on the edge. Is that typical? I don’t know because I’d never done it before. It reminded me of the one, single time …
Smart writers do it this way
Not so long ago, I was chatting away with fellow writer Terrie Leigh-Relf about our writing (there were probably other topics in there too) and the inevitable relfection on the year that’s passed. We’ve planned to each go away (i.e. offline) and come back with our writing goals for 2012. I know, the very mention …
A report in every storm
When your pipes leak, you get in a plumber. Need some handmade cupboards built? A carpenter’s your man or woman, guvnor. And if that manuscript of yours (or mine) isn’t quite cutting the mustard, where all the feedback is generally encouraging, but there’s still no cigar, who you gonna call? A manuscript assessment service, that’s …
An unexpected pleasure
The business of writing is very often a set of knowns combined with a small number of processes. You know what you’re pitching for, you know your capabilities, you know your aspirations and you know the payment you can look forward to if: a) you’re hired for the gig b) you deliver the goods Often …
Writer as entrepreneur
Apparently, the term entrepreneur was apparently first used by the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say. Where once this was synonymous with a contractor, who acted as the third part of the holy business with capital and labour, now it means much, much more. The entrepreneur controls – either directly or indirectly – the means of production, …
Straight Out of University
It’s my great pleasure to welcome a fellow West Country writer, Rosen Trevithick, to my blog. Here, amid a busy schedule for her recently published book, Straight Out of University, I turned the spotlight on her to learn more about her novel, food combining and fly paper. Can you tell us about your book and …
If good writing is a gift…
One of the delights of being a writer is feeling part of a creative community. Who better to understand the highs and lows than a fellow writer, especially someone who has earned a living through their craft for some time? And with Christmas fast approaching (it’s only weeks away now, trust me), how about tapping …