Every business needs solid foundations. I try to do many things with this blog, but somewhere in the top three objectives is being honest. This post was going to be about the fallout between me and a client. It is still about that, in a roundabout sort of way, but not the name and shame …
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Words and Pictures
How much more evocative with two different bite marks? I was recently invited to participate in a photographic competition – as a judge, you understand. Well, I’m exaggerating; I was asked to vote. Anyway, as I walked along the rows I found myself drawn to different images for different reasons. Some photographers told a story, leaving you with …
On the Campaign Trail
I recently branched out as a freelancer and worked on a B2B marketing campaign, engaging businesses to join an innovative web-based platform. At first, it seemed a world away from copywriting, editing or proofreading, but it soon became clear there are both transferrable skills involved and valuable crossover lessons. 1. Have a plan It sounds …
Series Four. Coming Soon.
Some say the best television shows end at series three. It’s not that further series are necessarily bad, they just need to be different. The first two series of Red Dwarf, for example, felt like cult viewing; you either got it or you didn’t. It was made – or appeared to be – without a …
Party politics – and not in the way you think
An arts hole? I’m a fan of Jeff Bridges (especially Starman and The Big Lebowski) and a fan of Simon Pegg (especially Spaced and Shaun of the Dead), so the film How to Lose Friends and Alienate People was a natural choice as it featured both of them. I awarded it a bonus point awarded …
How to win at the freelancing game
How to win at the freelancing game Seven counter-intuitive ideas that actually work. 1. Be unavailable When you first start out you want to spend as much time as possible on your computer. After all, the Internet doesn’t keep office hours, so why should you? Surely all clients will be grateful for that? Not necessarily. Same …
Created Expectations
A little freeform blogging on a calendrical adjustment. Feb 29th is an unusual day. Partners propose, workers appear to work an extra this month for no extra pay (I used to ask my boss about it, but I never got a straight answer) and there’s a certain sense of being out of step with the norm. …
The Spy Who Loved
How many times have you heard the phrase ‘not your average hero’? When Thomas Bladen first came into my consciousness / novel / repertoire, I knew very little about him. I could write it all on a large stamp:1. No ninja skills.2. Not suave and sophisticated.3. In a relationship of sorts.Pretty average, in fact. The relationship …
Authors & Books – Out of Phase by Neil Roberts
As you know, I love doing author / writer interviews, especially when the genre is one I don’t generally write for (never say never, right?). It’s also a great way to get inside someone else’s head without Thomas Bladen’s surveillance skills. I was delighted, therefore, when Neil Roberts – a writer buddy and someone I …
2016 – A New Manifesto
Well, here we are – a whole year to play with and a tantalisingly empty writer’s diary for me to fill up with my scribblings. If you read my end-of-year post for 2015 you’ll know I’ve been thinking about what helps or hinders writers getting their work started, developed, completed and read. The Guardian recently …