Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Apologies for Crowing ...
... because I'm on a bit of a high at the moment.
After being away from writing for ages until a couple of years ago, I'm back in the fray. Wanted to share my position.
The current issue of Writers' News has my short piece about World Book Night, as I may have mentioned ... The latest Writers' Forum has printed my letter (though with an error - I wrote 'hoist by my own petard' and they altered it to 'hoisted', which is embarrassing). It means, hopefully, a coveted moleskine notebook. The next issue of Sainsbury's magazine is expected to include a letter from me, too.
Article-wise, Fond Memories of the WAAF will be included in a national mag's 'special', and one of Bauer's mags has commissioned an article on sleep for a July issue.
I'm currently reading a self-published book I was sent for review; it is full of errors and inconsistencies, but I was advised to 'tell it like it is' in the review.
Southampton's famous theatre company, The Maskers, has set a competition locally for a 10-minute play, with a very particular brief. They hosted a meeting for writers on the 19th April, which included their members doing a read-through of the play which is to inspire the competition entries. I am aiming to have a good go at this, especially as my previous 10-minuter did well in Southampton Writing Buddies' anthology competition and will appear in the anthology in due course.
Since I am positively fizzing with writing stuff, I'll stop and get back to it. Thanks for reading!
Saturday, 16 April 2011
My 10 Reasons Why Twitter is Good for Writers
Oh yes, I know this may not contain ground-breaking information, but it represents my thoughts and I hope it may be a reminder of why we keep tweeting.
1 Twitter is, of course, a great way to marshall followers into noticing and hopefully reading our work,
whether the writing is available free or at a cost.
2 Followers can be tempted by offers through our tweets or through links to our websites.
3 Opportunities pop up occasionally for paid work, free books for review (which is writing), etc.
4 All sorts of (free) writing advice is offered through links to sites and blogs.
5 Tweets can convey requests for practical advice, e.g. writing-related technology playing up, whether
one character name might be preferred over another.
6 Author events can be promoted in advance and up to the last minute. Feedback after events can help
writers decide whether to attend next time.
7 The huge variety of tweets can be a source of ideas for writing, whether its their content or the
use of the medium itself.
8 The original wit which floods Twitter can be a stimulus for fast creative thought, e.g. read the
comments by @DowningStCat or @tom_cox, and reply comments start to spill out - this can keep
thinking sharp.
9 It can be good to realise that nearly all writers have 'issues' in common, such as distractibility, self
doubt, and evidently our passion for alcohol and chocolate (preferably together).
10 Finally, Twitter gives an idea of what people are writing, what agents are looking for, and what
publishers of books and magazines want. So many people in each category are generous with their
advice and information.
Although that's my 10, I must add that, as all regulars know, Twitter is a source of enormous fun most of the time, and sympathy, support and congratulation when needed. I just love it. And I blame author Catherine Miller (@katylittlelady) for persuading us at Southampton Writing Buddies that we can't live without Twitter!
1 Twitter is, of course, a great way to marshall followers into noticing and hopefully reading our work,
whether the writing is available free or at a cost.
2 Followers can be tempted by offers through our tweets or through links to our websites.
3 Opportunities pop up occasionally for paid work, free books for review (which is writing), etc.
4 All sorts of (free) writing advice is offered through links to sites and blogs.
5 Tweets can convey requests for practical advice, e.g. writing-related technology playing up, whether
one character name might be preferred over another.
6 Author events can be promoted in advance and up to the last minute. Feedback after events can help
writers decide whether to attend next time.
7 The huge variety of tweets can be a source of ideas for writing, whether its their content or the
use of the medium itself.
8 The original wit which floods Twitter can be a stimulus for fast creative thought, e.g. read the
comments by @DowningStCat or @tom_cox, and reply comments start to spill out - this can keep
thinking sharp.
9 It can be good to realise that nearly all writers have 'issues' in common, such as distractibility, self
doubt, and evidently our passion for alcohol and chocolate (preferably together).
10 Finally, Twitter gives an idea of what people are writing, what agents are looking for, and what
publishers of books and magazines want. So many people in each category are generous with their
advice and information.
Although that's my 10, I must add that, as all regulars know, Twitter is a source of enormous fun most of the time, and sympathy, support and congratulation when needed. I just love it. And I blame author Catherine Miller (@katylittlelady) for persuading us at Southampton Writing Buddies that we can't live without Twitter!
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