Last week, I decided to take myself away from any distractions and work in the library in my county town. I could have worked in the library in my village (which we’re still fortunate to have), but the chances of bumping into people I know, who would then stop to chat, would be much greater … so I decided for the relative anonymity of the larger library in town.
Firstly, many thanks to everyone who commented on last week’s post and shared it on social media. A touch of reality was clearly appreciated! The current reality for authors and creatives could be about to change, if the UK adopts the new EU Copyright Directive. However, Brexit could have an impact. On 17th May 2019, the European Copyright Directive passed onto the EU’s official journal of laws, which means the clock is now ticking for member states to adopt it…
It was an opportunity I had to take. Here was an editor keen on my novel. But a few others in the acquisitions meeting had reservations, so a contract wasn’t quite in the offing just yet. A few tweaks, though, could make all the difference.
As the proverb says, All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, so last Saturday I had a play day at Hay. I, along with a group of writers’ circle friends, minibussed it down to the Welsh Border village of Hay on Wye for the 32nd Hay Literary Festival. I’ve always had mixed feelings about some of the larger, well-known literary festivals, because, historically, authors haven’t always been recompensed properly for the work they put in when attending such…
I help administer a short story competition on behalf of a writers’ group I go, and last week I had to send a copy of an anthology to one of last year’s successful entrants. I didn’t have their postal address, so I went back through our emails to find the entrant’s original submission, and then got in touch to ask for a postal address. I was horrified when Gmail returned my search results. There was the email with the competition…
As writers, it’s important that we come up with fresh new ideas on a regular basis. However, we’re wasting our time if we don’t do anything with them. Much better to have a habit of developing ideas and then either writing them up (if it’s fiction) or pitching them (if they’re non-fiction).
The European Parliament has recently voted through changes to current copyright law. The European Union Directive on Copyright in the Single Digital Market will force social media platforms, such as facebook, twitter and YouTube to be more responsible when copyrighted material is illegally shared via those sites.
Twenty-one years ago, this month (last week, in fact), I won a short story competition in Writers News. Little did I know then that I would later go on and become a regular columnist in the magazine. Nor did I even think that five years later I would have a published book (heck, I hadn’t even had the idea for the book at that stage!).
Inside the May 2019 issue of Writing Magazine is my Business of Writing piece about Writing Tandem. We know that writing partnerships can work well in some writing formats, such as comedy (particularly sitcoms), films and even theatre work. But what about books?
Saturday was a financial admin day for me. Oh, the heady world of being a writer! For me, Saturday marked the start of the 2019/2020 financial year, and therefore the end of the last financial year. While many people use the end of the calendar year to look back on their achievements, I also use the end of the financial year to look back too.
Sleep. We all need it. But do we get enough of it? And if we don’t … could it be affecting your writing business? How creative do you feel after a bad night’s sleep? I recently read Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep and can thoroughly recommend it. It’s a fascinating read (and one of those books that is so well written it’s an easy read even though the subject matter gets quite complicated at times). How many times have we found ourselves…
The latest issue of Writing Magazine carries a piece by the brilliant Patsy Collins (who runs the Womagwriter blog) concerning changes at Spirit & Destiny magazine. This magazine is now taking all rights in material, including fiction. As a result, some of the writers Patsy quoted in her piece have said that they will no longer write for them. (Note, some last minute editing as the publication went to press means the sentence about those writers not writing for Spirit & Destiny could…
This year’s London Book Fair takes place between 12th and 14th March at Olympia. Like many of these events, if you’ve never been before it’s worth making some preparations to ensure you get the most from your visit. Time will fly!
Last week, Radio 4’s Moneybox looked at the economics of being an author. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0002ml5) At a little over 28 minutes long it clearly doesn’t go into too much detail, but it certainly highlights some of the extremes in the publishing world. The two main guests are Karolina Sutton, from the Curtis Brown Literary Agency, and independent author Mark Dawson.
Twice last week, I came across posts in two different private social media groups where people in the writing business had experienced rudeness from novice writers submitting work. Now, I’m not going to share any specific details, because they are private groups. But there’s no excuse for rudeness at any time, and it made me realise how some novice writers still don’t understand that writing is a business. It’s all about professional, business relationships, and for those relationships to function successfully there needs…