Writing

General posts about writing (sometimes my own, but not always)

How I first got published, part 1 – Introduction

The following is an encore from 2009, presented here in the hopes that the info will be helpful for aspiring authors. I’ve authored or coauthored five books since, and self-published another four, and most of this still applies. So enjoy. Hope it helps! Chances are, if you like to write you’d also like to be read. While you can throw things onto the Internet and be read instantly, it’s not quite the same thing as a publisher saying, “I like your work. I’d like to invest our time and money into it. I’d like to publish your book.” Because let’s be honest with ourselves: Blogging is nice, self-publishing is interesting, but the majority of aspiring writers know being picked up by a legitimate publisher is key to…
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Forget Paperbacks: Why Writing Is Going Digital

Contributed Post We keep hearing the phrase “digital economy” but what does it mean for writers? Quite a lot, actually. It turns out that we writers are in for a bit of a boom. Far from being replaced, writing has gone from strength to strength as computers have taken over the world, and for reasons that nobody in the writing field ever really expected. Pexels The cool thing for writers is that a lot of opportunities in the digital world actually provide better pay and prospects than writing careers that existed before the internet changed everything. Here are some writing gigs you can actually turn into a full-time career. Become An Affiliate Blogger Affiliate vlogging has been around for a while. Popular channels on sites…
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Write Your Own Cheques

Contributed Post Image source A lot of people simply stumble into jobs. They go to school, get a degree and they take the first job offer to come their way without giving this career choice a second thought. That doesn’t happen with writers. You don’t fall into writing; writing pulls you in. Sometimes that can be in your 40s or later, however, sometimes people are lucky enough to know they are writers from a young age and go to school to study some form of it. But leaving school with a writing degree doesn’t mean you will become the next AA Gill or WHH. A career in writing needs to forged and fought for, tooth and nail, and relentlessly. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t…
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Become The Wordsmith You’ve Always Wanted To Be By Following These Simple Steps

Contributed Post Writing is rewarding. It’s also very hard. Like with any creative pursuit, you have to go out and seek inspiration. We could all sit around and wait for the muse to pay us a visit, but we’d be waiting a long time. Some people believe writing is a natural talent. For the most part, that’s not true. You may not be able to teach yourself to write well in the general sense, but there are things you can do to ensure you’re the best writer you can be. Here are a few things no writer can do without! Image from Pixabay   READ That’s right. To write, you need to read. You should read everything you can. Remember in Matilda, when she reads…
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How do I make a second edition of Breaking Down Breaking Bad worthwhile?

Breaking Down Breaking Bad

Back in late 2013, I decided to try an experiment: I decided I’d self-publish a book of television commentary on a show I was obsessed with at the time, Breaking Bad. The result was Breaking Down Breaking Bad. The idea was a culmination of several things coming together at once. I’d had over a decade in journalism and knew I could meet a deadline, and with the show coming to an end it looked like a great time to hit the world with something. I’d also been Editor in Chief for a website devoted to movie and TV criticism for a few years, so I’d been down the “critic” road before (though admittedly, it was never my jam; didn’t enjoy doing reviews then, don’t enjoy…
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