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Insider tip
Enthusiasm is infectious... It is essential to convey enthusiasm for your work and for the job of meeting people and selling to them. Art is a luxury, so people need to enjoy buying it. The Artist's Guide to Selling Work by Annabelle Ruston-
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Every single word matters
Filed under: Authors and Books, Festivals and Events
Writers and readers of this site should be interested in a project called 26:50 – a number-fixated title for a writing project, but there is a reason.
It’s a collaboration between the writers’ group 26 (I declare an interest as a founder) and International PEN, the worldwide community of writers that champions freedom of expression.
PEN campaigns for writers who have been persecuted, imprisoned and sometimes murdered for their words. Among those they’ve represented are Vaclav Havel, Salman Rushdie and Read more
“It’s a no” – rejection can be swift
The hardest thing for a writer to cope with is rejection. We all pour so much of ourselves into our writing, we invest it with so many of our hopes, that it’s impossible not to take rejection as a personal blow.
So, what should you do? Partly it depends on the form of the rejection. If your work is returned to sender with the flimsiest of covering notes – ‘unfortunately we don’t believe we Read more
Tell us about your writing zone
Filed under: Authors and Books, Writing Advice
Where do you write? You’ve probably seen those articles in the newspapers about ‘writers’ rooms’. It’s almost as if there’s a magic to the physical space where a writer writes.
Pictures of a writer’s room usually feature personal items: photos pinned to the wall, objects collected on travels, gifts from other writers. Perhaps even, at this time of year, we can imagine a sprig of holly on top of that meaningful ethnic carving that sits shyly on the desk.
All those things are important. I enjoy Read more
Can a computer judge your writing?
How do you judge the quality of your own writing? And how will others judge its quality? These are questions that any writer will think about. They concern us particularly when we submit our work for publication.
We all hope that our work will be judged by real readers rather than computers. The recent story on Channel 4 news was presented as a bit of fun, but actually it’s worrying that computer programs are now used to mark some English exams.
The Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors tried out one of these programs, developed in the USA, and tested some famous writers with it.
A passage of Hemingway failed the computer test: “lack of care in style of writing”. They then tried Read more
The delights of diversity
The other evening I went to the British Library to hear Oona King deliver the second 26 Annual Speech. 26 is a membership organisation for writers which I co-founded six years ago, and our aim is to promote the value of writing – in business, in life, in all its diversity.
That’s why Oona was an appropriate choice of speaker. She’s now head of diversity for Channel 4 and was previously the Labour MP for Bethnal Green – a constituency where 79 different languages are spoken by residents. Oona famously lost her seat to George Galloway, notorious for being a cat on Big Brother. Did Oona’s defeat by an embarrassing and chubby moggy with a moustache mean that diversity and multiculturalism are dead? Read more
Writer-in-residence: book giveaway!
Filed under: Authors and Books, Competitions and Offers
John Simmons
There’s been a flurry of media interest in ‘writers in residence’, sparked by Alain de Botton’s stint at Heathrow. My Guardian letter explained that there are other ways to be a writer-in-residence. In fact, I took on that rather intriguing role at King’s Cross tube station for a year.
There are different ways to interpret the role. Alain de Botton was commissioned by BAA to be at Terminal 5 for a week, to set up a desk and be visible, to meet members of the public, explore stories of how T5 works, and then to write a book that BAA will give out to customers. Clearly, given the media coverage, the role was seen as a good PR opportunity for BAA.
My stint at King’s Cross was quite different. I was there for a whole year (half a day a week) and my focus was on the staff not the public. As King’s Cross is London Underground’s busiest station, managers were concerned that I should not interfere with the running of the railway. So I spent most of my time meeting Read more
Who wants to be a ‘proper writer’?
Filed under: Authors and Books, Writing Advice
Our guest blogger author John Simmons believes it’s wrong to draw a line between the ‘proper writer’ and other types of writer. What do you think, do you agree?
Are you a writer? I sometimes get exasperated by people – often people who describe themselves as writers – who insist on Read more
Discover the art of the rewrite
Filed under: Authors and Books, Writing Advice
Guest blogger author John Simmons on how to be even more creative
A designer friend of mine who loves conundrums, said to me last week: “Sometimes the more cornered you are, the more fun you have.”
That struck a chord with me as a writer. I’ve become increasingly convinced of the creative value of writing to constraints. It sounds counter-intuitive but constraints do liberate.
I’ve recently put this theory to the test in a [...] Read more
Buy the 2011 Yearbook
The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook is available at a discount from our online bookshop. Get all the information, contacts and advice you could need.-
Win, Win, Win! We are giving away 5 copies of Qatari Voices, a collection of essays which will inspire new writers. For details of how to enter this giveaway go to 'The Accidental Writer' >
On camera: Jon McGregor
"Being longlisted for the Booker Prize changed everything - it was the launchpad for my writing career." Click to view our video with novelist Jon McGregor »
On camera: Justin Cartwright
"Just write... If you're any good you may not know it, but certainly someone else will." Click to view our video with novelist Justin Cartwright »
On camera: Julie Myerson
The novelist and journalist Julie Myerson on how she got that all-important first publishing deal. Click here to view our video exclusive »