… and how to put them right! Advice and opportunities for new, aspiring and upcoming journalists and writers of non-fiction
“You can’t use up creativity,” said Maya Angelou. “The more you use, the more you have.” I imagine Angelou was thinking about fiction when she made this remark, but it applies to non-fiction and magazine writing too. Coming up with ideas is a creative process. You may think of a subject first, then develop an …
Be a bit cool when you pitch. Be a bit chilled. Imagine (imagine only) you’ve had half a glass of wine and you have a smile on your face and that it matters – but doesn’t matter that much. Some writers fret too much. I see their covering or proposal letters and they’re filled with signs …
We all need a holiday. I am lazy, so probably need one less than you need one, but after a year when I’ve revised one of my books, ran a major award, was heavily involved in two others, kept up a monthly column, wrote regular features for a clutch of websites, dealt with my terrific Writers …
“I can’t think of any ideas!” “What am I going to write about?” “I’ve been racking my brains all day!” Ideas germinate and develop in brains, so you’re not looking in the wrong place when you’re scratching around in your attic trying to find them. But if the search is proving fruitless and you’re getting …
You don’t need me to tell you it’s 100 years on from 1914. The War started in August of that year. I imagine there are some commemorative special edition publications due out in August, or sooner. I’ll let you know if I hear of any – though I expect they will be fully commissioned. I …
Three or four times over the few years this blog has been running I’ve been asked ‘why don’t you write about writer’s block?’ – and I’ve never got around to it. Reasons? I feel a lot of it has been said already, and most writers who write about writing have had something to say on …
If you’re a new writer, having a good idea is good, but submitting a good idea may not be good enough. You don’t need me to tell you that breaking into magazines and newspapers is hard. Attracting an editor’s attention – merely getting a reply to your emails – is tough enough. And there are …
I read a tweet last week, on the day of the Wikipedia blackout, by a writer pointing out that journalists might have to actually spend the day doing some proper in-depth research – for a change! – rather than click into the collaborative online people’s encyclopedia and trusting the information they found there. It was …
Because if you indulge in it, and one of the results takes you to the writing blog of a tutor who favours reading his Google Analytics stats ahead of addressing his looming deadlines, you run the risk of your search term being appropriated, occasionally for lightly comic purposes, and presented to readers in Writing-related Googling …
Too many of us are going to be, at this time of year, distracted by Christmas – presents, parties – and then later by New Year – resolutions, more parties – but what you really need to be thinking about over the coming weeks is article ideas for 2012. And what 2012 is going to …
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