Category «Mistakes»

Do you want hyphens with that, sir? (Mistake #44)

Meet Rustic farmer Ben, presently ubiquitous on London’s transport system, and probably far beyond. He’s not rustic farmer Ben, which would be fine, or Rustic Farmer Ben, which would also be fine, if a little self-aggrandising, but Rustic farmer Ben, which is plain wrong and already predisposes me to want to slap him across the …

Not reading the T&Cs (Mistake #43)

They’re boring, aren’t they, the terms and conditions to writing competitions. Life’s too short to read them, really. It’s time wasted that could be directed towards writing. They’re written in legalese, and that’s impenetrable, isn’t it. Bi-ig yawn. And they can’t be that bad, anyway. You’re not going to be asked to sign away a …

Anniversary! (Mistake #42)

It is the anniversary of this blog. On 28th February 2010 I made this deposit on the blogosphere — and I refused to clean it up. Gratitude eternal to first-writer-to-comment Lorraine Mace for posting what she posted and not, say, ‘Sigh. Not another writing blog.’ So, ‘anniversary’. ‘The date on which something occurred in a …

Do I like it? Not alot (Mistake #41)

I’m a reasonable man. Pay taxes. Smile at checkout lady. Drop coins in charity boxes. Hold door open for elderly people. Buy my rounds. Check, check, check, check, and check. So why, when I’m presented with the following, do I get the fleeting urge to jab out my eyeballs and stir fry them over a …

Not chasing your dues (Mistake #40)

If you enter into a business transaction with a buyer for words you have written you should see that transaction through to the end. The end is receipt of payment from the buyer. If you choose to donate a piece of work – for the exposure, because you believe in the cause the publisher represents, …

Waiting for inspiration (Mistake #39)

I’m guilty of this. I’ll know it’s time for another mistake-writers-make, but I’ll dither about which one to cover. There are dozens in my ideas file, so you’d think it would be easy. But no, that one’s not quite right yet, that one’s a bit advanced, I’m saving that one for the 100th… there’s always …

Revealing all your clients (Mistake #38)

What follows may come across as uncharitable towards other writers. My defence is that you’ve got to protect your own interests in this game, and while I wholeheartedly endorse scratching other writers’ backs and sharing your knowledge, as I like to think I do here, a little part of you should remain unashamedly selfish. There …

Refusing to submit speculatively (Mistake #37)

Some people will tell you that it is their policy to never submit speculatively, and advise you to follow suit. When they add that submitting ‘on spec’ is unprofessional, they’re basically choosing to distance themselves from those who have done it or do do it, and subtly marking these writers down as amateurs. I don’t …

Fury at a ‘stolen’ idea (Mistake #36)

It comes to you in the bath – and you know instinctively it’s a good one. You leap out and run dripping to your computer, soap suds still hanging off your ears, to bash it out and submit to an editor. Job done. A few days later, it’s rejected. A few months later, you see …

“What’s copyright?” (Mistake #35)

I don’t believe there’s a writer out there who has never heard of copyright, but I reckon there are many who have little idea what it is. If you’re among them, there’s no shame in it. But not doing anything to rid yourself of this ongoing ignorance is, I have come to be reminded over …