I’ve been thinking a lot recently about fandom. There’s a musical playing at The Playground Theatre at the moment, called Fanatical: The Sci-Fi Convention Musical, which I have already seen twice and will be seeing twice more before it closes on Saturday. It’s about a fan convention for a fictional sci-fi TV show, and it […]
Category: Blog
Weeknotes – S02E47 – Lots of Days but Not Much Progress
Summary: I’m keeping up my writing days, so I’m on track to double my GYWO pledge level for the year, but none of my sessions this week were particularly long or massively productive. It’s all about finding a balance between quality and quantity, productivity and relaxation. Wednesday: I met Hannah after work for a […]
Weeknotes – S02E46 – Feels Like Progress!
Summary: One really good, productive session, and lot of little bits throughout the week. Monday: I met Ann at Good & Proper with a resolution that I would write at least one paragraph for each of the three main fiction projects on my list at the moment (with the hope that one […]
Weeknotes – S02E45 – Finally Some Fiction!
Summary: A good amount of stuff achieved, and finally some fiction! Monday: I helped Bear post about our most recent reading retreat. Tuesday: I wrote reviews of all the books I read while on retreat. Thursday: I took the opportunity of a long gap between appointments in town to settle myself at […]
Weeknotes – S02E44 – More Non-Fiction Fuel in the Fire
Summary: Still no actual fiction writing again this week – the fiction crew are definitely on shore leave at the moment, leaving the nonfiction crew to stoke the boilers on their own. Monday: I had a leisurely morning and then took myself off to Good and Proper with the intention of working hard until […]
You Should Always Follow the Guidelines – Shouldn’t You?
One of the most important pieces of advice for writers submitting their work for publication is – read the guidelines really carefully and follow them to the letter. It may seem petty and unfair to be penalised for using the wrong font or being a few words outside the word limit. But the quickest way […]
Weeknotes – S02E43 – A Change Is As Good As A Rest?
Summary: The fiction crew are still on shore leave, it seems, but the non-fiction crew are picking up the slack. Monday: I met Ann at Good and Proper for our second writing date without Baby R since he was born. I started with of a review of the film I’d seen the day before, […]
Weeknotes – S02E42 – From No Days to All The Days!
Summary: After nothing at all last week, I worked on writing projects to at least some degree every day this week. Not much progress on the fiction front, but lots of nonfiction stuff, some cogitation on fiction stuff, and plenty of sending my darlings out into the world to be judged. Monday: Last day […]
Writing the Other
I recently read Writing the Other by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward, which is designed to help writers approach and navigate the potential pitfalls of writing characters who are very different from themselves. I would highly recommend reading this book to all writers, but below is a distillation of the most important lessons I learned […]
Weeknotes – S02E41 – Very Little To See Here
Summary: Very little going on this week. Tuesday: I went through Writing Magazine and added more upcoming submission opportunities to my rolling spreadsheet. I also wrote a letter to Writing Magazine about cultural appropriation, in response to a letter from another reader in this month’s edition. Wednesday: I wrote some reviews.