News & views
I love second-hand bookshops. Whenever I go on holiday, one of the first things I do is go to the nearest Tourism Information outlet and get a list of the local used bookshops.
So, what do I like about them, and what does this have to do with ebooks?
The only thing wrong with Spark London is that it is confined to London, which is only to be expected of course! However, the good news for people who like the idea of story-telling as a way to improve their writing (see 4 ways that Spark London is good for writers) is that there are story-telling clubs and events all over Britain.
If you listen to blues songs, you will discover that amongst the angst, the stories of “my baby done packed her suitcase and caught the midnight train” (they must have amazing rail services in the USA because all the trains seem to depart at midnight), and being down and out, there are some real glimpses of a deeper Truth, with a capital “T”.
I always try to follow my intuition. Thus it was that a couple of weeks ago, with deadlines pressing on me, and pressure from all sides, I decided to ignore my intellectual protestations and listen to my inner voice.
That voice whispered to me:
You haven’t looked at The Atlantic for a while, have you? Go check it out.”
So I did, and I came across an interview with a writer I’d never heard of, Sherman Alexie.
Alexie is a Native American writer, which is why I suppose I’d never come across his work. Interestingly, he refers to himself as “Indian”, which we are told is politically incorrect. I think I’d rather take Alexie’s word for that. But anyway….
It is almost a year since I suggested 7 reasons writers should blog. I’ve recently discovered another one.
How do you know if you are, objectively speaking, a success as a writer?
Although I may be accused of taking too simplistic an approach to this question, I really do think that it comes down to just one thing.
Well, in practice, of course, there are many potential indications of success. For example, people telling you they like what you write. People asking when your next book is coming out. That sort of thing.
However, nice as such accolades are, they don’t pay the rent, and talk is, or can be, cheap.
What do you need to be a successful writer? Here are my thoughts on the seven main attributes you need to have in order to make it as a writer – or at least, to give yourself a fighting chance! I believe these hold true for any genre, and any form (ie book or article).
What are the characteristics of writing that is enjoyable to read? Is enjoyment purely a subjective thing, or are there some objective criteria? I don’t know! But here is my thinking aloud on the matter.
New words are always interesting, I think, and not just the ones that have been inspired by technology. But before I say any more about that, I feel the need to get something off my chest. Don’t worry, I won’t make this a long post: the last thing I want is people tweeting me to say TL;DR (too long; didn’t read).
According to newspaper reports, the educational academic Sugatra Mitra, lessons in spelling 'have no place in 21st century schools'. His view is that the technology will sort it out for you.
I suppose he is thinking of things like predictive text, because he says:
I may be experimenting with a new look to this blog, so try not to be alarmed if it looks different in the near future.
It may happen several times!
On one of my visits to second-hand bookshops I picked up a copy of The Writer, from January 1937. There are some things which haven’t changed, but the technology definitely has!
If you want to write consistently on a regular and frequent basis, you don’t have to use technology at all.
True, it can help. I, for example, like to give myself a bit of extra pressure by trying to write articles in half an hour or less, using TimeLeft. I wrote about that in How to write an article in 30 minutes or less. Some people prefer a no-frills wordprocessor such as FocusWriter (see my Review of FocusWriter).
However, I was reminded by Stephen King in his book On Writing that the routine of shutting yourself away until you’ve achieved your daily writing goal is an excellent strategy.
I've recently been having a few problems with Windows Live Writer and Squarespace. Well, one problem actually: they refused to work together any longer. Each time I clicked on "Send to blog", an error message popped up saying "We can't find it", or words to that effect.
That's all fixed now, thanks to the good folk at Squarespace, but in the meantime I thought I'd check out some of the alternatives.
Erm, look. I don’t quite know how to put this but, well, er, sometimes – gosh this is so embarrassing! Well, the thing is, I know I’m supposed to be some sort of techno-geek but often I find that working on paper is better than working on a computer. For the initial outline anyway. There, I’ve said it. I feel much better now!
There are several reasons why working on – and with – paper is beneficial.
Unless you’re so poor at spelling or English in general that a spell-checker wouldn’t do you much good anyway, there isn’t really any excuse for this sort of thing
I wonder if the management/business model of levels of competence applies to writers? The basic premise is that as you travel on the journey from novice to expert, you pass through four stages of competence. These are
