Despite thirty years of success, one rejection was enough to dent my self-confidence. Self-doubt is never comfortable.
Read MoreImage by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
A slow motion rejection revisited
in News & views
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
A slow motion rejection (Updated)
in News & views
Just in case I might get too complacent, a malignant Fate decreed that an article I’ve spent hours on has been rejected — by the person who commissioned it.
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Writer, by Terry Freedman
National Writing Day 2022: resources, reviews and tips
It’s the 23rd June 2022, and this year’s National Writing Day. Here are links to reviews of useful books about writing, resources for use in schools (some are good for adults too!) and top tips (ditto).
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Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
What "interesting" REALLY means (or might do)
in Language
When did “interesting” become a synonym for “useful”? If anything, when the word “interesting” is used by an English person, usually means the opposite.
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CREATIVE NONFICTION: THE TYRANNY OF CHOICE
Here’s a creative nonfiction piece I wrote recently.
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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Writing the Oulipo: A taster update
This course is running tomorrow (18 June 2022), and I’ve added a few more exercises for people to try out.
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On this day: Oulipo books
in Bookshelf, Oulipo, On this day, Reviews
On 17 June 2021 I wrote a round-up of my reviews of books about the Oulipo. Here’s a link to that article.
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All Party Writers Group Report Launch, by Terry Freedman. From left to right: Barbara Hayes, Giles Watling, Lord Vaizey, Tony Bradman
Writers' earnings
in News & views
Yesterday I attended the launch, at the House of Lords, of the latest report from the All Party Writers Group on writers’ earnings in the UK.
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A street, by Terry Freedman
Oulipo course to go ahead
Over the two and a half hours I will be covering five techniques, with some hands-on writing and workshopping thrown in.
Read MoreWhat is nonfiction?
Does the Oxfam bookshop know something I don’t?
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Books to be reviewed ,by Terry Freedman
Indexes and tables of contents
in Bookshelf, Reflections
One of the first things I look for when reviewing a non-fiction book is whether or not it contains an index. If it does, the next thing I check is whether the index is actually useful.
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Squared notebook, by Terry Freedman
Writing the Oulipo: A Taster of "constrained writing"
If, like me, you enjoy writing for the sake of it, and maybe even enjoy a secret life as a short story or novel writer, this might interest you.
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The Redbridge branch of the London Cycling Campaign — or some of us anyway. Photo credit: unknown
Cycling to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations
in News & views
Our aim was to cycle into London, specifically Green Park, and watch the fly past. Unfortunately, everyone else in the UK had the same idea…
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Navigating a book
One of the first things I look for when reviewing a non-fiction book is whether or not it contains an index. If it does, the next thing I check is whether the index is actually useful.
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Image by Ronny Overhate from Pixabay
Yeah, I run a business. So what?
I pitched an article to a newspaper that, it turns out, pays less if the article has been written by someone who runs their own business. Why?
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Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Course: Writing the Oulipo
in Oulipo
A new course for creative writing.
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Fake news by Terry Freedman
Gilray and plum pie
in News & views
My Gilray and plum pie day.
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Shoreditch in black and white, by Terry Freedman
Imposing limits in order to enhance your creativity
The standard advice for writers who are feeling uninspired or blocked is to allow your mind to wander where it will or to just start writing aimlessly to see what happens. Therefore to suggest the opposite approach, that of imposing some constraints on your thinking, seems completely counterintuitive.
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Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
#FlashbackFriday: Book reviews
in Reviews
I think a lot about book reviewing, and am continually experimenting with different forms.
Read MoreImage by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
A slow motion rejection
in News & views
Just in case I might get too complacent, a malignant Fate decreed that an article I’ve spent hours on has been rejected — by the person who commissioned it.
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