Being a writer
So you’ve chosen to be a writer. Congratulations, and commiserations.
Here you’ll find a wide array of articles about the life of a writer, specifically a fiction writer. We’re a strange bunch, after all.
A utopian vision for fiction writers
If we fiction writers got everything we wanted, what would that actually look like?
I forgot to be a writer (then remembered)
My son was born towards the end of 2012, forcing me to acknowledge, perhaps for the first time, that I was going to die.
A conversation with Eleanor Anstruther
I’m one of those weirdoes who reads the instruction manual back-to-back before using a new gadget. As a child I’d go through the step-by-step instructions on how to change Optimus Prime into a truck, before actually playing with the toy.
Unblock your writing with these literary plungers
Apologies for the plumbing metaphor in the subject. Writing is an incredibly difficult thing to do, especially if you want to write consistently and to a not-entirely-rubbish quality. And sometimes, the words: they do not come.
💬 What's the best writing advice you've ever heard?
There’s a lot of bad writing advice. But every so often you stumble upon a little nugget that clicks with your brain and makes writing that little bit easier, or more interesting.
The benefits of writing a lot of words
It’s not unknown for this newsletter to go off on various tangents, but the central core is always in the name: Write More.
Finding the joy in writing with ZK Hardy
It was back in April 2024 that I had a conversation with T K Hall about adventures in publishing. At the time I wanted to turn it into a series of sorts, yet here we are, January 2025, and I’m only just getting around to a sequel.
How to DIY a 50k word writing challenge in November
There’s been an annual writing challenge to write 50,000 words in November for over 25 years. I took part way back in 2009, writing a fun YA romp called Of Rock and Earth. It wasn’t very good, but it was a critical step on my bumpy road towards being a writer, proving to me that I could finish a project and get the words down.
Overcoming the fear of sharing your writing
Last week I saw a message over on Notes that I won’t quote directly as I don’t want to accidentally cause any distress to the writer, but here’s what it said:
10,000 hours
A friend recently reminded me of the ‘10,000 hours’ concept. The idea is that to become expert in any subject you need to actively do it for at least 10,000 hours.
Adventures in traditional and self-publishing
Possibly the best thing about writing a newsletter is how it facilitates meeting other writers.
Beware the boredom threshold
You’re working on the most exciting project. It was a brilliant idea to start with and you’ve been hammering away on the keyboard, or scribbling away in a notebook, getting the words down onto the page. This might be The One! You might finally break through that dreaded 20,000 word barrier.
Writing is a way of making sense of the world
It occurred to me recently that all of my novels are about Brexit.
You don't need my advice
Back in 2021 I started this newsletter with 100 subscribers, all email addresses that I’d brought over from my previous Mailchimp newsletter. That list had accumulated over about 10 years and I doubt many of those people were active readers, so I may as well have been starting at zero.
NaNoWriMo and other temporary power-ups
There’s a lot of this is how you do it floating around at the moment. Emphasis on the grind and the hustle. So remember the core thing: there’s no right or wrong way to write, and ignore anyone who is being overly prescriptive. As long as you’re writing, in whatever way works for you, it’s all good.
How much is my writing worth?
I switched to Substack in 2021 as something of an experiment, not sure of where I was headed with my writing. I’d been publishing on Wattpad since 2015, which had been a very positive experience and brought me more readers than I could ever have imagined. It never felt like I was in much control, and the opportunities for making money from my work were …
Writing a lot of words
You’ve probably heard of Malcolm Gladwell’s famous notion that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in a particular skill. I was pondering the numbers recently, wondering where I am on that scale in terms of my writing.
Talking about yourself as a writer
I was the guest on a recent episode of The Nudge, a podcast about writing. Do give it a listen and the show is absolutely worth subscribing to:
Your writing has value
Two weeks ago I switched to making brand new chapters of my weekly serial project, Tales from the Triverse, only available to paid subscribers. This is a big experiment for me, as I’ve previously given all of my fiction writing away for free.
Does my writing have value?
It’s a good time to be a reader. Shelves in bookshops are overflowing with traditionally published books. If you want something more niche, online stores are packed with endlessly specific self-published work. If you want to read short stories or serials instead of novels you can find amateur and professional work all over the internet.