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working from home

4 Unrealistic Expectations Writers Have – And 1 Thing You Can Do About Them

A writing reality check from Gemma today! Lots of writers come to me with unrealistic expectations. They may be upset their writing and/or careers are not progressing as they want them to. I was happy to hear Gemma’s idea for turning unhealthy expectations around. Thanks Gemma! Expecting the best … or worst People have different expectations of the writing world. Most of us think that being part of the writing industry is truly a great privilege: it can bring fame, honour, wealth and happiness. The reason many students aspire to become bestselling writers or authors is because of the prestige… Read More »4 Unrealistic Expectations Writers Have – And 1 Thing You Can Do About Them

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How To Make It As A Writer (HINT: This Shit Ain’t Accidental)

DYK? Success is NOT Accidental So, if there’s one thing that drives me batshit crazy, it’s when people think success is somehow accidental. Those people will say: “It’s DIFFERENT for you.” But yeah, okay: fine. Let’s run with that. Yes, it WAS different for me …  I was a very young single Mum, with no money. I lived literally in the middle of nowhere, with no childcare. Social media had not been invented yet! There were very few books, courses or whatever … And the ones that *were* around I couldn’t afford or weren’t relevant to me anyway (waaaah). … In other words?… Read More »How To Make It As A Writer (HINT: This Shit Ain’t Accidental)

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5 Ways To Stop Being A Tortured Artiste

Tortured Artistes, Inc The tortured artist. The alcoholic painter. The melancholic writer. The bipolar entertainer. The self-destructive singer. The dancer with the eating disorder. The raging actor. All stereotypes, but there are examples in the media all the time. Do you have to be ‘unhinged’ to be creative? Is the world is telling us that if you choose the path of the artist, you’re different? That you have to be mad, drunk, self-loathing, reckless or high? “You are not a beautiful and individual Snowflake” Fight Club Sorry to disappoint you, but these problems aren’t part of being creative any more than they are… Read More »5 Ways To Stop Being A Tortured Artiste

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5 Career Strategies For Writers

All About Careers Various Bang2writers have been asking me, especially on Twitter, about career and submissions strategies, so here’s a quick breakdown of approaches you may want to consider/try. As ever, the usual disclaimer: “buyer beware” and do your homework on all submissions opportunities … Plus, *obviously* nothing “guarantees” success and you may find you want to/need to tweak various elements of these approaches to suit your own life. Equally, if you have a strategy you feel I’ve missed here, let me know in the comments section and I’ll add it. Before we get started, here are resources that are… Read More »5 Career Strategies For Writers

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15 Guidelines For Submitting Your Articles To Small Press Magazines

Small press magazines are a great little institution, and still one of the best ways to get your writing work published. They may not have an audience of millions and they may not pay out a great deal for your work, but having small press magazines on your writing CV will mean a lot to publishers, agents and other writers, who understand just how important they are to the grand scheme of things in the writing world. Ignore them at your peril. If you are thinking of approaching small press magazines as a way of getting your work published in… Read More »15 Guidelines For Submitting Your Articles To Small Press Magazines

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Bang2write Resources

FYI, there’s now dedicated B2W Resources AND Free Downloads pages at the top of this blog, under the banner! Or click > HERE I get lots of questions about One Page Pitches, such as how “best” to lay them out, what to put in them etc, so have created a new resource at The B2W Required Reading List. Download The One Page Pitch Reference Guide as a PDF here … And as a .doc here. Here’s another 6 Tips on writing a one page pitch for your script or novel. Other B2W resources that may be of interest: The B2W… Read More »Bang2write Resources

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On Writing: The 3 Cs Versus The 3 Ps

Bang2writers ask me quite frequently for my “top tips” on  surviving the writing process and this industry. Before now I always felt that it depends on the person, what they’re doing, how they work and who with. But actually, having worked on a variety of projects now with various people over the last ten years, I think there are 6 things all writers of ALL formats need to know and live by, whether they’re screenwriters, novelists, playwrights, journalists, transmedia writers, the works. That’s right – just 6. But they mean SO much – literally everything. 1. THE WRITING You need the… Read More »On Writing: The 3 Cs Versus The 3 Ps

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5 Essential Apps For Writers

Whether you’re in academic, creative, or business writing, there are more tools than ever before to get inspired, organise your thoughts and get help with publication. Of course, most people don’t have time to wade through the swamp of redundant, buggy, spam-ridden apps, so we’ve done the hard work for you. The following 5 apps are among the highest-rated, most-popular on iTunes and Google Play. 1. Story Tracker Story Tracker is a great organisational tool for writers who are already getting content published. This app makes it easy to track where content has been submitted, what deadlines are looming and… Read More »5 Essential Apps For Writers

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When To Follow Up On Your Submission

Dealing with writers, I notice they generally fall into two camps: 1. The ones that follow up too quickly 2. And the ones that don’t follow up at all. Dealing first with 2), it’s your RIGHT to follow up submissions and queries. What’s more, you may MISS OUT on opportunities if you don’t. Emails, tweets, phone calls and submissions DO fall by the wayside. Contrary to popular belief, agents, producers, script editors etc are NOT waiting for you to contact them … They have work to be getting on with, so things get forgotten, even if they HAVE solicited contact… Read More »When To Follow Up On Your Submission

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How Do I Become A Freelance Writer?

Updated for 2017 Writing and making money from it is probably everyone’s dream … and we ALL dream of the six figure deals for our novels and screenplays! But before we get to that fabled return, we have to earn money – so it feels like we may be stuck in the boring day job FOREVER. Yet it IS possible to make money writing in OTHER ways while we write our specs and unpublished novels – welcome to the wonderful world of the freelance writer! Freelance writers are available to hire for any number of writing jobs, small, medium or… Read More »How Do I Become A Freelance Writer?

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Writing & Kids, Pt 2: Working From Home

The title of this post is a little misleading, as I feel it can be applied to anyone who works from home whilst looking after children – not just writers. And there are a lot of us: I am of course not just a writer, but a script reader and self employed teacher (ie. “outside” the state school system) as well. I know parents who make jewellery and other crafts whilst looking after children (my own parents did this for a time as I was growing up, in fact); accountants; copy editors; web designers – the list of jobs you… Read More »Writing & Kids, Pt 2: Working From Home

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