Writing Teacher

 

Success

What does success look like to you? How will you know when you’ve been successful?

Your personal success

Write down all of these that apply. Then identify those that might be your next step.     

Writing routine

I write only when I feel like it.

I just write in my spare time.

I write in my spare time but I have developed a strategic plan about getting published and getting more time to write. 

I have a regular writing routine.

 

Publishing success

I haven’t submitted anything yet.

I’ve submitted a few things but have had nothing accepted yet.  

I have had some small publishing successes but am not yet earning money from it.

I have had some small publishing successes and am earning a little money from it.

I have had some small publishing successes and am earning more than the minimum wage from it.

I have had quite a few publishing successes and am earning quite well but I cannot live from my writing alone.

I am earning enough to live on from my writing – just.

I am earning enough from my writing to feel comfortably off.  

I am earning enough from my writing to feel well off.  

 

Employment status and earnings

I am not registered as self-employed.

I am not registered as self-employed but I do fill in a tax return.

I am registered as self-employed but also as employed.

I am registered as self-employed but also do other freelance non-writing work to help pay the rent etc.    

I have given up the day job.

I am earning well from my writing and match the day job I gave up. 

I am earning well from my writing and earning more than from the day job I gave up.

I’m on the rich list and have had a book-shaped swimming pool built.     

 

Of course probably we all want to be at that very end point and spend some of our day in that wonderful swimming pool.  Realistically, though, we need to get on to the next line.

It’s reasonably straight forward. For instance, if you’ve not submitted anything yet, you could start submitting. You’ll find quite a few ideas about this in the next section.    

If you’re not registered as self-employed but you fill in a tax return, perhaps because you’re earning a little from royalties, you might wish to consider what’s stopping you calling yourself self-employed.  It is possible to be employed and self-employed at the same time.  Just realising that you are self-employed may give you a boost and be a good step towards seeing your writing as a business.  

 

Your task now

Try to think of three strategies that you can use in the next twelve months to get you on to the next rung of the ladder. Once you get there, then you work towards the next one.

Here are a few ideas for each section:

Writing routine

Identify the time of the day when you write best and find a way of using them.

Consider using prompts

Have a go at some competitions – even if you end up not sending in your entries.  

Make sure that you ring-fence your time for writing.

Make sure that partners and family respect your writing time; make sure you indicate precisely when you’re busy. (e.g .study door shut, phone off, get away from the internet.)

Are there pockets of time you could use? E.g. your commute by train, waiting at dance classes for your children, lunch breaks (or part of them)?

Set a daily time and / or word minimum. Make this quite small to start with – say ten minute and / or 100 words – otherwise you may be scuppered before you even begin.  You can always gradually increase it.

Find a nice place to write – great if you can have a room of your own, but if it’s the kitchen table it’s the kitchen table and that should become sacrosanct.

Award yourself a small reward for reaching your daily goal. 

Publishing success

 Submit something.

Increase the number of submissions you’re making

If you’re already submitting try something you’ve not tried before.

Try writing to fit a call to submission rather than writing and seeing where your writing fits.

Consult my web site Fair Submissions.  Click on Labels, then Show More to find all of the categories.  Or be brave: just go for the top one on the list.

Consult the Writers and Artists Yearbook   - the book or the site. I favour the site as it is constantly updated.

Make sure you mix agents, publishers, small publishers and bigger publishers.  

Subscribe to a writing magazine e.g. Mslexia, Writing Magazine

Join a writing group and network with them to find out about opportunities. NAWG can point you to a writing group near you.  

Read carefully and target your submissions carefully.

Learn to regard rejections as an opportunity to rewrite.

 

Employment and earnings

If you’re already receiving some money for your writing - either directly as royalties or fixed fees, or indirectly because you’re doing school visit or workshops – you really should fill in a tax return. One advantage can be that you can also claim expenses.

Is it time to register as self-employed?  It helps you to see yourself as a business. 

Can you do more writing related freelance work? Or should you be cutting down on that a bit in order to make more time for your writing?  

Is it time to give up the day job? Can you make ends meet by cutting down on outgoings and having time to be more productive in this chosen field?

Could you consider working part-time?

What about changing your job to one that doesn’t sap your creativity? Teaching for instance is as creative as writing so doesn’t always combine well, though once you are experienced the school holidays can be useful.  Some good ones are:

·         Working in a bar or cafe as this keeps you in contact with people and when you’ve finished, you’ve finished.

·         Working on the post – plenty of exercise and you see quite a bit of life

·         House-sitting – you get free board and lodging while you sit a write

·         Dog-sitting / walking - our canine friends don’t mind if you’re writing and they’re also not averse to you reading your work out loud to them. Cats also are obliging in the latter but it’s harder to earn money looking after them.

If you are earning form your writing, look at what is working and replicate that.

You know your writing is good but it’s not earning you that much yet. Is your marketing up to scratch? It must be, whether you are self-published published by the small press or by the Big Five.

Practise saying “I am a writer”.             

Word association - October

 

For ten minutes write down all of the words you can think of to do with October.  Now, write a scene or story inspired by those words.

Here are a few ideas.

Articles

What is important for you about October? What about recipes that use seasonal fruit and veg? What is it like for teachers? How does the academic year pan out? Or the financial year?  What about the gardening year? The festivals in October?  Is Trick or Treat a good or a bad thing? What are it origins?

Poetry

What do you see, hear, smell and taste in October?  Can you write an ode to October? Can you write verses about one of its festivals?  

Script

Something dramatic happens in October. How does this time of year affect the action?  Are the dark evenings significant? What about fog and smog? Or overnight frost? Is the month of any help to the characters? How will the audience know the story is set in October?

Story

Something about October triggers the opening incident. Your main character wants something but needs something else from October. How will you show your readers that this is all happening in October? Which are October’s markers?

Wandering Jasmine Chapter 1: One Rainy Night by Christina E. Petrides

 Barry grabbed for a handhold as the bus lurched to a stop. His bag flew out of his lap, scattering cans of tomato soup on the muddy rubber floor. The driver impatiently jerked open the rain-streaked door. Barry collected most of his cans and got out. The last can clattered down the steps after him. The bus roared off in a cloud of diesel, crushing it. The downpour began to wash the red pulp into a grate at the curb[GJ1] .

            Barry pulled his hat over his eyes and trudged [GJ2] along the sidewalk, following the quickly-disappearing tire-trail on the wet street. He passed a bakery, locked and dark, a second-hand shop, where a metal grille protected a glass door and cracked window from the further ravages of passerby, and a neon-highlighted door which said “Dancing,” and “Beer On Tap.” Behind him, the bar door opened, and two women in raincoats emerged. The shorter of the two clutched a brown paper sack in one hand and held her other arm above her uncovered head[GJ3] .

            About a block away from the bar, the hatless woman tripped on the broken sidewalk. The bottle in the sack shattered as she fell on the slick cement. Rain, blood and liquor mixed in the cracks.

            Her companion gasped, “Oh, my god, Vicki, are you OK?”

Barry, who'd been slowly pacing ahead of them, dreading the colossal mess Tom had doubtless left at the motel, glanced behind. He dropped his abused groceries under a leaky awning and trotted back.[GJ4] 

            One elbow against the stucco building, Barry reached down to help the injured woman to her feet. The other, a slim, close-cropped redhead, steadied her. Vicki’s[GJ5]  hands were badly cut. She went to wipe them on her short skirt, but the redhead seized her wrists, “No, that'll just rub the glass in further, and ruin your skirt. Here, let me do it.”

            “Oh, damn that hurts! Shit!” Vicki yelped when the other dabbed ineffectually at her wounds with ragged paper napkins from her small clutch. The small squares of paper were quickly soaked. Barry intervened.

            “Here, use this.” His khaki handkerchief was accepted with a brief “Thanks” from the redhead, who stood in her stilettos [GJ6] in a shallow puddle until her friend's hands were free of as many bits of glass as the nearby streetlight showed.

She started to wring out the handkerchief, but Barry said, “Just throw it away[GJ7] , it already has lots of holes in it.”

Vicki, whose knees were skinned through her ruined stockings, grimaced in painful appreciation. “Thanks a whole lot, sorry about that.” 

            “No problem, may I help you get home?”

            “No, thanks. We need to walk, anyway.”

            “Even with those cuts? And in this rain[GJ8] ?”

            “Look, we'll be fine. Thanks.”

            “OK.”

            With a shrug,[GJ9]  Barry walked on to retrieve his groceries and continued on his interrupted journey. His dark figure was soon lost in the downpour and the dark. 

 

[This is the first chapter of an obviously noir-style [GJ10] mystery involving Barry and Tom (who may have disappeared) and Vicki (who either will be murdered or turn into the crime-solving sleuth) and/or her redheaded friend (who may be mugged and drugged or simply remain a nameless sidekick ever after). There could be romance and bizarre weather events along the way; there definitely will be drinking, smoking, swearing, the consumption of canned soup, and the driving of leaded gas-guzzling Detroit beasts.]

General comments

This opens nicely in mid-action and straight away we have an established setting; one of deprivation.  

Barry seems quite young at first or maybe I was expecting that because your bio says you write for children.  

You have established all of the characters quite well in these opening scenes, though there is the question mark about Barry’s age.    

There is a nice narrative balance – dialogue, description, action.

However, I’m not convinced form this opening that it’s “noir-style” or “mystery”. Will the blurb and cover invite me to think that? And might I be disappointed if so by this opening?

Do we need more reaction form Barry to the situation?  How does find the behaviour of the two women?  Do we need to know his opinion of them?  Would this benefit from a little more inner monologue?   

---

 [GJ1]This is a dramatic opening with a nice use of colour.  Already a convincing atmosphere is created.

 [GJ2]This implies emotion.  

 [GJ3]We’re getting a firm picture here. This seem a very poor place.

 [GJ4]This gives us a good character indication of both Barry and Tom.

 [GJ5]Maybe here; the one who seems to be called Vicki.  

  [GJ6]A telling detail

 [GJ7]Maybe a semi-colon here.  

 [GJ8]He suddenly seems older here.

 [GJ9]That gives us a small indication of his mood.

 [GJ10]Is it obviously? What I have in this short snippet is that Barry and Tom live in a very poor world.   

Animal point of view

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Write an article, poem, script or story that champions the animal’s point of view. If you find it too difficult to get into the animal’s consciousness you can write about humans supporting animals: allowing animals to return to the wild, stopping cruelty to domestic and farm animals, creating great habitats for wildlife etc.

Article inspiration

Perhaps you could look at your local Wild Life Trust, WWF or Born Free for inspiration.  Or find out more about the wild life in your garden, Can you find someone locally who has taken steps to encourage wildlife in the garden?

Poetry

Get inside the head of a bird you see in your garden. Write with the senses. What do you see, see? Hear? Feel? Remember, birds have very sharp eye sight.

Story

Will you tell it from the animal’s point of view? Can you do that without too much personification? Take a look at Judy Waite’s Storm Seal or even our own Gentle Footprints.

Script

Can you write a drama about saving some animals? Perhaps about preventing extinction or cruelty? What are the complexities in the situation?

 

Happy writing.        

Lighthouse Day

          

Today is Lighthouse Day

Find out what you can about lighthouses. Do you know of one? Have you ever visited one?  What is it like walking to the top of the tower? There is plenty of scope here for writing with the senses, putting something into a historical setting or writing a story or script with a lot of drama.

Decide which genre to write in and get writing.

Here a few ideas about lighthouses to get you going.

Holiday in a lighthouse

Yes, in fact several have been turned into holiday homes. Have you ever had a holiday in one? What is the effect of staying in a lighthouse on the people in your text?

Living in a lighthouse

Why would someone want to do that? Is it possible? Does it work out for them in the end?

La Chambre d’Amour Biarritz

Why such a romantic name? Does it have a story to tell? Or could it indeed be the background for a romantic story?

The Winkie      

A small lighthouse on the Isle of Man. Why is it so small? What’s its story?

Les Eclaireurs lighthouse

The lighthouse at the end of the world. This is found on the southern tip of Argentina. Does this suggest a fantasy story to you?