The Crafty Writer has had quite a lot of feedback in response to an article I published a few weeks ago about getting started with websites and blogging. Due to the interest, I’ve asked guest blogger Rodney Smith of Hippo Web Solutions to put together a short series exploring the topic in a little more depth. Over the last few months Rod has been helping me get The Crafty Writer and VeitchSmith off the ground. And now, over to Rod…
Hi, Rod here. The kind of comments I hear a lot from those just learning about blogging for the first time are often very similar, and fall into two main categories:
- “Why would I want to start a blog? That’s just for technogeeks!”
- “I want to start a blog, but have no idea how.”
This series of posts will concentrate on providing some pointers for those in the second camp, but before we get onto that, I want to spend the rest of this article addressing the concerns of those in the first.
Continue reading ‘Beginner Blogging for Writers: part 1’
This is the seventh installment in my eight week course on non-fiction writing. Last week we looked at how to write a feature article for magazines; this week we will be discussing:
Continue reading ‘Non-fiction – how to write a proposal’
My stage play, The Idol of Sarajevo, has been shortlisted for the People’s Play Award. Winner to be announced at the end of December. If I win, I shall be blogging about my experiences in the run-up to the staging of the play in May 2008. So wish me well and watch this space! I developed this play on my MA in Creative Writing at Northumbria University.
For more free resources on writing for theatre visit:
Books I can reccommend include:
It’s not everyday you get something for nothing. For all those classic books you always wished you’d read, Abacci books is a fantastic resource for free e-books. Everything from Louisa May Alcott to Martin Luther King and thousands of others are available for download. I’ve just added it to my favourites.
We write because we were created to. Ever since the first scratchings on cave walls, people have tried to communicate their thoughts, stories and ideas through the written word. People of faith are no different. Writing as Worship and Witness is a six-week course, hosted on the Crafy Writer’s sister site, www.veitchsmith.com, and is aimed at people who want to explore writing as part of their Christian walk.
I’ve just come across these FREE writing courses from Email College, Birmingham, UK. There are courses on dozens of writing topics including horror, romance, memoir, comedy, poetry, magazine writing, children’s writing, Science Fiction, e-book publishing and many, many more. They are open to people worldwide. http://www.emailcollege.co.uk/category.php?id=14
You may also want to check out their Creative Pathway website which gives advice and services to artists, film makers, writers and publishers.
I am delighted to be invited to give a workshop on Writing for the Magazine Market at the Tynedale Writers’ Festival in Hexham. The festival runs from Friday 2 to Sunday 4 November and offers a plethora of talks, workshops and shows on writing, music and theatre. Check out the full programme at Tynedale Writers’ Festival. Don’t forget to sign up to my free workshop on Sunday 4th, 10.30 – 12.30. We will be looking at how to find out if a magazine takes freelance work and how to put a proposal together.
For all my regular online visitors and students, the Introduction to Creative Writing Course is taking a break for half term. We’ll be back next week with characterisation. In its place I’ve asked Science Fiction author Simon Morden to write a guest blog on using feedback to improve your work. You may also want to check out this Friday’s blog on non-fiction writing which will be all about writing autobiographies.
In this first of a series of guest blogs by other writers, the Crafty Writer is delighted to have Science Fiction author Simon Morden share his views on how to deal with feedback. Simon is the author of the recently released The Lost Art and has also had a number of novellas and short story collections published. Simon says:
When you start writing, just showing your work – especially fiction – to anyone else is a nerve-wracking experience: assuming, of course, you don’t have such a gargantuan ego that you believe everything you do is wonderful. To those people, you may move along, nothing to see here, for you will learn nothing and never become a better writer. To the rest of us mortals who are prepared to have our hopes, dreams and very sense of self crushed beneath the withering sarcasm of others, good. There may be hope. Continue reading ‘Fiction know how – getting feedback’
Magazines
The following magazines are currently looking for freelance work:
