Keep Going When Writer’s Block Strikes
It’s true of anything. At some point, you’re going to wake up one morning and hit The Wall. You can’t be bothered. It’s not working out.You just can’t get started. And then the self doubt arrives. Was it all a mistake? Have you been punching above your weight this entire time? Are you…
Revive Your Darlings: Reusing Old Material
The popular mantra, “kill your darlings”, attributed to Allen Ginsberg (or was it Arthur Quiller-Couch?) instructs writers to cut material they’re proud of if it will improve the readability of their manuscript. But that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be used at all. Whether cut or abandoned, old material still has some worth. A case…
Story: Pete’s Fish
The sunlight strobed across still, rippling sea, the reflection dazzling Pete’s eyes. Distracted, his half-full wine bottle toppled off the wooden picnic bench, exploding on the pale concrete. He stood to wipe himself down with the sleeve of his already-grubby tunic. Already, he was worrying about the fish. If it wasn’t the weather…
The Email ALL Writers Should Subscribe To
Keeping it much shorter today, I absolutely *had* to share what I think is the most important email newsletter for writers. Produced by the team at FreedomWithWriting.com, the newsletter is a weekly affair with several links to magazines and websites that accept freelance contributions. Sign up here. Better still, Freedom with Writing also produces…
The Time Has Come to Share Some Freelance Writing Tips
I first started freelancing back in 2004 as a way to generate extra income for my impending wedding. It didn’t go too well at first, but I persisted, happily supported by a wife and monetarily backed by my day job. By 2007 things were going well enough to require a business bank account. That…
Keeping a Diary – 12 Months Later
It recently occurred to me that that time I’ve put aside to write a diary for the past 12 months — since January 1st 2016 — could just as easily have been used to talk a bit more right here. So I’ve decided to do both. 2016 was a memorable year for many…
When Should Writers Stop Waiting for Feedback?
I could be playing a videogame. Or I could be revising Aliens vs Nazis for the 90th time. As it is, I’m wondering about the fate of a couple of scripts that I’ve entered into competitions (Red Planet and BBC Writers Room) in the past 6 months. I’ve no doubt that neither has…
RIP Android Magazine – My First Print Gig
Well, that was a lot of fun while it lasted. Sadly, Android Magazine is no more, with issue 63 its final edition. Back in early 2013 I was contacted by then-editor Andy Betts, who had seen some of my Android-related articles on MakeUseOf.com. He was interested in bringing me in as a freelancer,…
Slight Victory of the Former Doctor Who Website Owner
Damn. I really don’t want to keep banging on about this… but things haven’t quite been sorted out with the use of my name at www.kasterborous.com. What’s worse, I thought things had been fixed… which superficially, they have. The problem is that the solution taken by Kasterborous’ new owners breaches my copyright. Not…
SheKnows Nothing
As technology writing and family life have occupied my time over the past few months, I’ve not really been keeping an eye on what www.kasterborous.com – the website that I setup in 2004 with illustrator Anthony Dry – was up to. I’d assumed that a new editor had been installed and that it…
