There is still a great interest in writing blogs. One of the reasons I know this is that my course on blogging currently has twelve sign-ups. That may not sound a lot, but many courses at the City Lit have far fewer.
Read MoreNews & views
20 autobiographies: excessive? On the contrary
So are elevator speeches completely useless? On the contrary, I think you need to develop several of them.
Read MoreNano reviews
You’ve heard of six-word stories. How about nano non-fiction?
Read MoreAI for bloggers
In my recent blogging course, I abandoned my carefully-prepared lesson, or part pf it, threw caution to the winds, and suggested to the class that we experiment with using AI for writing blog posts. Here’s a partial blog post it came up with, which you will agree is utter rubbish…
Read MoreCreative writing using constraints: a bit of a post-mortem
I think evaluations are very odd devices to be honest. Someone once “marked me down” on her evaluation of a one day course I was running on the grounds that the traffic was terrible.
Read MoreRemuneration
This is an updated version of an article I published on this website in 2015. In my experience, it absolutely applies to artists, teachers and other creatives as well as writers or consultants.
Read MoreJust William
An example of popular academic writing
A long-held belief of mine is that no writing is wasted. I hear of people who have spent time writing something, decided it's rubbish, and then deleted it. But the process of evaluation that someone goes through to arrive at the conclusion that the thing they've just slaved over is rubbish is valuable in itself.
Read MoreNew Online Blogging Course
I will be running another online course in blogging in the evenings of the 17th and 24th November 2023.
Read MoreComing soon* Review of How Words Get Good
I recently reviewed How Words Get Good for Teach Secondary magazine. It’s a great read, and delves into all the processes that go into producing a book.
Read MoreWhy would anyone write badly?
Why do some writers write badly? Plus links to examples of bad writing.
Read MoreWho needs a Creative Writing MA? (Revisited)
I wrote this article in 2020. Having read it again, I still agree with the views I expressed then. In fact, I’d go further. When anyone who has achieved the benefits potentially offered by X tells you that you don’t need X, I think a huge dollop of cynicism is in order.
Read MoreOulipo taster course: discount for today only
Oulipo techniques are great for dispelling writer’s block, and generating new works.
Read MoreLondon Book Fair Wednesday sessions
These are the sessions that especially appeal to me
Read MoreLondon Book Fair 2023
The London Book Fair is back again this year, in Olympia. As usual there are loads of seminars and even more stands. And if you’re an author, there is even more reason to attend.
Read MoreRewriting the classics: should we do it?
Should we rewrite the classics? My view is: Yes, kind of, but not in the way you might think.
Read MoreOur corrections policy
My corrections policy wasn’t easy to find so I’ve created a dedicated page for it.
Read MoreCalling all writers: a free gift!
If, like me, you write a lot, or you have a blog or a newsletter that features guest writers, you might like this free spreadsheet.
Read MoreMy reading plans for 2023
You may have noticed that I read a lot. I’ve outlined my reading plans for 2023…
Read MoreCan ChatGPT Create Good Course Outlines?
I’ve been experimenting with using ChatGPT to write course outlines, and for one of the courses I compared the result with the outlines I had already written (and taught to). The results were interesting.
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