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4 ways that Spark London is good for writers

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SPARK LONDON AT THE HACKNEY ATTICIf you listen to blues songs, you will discover that amongst the angst, the stories of “my baby done packed her suitcase and caught the midnight train” (they must have amazing rail services in the USA because all the trains seem to depart at midnight), and being down and out, there are some real glimpses of a deeper Truth, with a capital “T”.
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Discovering Sherman Alexie

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Sherman Alexie at Skylight Books.I always try to follow my intuition. Thus it was that a couple of weeks ago, with deadlines pressing on me, and pressure from all sides, I decided to ignore my intellectual protestations and listen to my inner voice.

That voice whispered to me:

You haven’t looked at The Atlantic for a while, have you? Go check it out.”

So I did, and I came across an interview with a writer I’d never heard of, Sherman Alexie.

Alexie is a Native American writer, which is why I suppose I’d never come across his work. Interestingly, he refers to himself as “Indian”, which we are told is politically incorrect. I think I’d rather take Alexie’s word for that. But anyway….

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The key criterion of a writer’s success

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transactionsHow do you know if you are, objectively speaking, a success as a writer?

Although I may be accused of taking too simplistic an approach to this question, I really do think that it comes down to just one thing.

Well, in practice, of course, there are many potential indications of success. For example, people telling you they like what you write. People asking when your next book is coming out. That sort of thing.

However, nice as such accolades are, they don’t pay the rent, and talk is, or can be, cheap.

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Technology-inspired words are definitely buzzworthy!

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Word NerdNew words are always interesting, I think, and not just the ones that have been inspired by technology. But before I say any more about that, I feel the need to get something off my chest. Don’t worry, I won’t make this a long post: the last thing I want is people tweeting me to say TL;DR (too long; didn’t read).
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The best laid plans and all that

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I have to say that I am becoming increasingly cynical about writers who give advice on how to write all the time, regardless of circumstances. I am happy with advice like, "Always carry a notebook so you can jot down ideas while waiting at the supermarket checkout", or "Get up an hour before the rest of the family so you can write in peace", but sometimes life just, well, takes over.
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The power of habit

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UntitledIf you want to write consistently on a regular and frequent basis, you don’t have to use technology at all.

True, it can help. I, for example, like to give myself a bit of extra pressure by trying to write articles in half an hour or less, using TimeLeft. I wrote about that in How to write an article in 30 minutes or less. Some people prefer a no-frills wordprocessor such as FocusWriter (see my Review of FocusWriter).

However, I was reminded by Stephen King in his book On Writing that the routine of shutting yourself away until you’ve achieved your daily writing goal is an excellent strategy.

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Blogging software

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Catching up on e-mail...I've recently been having a few problems with Windows Live Writer and Squarespace. Well, one problem actually: they refused to work together any longer. Each time I clicked on "Send to blog", an error message popped up saying "We can't find it", or words to that effect.

That's all fixed now, thanks to the good folk at Squarespace, but in the meantime I thought I'd check out some of the alternatives.

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4 reasons to work with pen and paper

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ARTICLE OUTLINEErm, look. I don’t quite know how to put this but, well, er, sometimes – gosh this is so embarrassing! Well, the thing is, I know I’m supposed to be some sort of techno-geek but often I find that working on paper is better than working on a computer. For the initial outline anyway. There, I’ve said it. I feel much better now!

There are several reasons why working on – and with – paper is beneficial.

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