This is a great TED-Ed video by Kate Messner. And this is the important bit: “Just like real life, fictional worlds operate consistently within a spectrum of physical and societal rules. That’s what makes these worlds believable, comprehensible and worth exploring.” It doesn’t really matter what you write, whether it’s fantasy, science fiction, erotica or […]
There are two things I like about this clip of Ricky Gervais talking about the writing advice he received at school. First, the larking about at the start and suggestion that no one writer’s process is any more interesting or important than any other’s. Second, that there is truth in the everyday – the boring: […]
So if I’m going to start sharing the good stuff with you here on the site, it’s going to have to be the good stuff. And it doesn’t get much better than this video of George Saunders talking about storytelling and the writing process. This resonates with me: “My experience is to have some idea […]
I do tend to give myself goals at the start of each year, but I don’t often write them down and I’ve never shared then publicly before. But then this year does feel different, somehow. I don’t know why. Work I’ve spent the last year doing content strategy and managing some ace projects at Yoomee, […]
Have you ever spent months, maybe years, either thinking about or working on an idea that you’ve been completely unsure of? Where you frequently move between, ‘This is brilliant,’ and ‘What on Earth am I doing?’ That was me for far too long, so I decided to do something about it. I had an idea […]
A few days before the EU referendum vote, someone close to me said that they were probably going to vote Leave. I was flabbergasted. First, I could see no logical reason for it. They were intelligent, comfortably middle class, apparently liberal-minded and entirely unaffected by immigration. There was no protest to be had. When pressed, […]
The EU referendum and the absolute carnage it has created in the UK has been on everyone’s minds. It’s impossible to escape. I’ve wanted to write about the situation, but found it very difficult to articulate how I feel. I’m just so angry, dumbfounded that a group of incompetent politicians, born into wealth and blinded […]
Newsletters have been all the rage for a couple of years. I’m not saying I’m some sort of pioneer (I am), but I’ve had my own newsletter for quite some time. In the last few months, I’ve been taking it a bit more seriously. What’s in a name? Last October, I moved the newsletter to […]
I have currently recorded 157 episodes of the Write for Your Life podcast, the first in 2009 and the most recent, just before Christmas last year. Me and Donna, my co-host for the last couple of years, have made a difficult and slightly sad decision. We will record two more shows and then, well, that […]
I’m very pleased to write that next month, I will start a new job at Sheffield digital agency, Yoomee. I’ll be a Senior Producer with a focus on creating, organising and managing content. It’s a big deal for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve heard great things about Yoomee and I’m excited about working with […]