How to be Happy

I wrote a short story, once, with that title - How to be Happy. I know - pretty shocking for something with 'happy' in the title to come from my pen, but there you go. It's still in draft form, so I may even get back to it at some point. I chose that title …

Asking for help!

When I started writing - in the dark ages, before the internet, possibly using slate (so my kids would have you believe) - writing was a solitary profession. I must have shared my vision of writing with you: sitting in an attic, with fingerless gloves, looking as unkempt as Fagin? No? I've actually got the …

“I just want to sell my books!” says one author to another

It's - loosely - advice week here at the Fountain Pen, but I'm going to use this time to have a little rant about Facebook. Hopefully it will be a useful rant, a helpful one. On Saturday morning, I was scrolling through the stats for my Facebook page. If you don't have one, it shows …

My tips for submitting

My last post, My rules for writing, was quite popular, so I got cocky and started thinking maybe I could actually help writers. Here are a few tips about how to submit your work, because this seems to cause either agony or resentment, as your darlings are repeatedly rejected. These tips will work just as well …

My rules for writers

A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon Zadie Smith's Rules for Writers, and, coupled with a conversation I had on Twitter last night, I thought I'd give my own list a go. For those of you still new to me, here are my credentials: I've been seriously writing for publication since I was about …