One of my last ever university courses was Working in the UK Screen Industries. The module was about the working practices and procedures involved, the unions and other organizations that advocated for workers’ rights and diversity. The subject material itself was pretty dry, and there were a whole bunch of studies and industry texts to […]
Tag: writing
I’ve seen a lot of bloggers and writers on YouTube talk about their goals and reflect on them, so I thought I would give it a try. You may be wondering why I’m talking about my goals for 2018, as opposed to 2019/2020. Picture this: the year is 2017. I’m a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed baby poet […]
For me, some silver linings of this terrible year have been that I‘ve had quite a few poems published in magazines and anthologies. One of my flash fictions was placed on a long list for the first time and my debut chapbook, Keep On Spinning, was published with small Scottish publisher Dreich Publishing. It came […]
You may have heard of and seen a bullet journal by now, but just in case you haven’t…. ‘A bullet journal is a method of personal organization developed by designer Ryder Carroll. The system organizes scheduling, reminders, to-do lists, brainstorming, and other organizational tasks into a single notebook.’ Bullet journals have grown in popularity over […]
Whether you’re writing a short story or a full novel, the first page of your book is your most important page. It is your first chance, besides your blurb, to hook your reader’s interest. You have got to make it count and you have to make it flow. In a few short lines you have […]
Every now and then, I judge a small writing competition on a writing Facebook group. Despite the relatively small size of the group, the volume of entries are often pretty high! I have had the opportunity to read a lot of great prose and I have learned a lot by sitting in the judge’s chair. […]
Let’s go back in time, before The Cursed Child was released and before Fantastic Beasts, back to 2007 when the last Harry Potter book came out. Some Harry Potter fans may even wish we could go back to 2007 and stay there forever. Now before I start, I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series and […]
Back in March I had the opportunity to launch my debut novel Folked Up with the assistance of the Centre for Childhood Cultures at Queen Mary University of London. Part of this involved running a creative writing workshop based around world building for YA audiences, where we discussed some of the things to bear in […]
The Diary Of A Young Writer has officially reached 100 blogs! It feels like a big birthday, and to celebrate, I thought I would share with you what I have learnt so far… I can say with absolute certainty that your first attempt at writing a novel is going to suck. Sorry, but it’s true. […]
Earlier this year I bought a copy of ‘The Terry Pratchett Diary’. It contains quotes from the Discworld novels and tributes from renowned authors such as Neil Gaiman and A.S. Byatt. It also contains 366 empty boxes (leap year included), for you to write a small paragraph, or a line or two about your day. […]