The Creative Identity

Stephanella Meets Ian Hocking

Almost a year ago exactly, in my second Creative Times, I linked to a fabulous, if slightly perturbing, post by writer Ian Hocking. In it, he talked about giving up writing. All too often I find that online writing sites focus on (somewhat forced) upbeat information to keep us going, while gracefully glissing over the less spectacular aspects of being a writer. I always see cheerful posts of all sorts or even rigidly prescriptive ones which, in one way or other, invariably scream LOOK AT ME! I AM SO GREAT! I think it's a miracle that less experienced writers don't shoot for the hills wielding an open razor and their wrists aloft. Coming across Ian's post was so remarkably refreshing and striking in this Pollyanna-esque landscape that I had to share it via my ezine, even though I know well that an ezine is anathema to less than thrillingly happy news. Fast-forward by a year though, and Ian is at Scott Pack's digs, giving us the low-down on how writing life progressed since then, and proving that, among a plethora of crap, there's plenty of space at the top of the quality ladder. I urge you to have a look at the numbers that Ian shares so readily with us all and at his Kindle-related news. Not many writers are forthcoming in talking money and I do have to wonder why writing earnings represent such a taboo subject. Would you be shocked/happy/sad/revolted/uninterested to know that, this year so far, my... Read more →

From Writer to Publisher

Two weeks ago I did something that I had been day-dreaming about for weeks and weeks. No, for months and months. I went to the post office and sent off the copies of the anthology to the eleven contributors. This anthology, which stemmed from the short story competition I ran last year, is a little, unassuming book of barely one hundred pages, yet I can assure you that getting it finished in this shape has been as easy as moving house, getting a divorce or squeezing out a baby. You may feel that I am starting out on the wrong key here and that I should do what writers of sites usually do. HEY LOOK AT MY LATEST WORK IT WAS A LABOUR OF LOVE! SQUEEEEE! Then a flurry of replies follow and everyone skips into the sunset, flapping a signed copy of said book. Oh, yuk, no siree, what happened here was a marathon run twenty times over, with a handful of firey hurdles thrown in across the last seven miles. Having previously worked in publishing for a small house, I must tell you that I had already come across some of the issues I would later encounter as a one-woman band. But when you are dealing with problems, yet are part of a small team, you can all encourage one another while exchanging emails of the 'we'll get there' sort. All the emails I was getting throughout this adventure were (well-meaning, let's be clear) questions about where the... Read more →