Word Count 47: Why we should all care about the WGA writer’s strike

May 9, 2023

Plus the importance of the WGA’s AI demands, Fieldwork, The Lacemaker, and opportunity costs. Hi there, Happy 1st Birthday to Word Count! It’s about a year since I started this newsletter, and I’m slightly surprised that I’ve stuck to my weekly schedule. I have to be honest, I thought that my initial enthusiasm would wear […]

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The opportunity cost of not writing

May 3, 2023

What are we sacrificing when we decide to do something else instead of write? When we talk about “opportunity” in relation to writing, it’s often in the context of all the opportunities that exist for writers now. It’s so much easier to find literary agents to submit to these days, and so much easier to […]

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Introducing Fieldwork

May 2, 2023

Everything you need to know about Suw’s latest creative project. If you’ve ever been on a science field trip, you’ll know that, in amongst the experiments and data gathering, things can go hilariously wrong. The longer you spend in the field, the more likely you are to have had animals carry off your equipment, experienced […]

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Word Count 46: UK bookshops flourishing along with self-published authors, Sitcom Geeks on what a plot is not

May 2, 2023

Plus London Screenwriters Festival 2024, and a new short story on the way. Hi there, We just had another long weekend here in the UK, one that was very much needed. Thankfully, we get another one next weekend and then yet another one at the end of May. I do like four-day weeks and as […]

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Are you an Arctic tern or a partridge?

April 26, 2023

Developing a career as a writer isn’t a sprint. It isn’t even a marathon. It’s an epic journey and you have to learn to pace yourself. The Arctic tern has the longest migration of any bird, flying from its northern summer breeding grounds to the Antarctic and back again every year. Those that nest in […]

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Word Count 45: Big Comedy, Radio 4 open call, and US screenwriters vote to strike

April 25, 2023

Plus joining the dots, set-ups and payoffs, types of attention, and debut authors struggle with mental health. Hi there, I rearranged my office yesterday. I’d been thinking about doing it for ages, because putting my desk right under the window meant that the difference in brightness between my screen and the window was giving me […]

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The Scarcity Trap: (Substack) Writers’ Edition

April 19, 2023

When you don’t have enough of something, it becomes all you can think about. Lots of us have experienced more scarcity than usual over the last eighteen months. But scarcity isn’t just unpleasant, it also causes us to make bad decisions. Our brain becomes hyperfocused on the thing we don’t have enough of and we […]

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Word Count 44: Substack Notes, Will Storr’s Science of Storytelling webinar, and Chikodili Emelumadu on her debut novel

April 18, 2023

Plus major Tag rewrite, introducing paid essays, and how to build a writing habit. Hi there, Happy Tuesday! There is, I must warn you, an awful lot of me in this week’s newsletter, but exciting changes are afoot at Substack, so read on to find out more! Substack news: Introducing Notes Last week, Substack introduced […]

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You don’t need willpower to write

April 12, 2023

You need to build good habits. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago (OK, 1998), I found myself learning Welsh. For the record, despite the spelling of my name (long-standing typo), I am English rather than Welsh. But I had started freelancing as a music journalist and one idea that I’d successfully pitched […]

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Word Count 43: British Museum literary events, BBC’s Pilot scheme and Open Call

April 11, 2023

Plus dealing with time paralysis, Amazon kills Book Depository, cat with a feather hat. Hi there, Extremely short newsletter this week because of the delightfully long (and yet not long enough) weekend. Suw’s news: I changed my mind After taking part in a Scribe Lounge chat last week, I learnt that LA Productions give feedback […]

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Tackling the two types of time paralysis

April 5, 2023

In the last week, I’ve had both not enough and too much time to write. The human brain can be kinda stupid. This morning, as I was wondering what to write in this week’s newsletter, an email popped into my inbox that turned out to be fruitfully apropos. In Three tales of creative slowness, author […]

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Word Count 42: New children’s fantasy prize, mentoring scheme for TV writers, and the Afronauts on pre-writing

April 4, 2023

Plus creating internal conflict, the risks of BookTok, British Fantasy Awards news, and much more. Hi there, The sky is a beautiful expanse of blue as I write this and I expect today to be a good day for light aircraft watching out my office window. I particularly love seeing the bright yellow Slingsby Fireflies […]

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Knowing when to stop

March 29, 2023

Hint: It’s sooner than you think it is. Last week over on my other Substack, Word Count, I mentioned a podcast that I’d been listening to: London Writers’ Salon #048 with Oliver Burkeman. Burkeman, the author of Four Thousand Weeks, had a lot to say that was interesting, but there were a couple of things […]

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Word Count 41: When not to submit, creating well-rounded characters, why do so many action heroes have names that start with J?

March 28, 2023

Plus advice on structuring non-fiction, The Pembrokeshire Murders and a Grabbity burrito. Hi there, I’m now well into the third week of the worst cold I’ve ever had and my brain has been foggy to say the least. But let’s see if I can at least pull together a few coherent sentences for you! Suw’s […]

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Why do you write?

March 22, 2023

Understanding your motivations can provide a solid foundation for writing during times of despair. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the potential impact of so-called ‘artificial intelligence’ such as ChatGPT on the literary world, in particular, the potential for AI-generated spam to drown out works by real human beings. Since then, I’ve had a […]

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