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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Word Count 40: London Book Fair, the liberation of imperfection and binge watching Detectorists

March 21, 2023

Plus how using novel fonts can kickstart creativity, introduce yourself via Substack chat, and the Ambassador’s cat. Hi there, I didn’t get much writing done at all last week. I went to Brussels for the UK Innovation & Tech Show, where I was on a panel about women in tech. I’ve done a lot of […]

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The font of all knowledge

March 15, 2023

Your brain craves novelty, so changing even tiny things can help creativity. There were times during the writing of my pandemic novel where I got really, really bored. Not bored of the story nor of the telling of it, but bored of the act of sitting at my computer and typing out what was in […]

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Word Count 39: Opportunity for scriptwriters, Charlie Kaufman on writers, and Max Edwards on non-fiction agenting

March 14, 2023

Plus my first rejection of the  year, Top Gun: Maverick script, going to film school in your 40s, and writing good villains. Hi there, Lots of things to share this week, so let’s crack on with it! Suw’s news: Tag speedbump I’ve had my first rejection of the year, from the All3Media New Writers Collective […]

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Are you typing when you should be writing?

March 8, 2023

It turns out that typing and handwriting aren’t the same. Are you choosing the right one for the job? One of my favourite insights into the writing process is this short talk from tech journalist Clive Thompson about the cognitive difference between handwriting and typing. If you have ten minutes, take a look. ? If […]

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Word Count 38: Upcoming extras, my editing process, how professional screenwriters outline, the importance of notebooks & James Henry’s The Cabinet of Curiosities

March 7, 2023

Hi there, You might have spotted that last week I sent you an extra email – a long read about the potential impact of AI-generated books on the publishing industry. Substack sometimes feels more like a blogging platform than a newsletter so it seems sensible to put additional material there. No doubt I’ll blog again, as […]

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Can publishing survive the oncoming AI storm?

March 2, 2023

Short stories and novellas are easy marks for AI-generated literature, but how will publishing cope with an influx of AI-generated books? I want to start with a small protest: What is currently termed Artificial Intelligence, or AI, isn’t anything of the sort. ChatGPT is not intelligent, it’s just verbose predictive text, trained on a huge data set […]

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It’s all in the notebook

March 1, 2023

Understanding how your mind prefers to work helps you find the right tools so that you can nurture your creativity. Writing last week’s newsletter reminded me of a transformative moment in my writing life when, in April 2017, I discovered the existence of the disc-bound notebook. My husband and I were walking around Office Depot […]

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Word Count 37: New prize for older debuts, tackling first line dread, the Big Comedy Conference and 35 newsletter lessons

February 28, 2023

Hi there, Welcome to the first Word Count on Substack! This week has been more of the usual: editing Tag, polishing off the ethics submission for Fieldwork, and going through Substack’s copious settings. I have a big meeting about Ada Lovelace Day this afternoon, so I’m hoping that by next week’s newsletter I’ll have some […]

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The year I Jedi mind tricked myself into creativity

February 22, 2023

My writer’s block was so bad in 2016 that I decided to spend the next year doing literally anything else instead. Sometimes, you have to play the long game.

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Word Count 36: Writing habits webinar TONIGHT, scriptwriting comp deadline TOMORROW, Will Storr webinar next month, plus taking out your head trash and more!

February 21, 2023

Hi there, I sent my second submission of the year off yesterday, to the Edinburgh TV Festival’s script comp (see below). But I’m going to need to step up the pace if I want to reach my target of 100 rejections this year! Event: TONIGHT! ‘Why productivity is personal’ webinar I’ve seen a lot of […]

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Let’s take out some head trash

February 15, 2023

Writing gets easier when you’re not talking yourself down.

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Word Count 35: Tag progress, are you in the mood to write?, why author newsletters are so important, new non-fiction prize for women, playwrights wanted, high list of opportunities for writers, and the enshittification of social media, plus young Grabbity under a blankie

February 14, 2023

Hi there, This week, I’ve made some progress on my TV series and written another post for my other newsletter. Coincidentally, it seems like newsletters are turning into the most reliable way for authors to keep in touch with their audiences now, because social media is a dumpster fire (we kinda knew that already). Plus […]

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You don’t have to be ‘in the mood’ to write

February 8, 2023

You have it in you to write wherever and whenever you want.

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Word Count 34: Productivity hacks, how to write a synopsis, book vibes, Not Too Busy To Write, Inception plot map, actual fishing rod cat toy

February 7, 2023

Hi there, We’re back to gloriously sunny but really quite nippy weather again, so I’m getting chewed out by Copurrnicus who really wants to go outside but there’s frost on the ground and he doesn’t like it. Grabbity’s chewing me out because she doesn’t like the food that’s down. And my subconscious is chewing me […]

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