On being a professional writer

Good morning all, welcome, welcome. Please take a seat and get comfortable before we get on with todays blog.

I have fairly recently been given the opportunity to write a story in collaboration with an illustrators work to be included in an anthology of short stories and accompanying artwork. This is with a local University and their MA Illustration students so it is not a paid gig as it were. Though the book will be published it is hardly going to be on sale in big name bookshops across the country.

All of the above being said I still take it as a great opportunity to put my work out there, have it read, collaborate with other creatives and just see what happens. Some people may not, some people given opportunities like this squander them. They say things like ‘well if I am not getting paid…what’s the point of worrying’.

To those people I would ask, do you call yourself a writer? Do you even want to be a writer? If you answer yes to these questions you should refer back to my earliest posts in which I told everyone the cold hard truth. Writers write. It really is that simple and if you ever want to be taken seriously as a writer then you need to start taking your craft seriously.

If somebody recognises your writing as being good enough that they want it included in a publication, whether that be a book like the one I am involved with, a magazine or even a website. Take that opportunity seriously.

If you are given a deadline make sure you meet it. Edit your work time and time again before you send it. Do not present something that you know isn’t your best by thinking things like ‘it’s good enough’.

Quite simply you have to act like a professional first and BECOME a professional second.

Ja Ne.

P.s. I will be giving more details of this book once they are available so any of you who wish it can give it a look.