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YOUR MSLEXIA

letters, posts, emails, tweets

THE GREAT DIVIDE There is a great divide in the world of writers. On one side are all the successful writers; on the other side are the rest of us: the struggling aspiring bunch. I’m not saying that your articles aren’t interesting, but they rarely touch on my struggle. I have just heard from a publisher who finds my work competent but not good enough. Competent! Do they have any idea what that word does to a person? Then this morning I thought I would like to read advice from writers who have not had success (yet). How do they stay motivated? How do they keep up the juggling act of being a woman and a (constantly rejected) writer without simply giving up? Colette Victor, Belgium Your wish is my command, Colette! See p 45 for our new short, ‘How I keep going’. DT

DIY Why not ask readers of Mslexia to choose the winners of the poetry competition next time? Publish all the shortlisted poems anonymously and send round a questionnaire asking subscribers to list the three winners. Elaine Payne, Southampton Ah, but then they wouldn’t have the thrill of being selected by the wonderful Gillian Clarke. What do the rest of you think? DT

Loved Amanda Craig’s piece on writers’ salons. We have a local writers’ collective; now I’m thinking a salon could be the way to go. Isabel Ashdown via Twitter

VIVE LA DIFFÉRENCE I’m surprised that Sally Gardner makes no distinction between girls and boys in ‘Writing for Teens’. Teenage girls read more, about a greater variety of things. I have been writing stories for teenagers since 2006, and I am sure that books on one gender’s feelings for the other would find 10 times as many 13-16 year-old girls as boys avidly reading them! Jo Rolliver, London

KEEP IT REAL Schiele is a wonderful choice to illustrate erotica. However, right underneath Nikki Gemmell’s words about kissing the silky soft tip of a large penis, you printed an image which is actually entitled ‘Mother and Daughter’. It certainly reinforced some the article’s advice: ‘Unsettle your reader’ and ‘Challenge the stereotypes’ – but perhaps didn’t quite follow the advice ‘Keep it real’. Janet Sharp, Brixham

In Monique Roffey’s piece on writing a sex scene she advises on sex for whole bodies, but not for whole people. In heterosexual sex, are the couple trying for a baby? Have they been together ages, or is this the first time? Are they greedily passionate or shy and considerate? A legitimate sex scene should surely be there to forward the plot and/or develop the characters. It can’t be an add-on, a

▶Womencartooniststhroughtheages 1943ALICE HARVEY ‘the first to draw regularly about life with children’

Letter: PO Box 656, Newcastle upon Tyne NE99 1PZ Email: postbag@ mslexia.co.uk Message: facebook.com/ mslexia Tweet: twitter.com/ mslexia Comment: mslexia. co.uk/blog or follow the links from www.mslexia. co.uk

Rant I hate the digital revolution, the global sharing of ignorance that it has brought on all of us. I hate how dull it has made us; how it has taken away the magic of waiting for a letter or photos to develop; I hate social networks even more, for making us believe that every silly nonsense we might say and think should be put in writing for the whole world to see. DEBORA QUATTROCCHI, London

Rave I adore reading books from charity shops. I love the idea that other people have read that very same novel before me; the horizontal scores on its spine showing it has been enjoyed from start to finish. I don’t mind crumbs or coffee stains, or even turned-down page corners. In fact I often imagine why people put the book down at a certain point – did their phone ring? And my own short story can develop from there. CAITLIN KEETON, Derbyshire

◀ Send your Rants or Raves to submissions@ mslexia.co.uk

‘I get twice as tired shopping for things I need as I used to get shopping for things I really wanted’

NEW YORKER, 1 MAY 1943, CARTOONBANK.COM

dollop of erotica slipped between the pages like a yummy little chocolate. Clare Weiner, Oxford smiles and tears I’ve recently joined classes at the Write Place (www.thewriteplace.org. uk), just in time to become involved in a ghost story anthology, Things That Go Bump in The Night, produced by its students. Though many of the group are previously published, some of us are now published for the first time. This has prompted me to urge anyone who hasn’t yet done so to join a class or creative writing group and take their work forward to a new level. The thrill of being in print is right up there with some of my best moments. Natalie Kleinman, London SE3

Reading motherhood stories on the train. Ann Alexander’s poem and Kate Figes’ response reduced me to tears. Julie Mayhew via Twitter

Producing my 2012 Mslexia Diary in public is helping me ‘out’ myself as a ‘proper writer’ Helen V Anderson via Twitter

Apart from loving the rest of it :) slightly disappointed with my diary this year. Last year’s had useful corners on the inside front cover to keep bits of paper safe. Helen Phifer, Barrow-in-Furness Oh dear. We are sorry. If you’re missing them terribly, you can buy packs from Amazon (search ‘Durable Cornerf ix Corner Filing Pockets’) – but they cost £9.80, or thereabouts, for a pack of 100 DT

4 Mar/Apr/May 2012 MSLEXIA YOUR MSLEXIA

from the mslexia blog Monsters and e-booking

Rhian Bowley has been blogging about ‘coming out’ as a writer of fantasy; Orna Ross is chronicling her adventures as an e-booker. To join in, visit www.mslexia.co.uk/blog

...I didn’t mean to write ‘genre’, but when I joined my local writing class, every story I told had something supernatural in it. Magic and myth, alternative histories, witches and other worlds. What was happening to me? I hadn’t read anything like that since my teens… I blame my English Literature degree, which pretended nothing with monsters in had ever been written. I gasp to think of what I missed while I stopped reading sci fi and fantasy, the books published during my foolish absence that I’m now piling onto my Kindle in a rush to catch up… Rhian

...From the perspective of a non sci-fi reader, I must note that you all seem to be having much more fun than the rest of us... Carolyn Jones

...I’m studying English Literature with the Open University but the choice of books leaves me bored, apathetic and barely able to write a sensible essay. I understand the need to teach a certain quality of book but why does that discount well-written genre novels? It seems ridiculous that genre novels are discounted from being works of great literature, especially when you consider that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is now considered a classic...
 Toni

...An e-book cuts the publishing time cycle by 90 per cent. It significantly lowers costs and revenue. And it has three qualities that are great for writers. First, it creates what techie types call a ‘long tail’ : there is no such thing as ‘out-of-print’ any more, thus no reason why you can’t keep marketing your book for 20 years. It also makes it much easier for a reader to buy your book the moment they discover they want it, at literally the touch of a button. Thirdly, your market expands beyond your own country. On the internet, there’s no such thing as ‘abroad’... Orna

...Do you think that writers could/ should ‘go it alone’ completely?
Don’t we need an agent?...
 Cath Bore

...There is no need for an agent in this scenario. You sell direct to your reader via ebooksellers like Amazon. Which is why some agents, like Catherine Cookson’s, are now moving into ebook publishing too! Everything is up for grabs at the moment... Orna

...Is going indie possible with a nonfictional book? I am writing two lifestyle guides and love the idea of using my creative flair and contacts to design, market and sell my books. However, as I’m new to this I worry that I’ll be totally out of my depth... Tanya Brooks

Absolutely not, Tanya! In fact, nonfiction is easier to market and sell online than fiction. You begin with your contacts and develop a marketing mix that reaches out from there. Let us know how you get on... Orna

...I self-published my novel Unravelling with Matador in 2010. I’ve sold about 800 copies, and many more have been borrowed from libraries. Unravelling has also just won the Chapter One Promotions self-published novel award. But the self-published book does not generate the publicity and reviews of the traditionally published, so despite my ‘success’ the self-published tag seems to be selflimiting... Lindsay Stanberry-Flynn

The vast majority of traditionally published books don’t get reviews or media publicity either. And less and less, as review space shrinks in traditional outlets. Online books bloggers and review sites have audiences that newspaper review sections never dreamed of... Orna

...I’ve just uploaded my novel Package Deal to Amazon Kindle Store and KDP, after 10 years of working with various literary agents and never getting a deal. I self-published in physical format a few years ago, which led to some local success. But I’m hoping – if I savvy up on Twitter and Facebook etc. – that e-books could at last be the ticket to reaching a wider audience... Tasha Harrison

One tweet = 140 characters including spaces. You don’t have to be on Twitter to send your week to submissions@ mslexia.co.uk

A WEEK OF TWEETS Monday Apocalyptic weather makes me glad to be homeworker. Proximity to biscuit tin, less so Tuesday Morning writing about Asian M&A market. PM writing about gay superheroes. #freelancerschizophrenia Wednesday Worst thing about freelancing? No IT

support. Laptop v slow. Then again I can tell myself to switch it off then on again Thursday Going from monthly salary to freelance payment scuppers planning. Ricocheting from ‘yay’ to ‘argh’. #cashpointrussianroulette Friday Going for coffee with fellow writer to cheer myself up after rejection letter. #whatthehelldotheyknow Saturday Sometimes you have to just disconnect the Internet. Going to do a writing sprint, see you in 1 hour. #amwriting Sunday Weekends for freelancers are just days when no one answers their email. #freelancing

TRACEY SINCLAIR is a freelance copywriter and editor; and the author of a novel, Doll, and a collection of stories, No Love is This (both Kennedy & Boyd). A keen blogger, she is reviewer for Exeuntmagazine.com and columnist for unleashthefanboy.com.

NEXT GUEST BLOGS

Be our guest We commission a new blogger each month. For details, visit www.mslexia. co.uk/submit

■ CAROLYN JONES is a Zimbabwean-born export to London who fell in love with an American and moved to Texas, where she’s trying to reboot a career as a freelance journo and will be passing on hard-won advice (and warnings) from March. You can find her at www.spoiledfruitsofempire.com and www.sweetaustinchild.wordpress.com ■ KERRY HAMMERTON is a poet and alternative health practitioner who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. Her debut collection, ThesearetheLiesIToldYou (Modjaji Books), came out in 2010. Kerry will be interviewing African women writers for her Mslexiablog starting in April, and also posting from the Franschhoek Literary Festival (www.flf.co.za). You can also find her at www.kerryhammerton.com ■ ROXANNE WELLS is a copywriter who also writes plays and screenplays. Recently headhunted for a horror-writing project by the writing development at the British Film Institute, she’ll be working with writers Ben Wheatley (TheKillList) and Nick Murphy (The Awakening) and blogging for us from May about the film-writing process.

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