Melissa Lawrence

By the time you get to read this post, you will probably have eaten your own body weight in turkey (or spinach pasta if you are vegetarian), drunk enough mulled wine to refloat the Mary Rose (unless like me you are teetotal) and watched enough repeats of It's A Wonderful Life to want them to bring back hanging. Yes, folks, IT'S CHRISTMAS!!! Actually it's Boxing Day but that still counts as Christmas (doesn't it?) and when you work at night as I do, you get a Christmas Day that starts at midnight on 24th December and finishes about 9am on 26th December which, trust me, is a very long day. Anyway, I've had various thoughts about what to write for my Christmas Day/Night post in between finishing making my handmade Christmas cards (remind me to start in July, not November next year!) and lying awake listening to next door's dog barking for its Christmas dinner. I was going to write a witty ditty parodyin...

I'm pleased to say that I'm "feeling the love" a little more this week when it comes to writing (see my last couple of posts!) and I thought I'd share with you what I've been doing to try and fan the flames. On Wednesday, I went on a "date" with my writing and wrote a topical article in one sitting for my local paper, the Leicester Mercury, emailing it off in the early hours of the morning so that I could finally feel like a proper journalist again. Next I did an exercise from a book I've mentioned before called Living Write by Kelly L. Stone which was all about setting long-term (ten year) goals, mid-term (five year) goals and short-term (one to three year) goals for your writing. The idea is that you have, as the author calls it, a "Vision of Success Plus", which should help motivate you to get down to your writing  now , in order to work towards achieving your goals. For instance, if your goal is to have written ...

I've just looked back at my last blog post after a few hours away and it does seem rather negative and self-indulgent which isn't really fair on you, my readers. Also, I've just spent £26 on some bookmarks to advertise my blog as a place where people can go for free advice and tips about writing and I'm not sure that last post really fits the description! So here is a little extra post to make up for the last one. While I was in the kitchen making yet another cup of coffee, a quote that I'd pinned on the wall a while ago caught my eye.  "Remember you love writing. It wouldn't be worth it if you didn't. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back." AL Kennedy   At that very moment, by a strange coincidence (or not), the song Sometimes When We Touch by Dan Hill came on the radio. This is one of my all time favourite love songs and you don't hear it played very often. One of the lines..."the honesty's too much"......

For the first time since I started this blog, I honestly don't know what to write about. Up to now, I've always arrived at this space with a definite idea such as a book or a website to share with fellow writers, a post based on an item I've read about in a writing magazine or some writing-related tips based on my own writing experiences. The truth is, I've hardly done any writing for days now and I think it's time to come clean and stop pretending that I'm currently working on lots of commissions, that the phone has never stopped ringing and that my email in-box is full of correspondence from editors and agents. Yes, I have a detailed plan of intended work for this month on my wall. Yes, I have at least one deadline (children's poems for a  sports and games anthology www.nawe.co.uk/DB/jobs-and-opportunities/sports-and-games-anthology.html ) and yes, I have the very pleasant editors at Fractured West (see last blog post) "lookin...

What is micro-fiction? In an article I wrote recently for Leaf Writers' Magazine ( http://www.leafbooks.co.uk/ ) I defined it as "an interesting and well-constructed story in 500 words or less". Micro-fiction or flash fiction as it is sometimes known, has become extremely popular and I must admit to being quite a fan of both reading and writing it. So I was really pleased to receive the latest issue of Fractured West ( http://www.fracturedwest.com/ ) which is an extremely professional looking magazine described by the editors as "an independent not-for-profit literary magazine publishing the most exciting short fiction by new and emerging writers round the world". I've only had time to skim through my copy but from what I've seen so far, there looks to be some really interesting and original stuff including one thought-provoking story which is only 36 words long. I'm looking forward to reading it in depth and hopefully submitting something soon. ...

Just a quick post this week as after blogging last week about Sue Johnson's new book 'Creative Alchemy: 12 steps from inspiration to finished novel' I'm determined to spend most of this week's writing time working on mine. One of the (many) things I've found difficult about freelance writing and journalism over the years is getting hold of a copy of the magazines I think I'd like to write for. This sounds as though it should be really easy but in my experience it's not. "How to" books, articles and some editors often say that you should study at least six issues of any target magazine. This is rather OTT in my opinion (a couple of recent issues should tell you pretty much all you need to know) but they never seem to advise on how to get hold of sample copies. Obviously the popular weekly titles are usually available at the newsagents but monthly or quarterly ones can cause problems. If a magazine ...

I'm always interested in new books about writing and happy to promote them if I feel they would be of interest and use to other writers. In the case of writer and tutor Sue Johnson's new book ' Creative Alchemy: 12 Steps from inspiration to finished novel' it was a "no-brainer" as her book is definitely one to get hold of if like me, you are keen to get a novel published but are having difficulty starting or, as in my case, finishing. The title 'Creative Alchemy' comes from Sue's belief that writing is "a magical process that turns the base metal of your original idea into a memorable story". I really like this description of writing and it prompted me to ask Sue a few questions about her book and how she came to write it. Here are her answers. Why did you decide to write  'Creative Alchemy' ? The trigger came from when I read an article stating that for every 100 novels started, only one was completed. The reas...

If you have visited my website ( http://www.melissalawrence.co.uk ) you will know that one of the things I write is poetry for children. I've had some of my poems published in anthologies by publishers such as MacMillan and Oxford University Press and I've also been placed in competitions. Unfortunately, the anthology work seems to have dried up, probably because mainstream publishers are wary of publishing poetry for children because it gets such a raw deal on the National Curriculum and also because, when faced with budget cuts, poetry seems to be the first thing to go. I've been touting There's A Gorilla In My Pyjamas, my collection of poetry for younger children, round various publishers with no success, although it was a pretty near miss with Meadowside Children's Publishers ( http://www.meadowsidebooks.com ) I've also been trying to get someone interested in my collection of poems for older children called...

Just a brief post this week as I am feeling a bit under the weather (again) but as usual, not too ill to find another useful writing-related website. This time it is http://www.writing-world.com/ which describes itself as "a world of writing information for writers around the world" although it appears to be based in East Sussex. As well as lots of useful articles and other information covering many writing genres, what I particularly like about the site is that you can very easily subscribe to a pretty substantial free newsletter. This is issued on the first and third Thursday of each month and comes in the body of an email so that you can either print it out as hard copy or save it on your desk top if you care about the planet. Although the newsletter seems more geared to American writers, the articles are fairly universal in their content. The current issue has an excellent article on E-book publishing which I found really...

I have been feeling "under the weather" again this week so it was good to get a bit of a boost today with the arrival of the November issue of Freelance Market News ( http://www.freelancemarketnews.com ) as a letter I sent in recently was published as the star letter. I wrote the letter in response to a reader who had asked about the problem of commissioning editors wanting to see a "portfolio of work" and how you are supposed to achieve this if you can't get a commission without a portfolio of work. (Catch-22 and all that.) My reply was to point them in the direction of an excellent book by experienced freelance writer Catherine Quinn ( http://www.catherinequinn.com ) called 'No Contacts? No Problem! How to Pitch and Sell a Freelance Feature' (Methuen Drama). I read this book a while back and reviewed it for The New Writer ( http://www.thenewwriter.com ) and it is well worth getting hold of. Not only will it help if you are try...

When I opened my copy of the Autumn issue of The New Writer earlier today ( http://www.thenewwriter.com/ ) I was rather surprised to see how many times my name appeared. It was nine times if anyone other than me is interested, even beating the great Simon Whaley (Hi Simon!) who was only mentioned seven times, although I'm happy to accept a re-count if he insists on one. On a more serious note, the reason for this unusual proliferation was because a while back, I had a piece published in the open "rant" slot of TNW explaining why, in my opinion, professional writers shouldn't belong to writers' groups. I admit I had my Polly Toynbee hat on at the time and was trying to be a bit controversial but nevertheless, I stand by everything I said in that piece. Much to my surprise, someone agreed with me. Someone also strongly disagreed with me, saying I had been"extremely patronising" and expressing great relief that I wasn't a member of their writers...

This may seem like an odd title for this week's post as I could barely walk last week, let alone run, due to my close encounters of the hall floor kind. However, even though I wasn't well enough to do much writing, I still managed to look at a few writing websites as I'm never too ill to do that. During my "research", I came across a really interesting American website called Writing on the Run at http://writingontherun.com/  which has some great advice, articles, tips and encouragement for writers as well as fun things like a Writer's Pet Quiz! (You select the pet you would be most likely to have and it tells you what sort of writer you are. Apparently I'm methodical, like to use longhand and would benefit from more disciplined time and space to meet my deadlines (very true!) because I would choose a hamster or a rabbit. On a more serious note, the article I found most helpful had "coincidentally" recently been posted and ...

Sorry that there is no new post this week. I am a "no show" due to the wheels coming off my trolley on Tuesday when I tried some glandular therapy treatment for my ongoing hypoadrenalism and ended up passed out on the hall floor. At the moment, my brain feels like it is full of cotton-wool and writing anything deep and meaningful (or even anything shallow and nonsensical) seems quite difficult. Hopefully normal service will be resumed as soon as possible so please do not adjust your settings.

Do you set goals for your writing? And if so, do you achieve them? I think I must be addicted to goal-setting as I can't really function unless I have specific goals for every area of my life and that includes my writing. As well as yearly writing goals, which I usually set at the beginning of September, I also have monthly goals, weekly goals and daily goals. Year goals are pretty specific and usually relate to how much actual writing I hope to produce in the coming year. (Not how much I hope to sell!) Current year goals include: 1. To finish the first draft of my life story "The Emptiness at the Edge of the World". 2. To (finally!) finish my 9-12 novel "Dear Egg" and send it out to agents. 3. To write twelve new short stories including flash fiction. I also have some "recommendations" for the coming year based on my progress (or lack of it!) last year and they include: 1. To focus more on magazin...

Just a very brief post this week as I'm about to take a much needed few days off (it's hard work setting up a portfolio career!) but there is just time to tell you about Freelance Market News. In case you don't already subscribe, this is a very useful magazine edited by Angela Cox and linked to The Association of Freelance Writers. In fact, if you subscribe, you automatically get a membership card for the Association which is quite useful if you are ever in a situation where you need to prove that you are a writer. (Yes, OK. You could prove it by actually writing something but you know what I mean.) Freelance Market News ( http://www.freelancemarketnews.com ) is published 11 times a year and each issue contains detailed market information for a wide range of magazines and newspapers (including overseas ones), competition news, details of editorial changes, filler markets, a book of the month, a letters page, a "How To" article and...

Last week I blogged about coping with rejection after I had eight rejections all at once. (If I could work out how to link back to that post I would but I can't so I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it or scroll down the page!) A couple of days later, I came across a really helpful article in the 2011 edition of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook (A&C Black) by a coach and trainer called Alison Straw. The article is called "Dealing With Rejection" and if you have a copy of the book (and I'm sure you have!) you can find it on page 659. Alison outlines nine (I would have had to do ten!) key points on managing rejection and building up resistance to it, all of which I found extremely useful. Some of her suggestions include pausing and letting the dust settle, channelling negative emotions about the rejection into positive activity, asking others for advice, focusing on success and tr...

What do you do when you get eight rejections in one day? Actually, it was the middle of the night in my case and it happened last Sunday. And before you ask why my postman is working such irregular hours, I should point out that these were not the "large white envelopes lying on the mat" type of rejections. These were the sort you get when you finally decide it's time to check the websites of all the poetry and short story competitions you entered three months ago, in the hope that you actually won first prize in all of them but the competition organisers haven't got round to notifying you yet. Although I've had multiple rejections before, this was a bit of a low point. This was partly because I broke my own record and also because I was so convinced I was going to be the winner of one particular flash fiction competition that I stared at the computer screen for about ten minutes, unable to accept the fact that...

I've been struggling with short stories recently. Not reading them, that's no problem, but writing them. I've put ICHWT (I Could Have Written That) beside several of the ones I've read in an effort to spur myself on but to no avail. Actually getting down to writing a full-length short story, as opposed to my preferred medium of flash fiction, was beginning to feel like attempting to climb Everest in a pair of kitten heels. However, as I mentioned in a recent post, I like to set quotas for my work and that includes sending out at least one short story per month. Even though I really wanted to get a story to Woman's Weekly , mainly because I haven't sent them one for a while and they are one of my target markets, I wasted the first week of the month looking (to no avail) for a flash fiction competition to enter. I then spent the second week trawling through my (ever growing!) folder of unpublished stories in...

What's your favourite writing tip? I have a large collection of them in a notebook and when I feel in need of inspiration and encouragement (which is quite a lot of the time to be honest) I flick through and pick out the ones that seem to apply to my particular writing problem or dilemma. Most of the tips come from well-established and successful writers and I was pleased to find a few new ones the other day in the Successful Writer e-letter which comes from the informative website http://www.writethismoment.com/ I look at this site on a regular basis and it is one of the links on my website ( http://www.melissalawrence.co.uk/ ) because it contains up to the minute listings of jobs and other opportunities, including competitions, for freelance writers and journalists. I have been puzzling over one of the two writing tips they included from Ray Bradbury which is "You have to know how to accept rejection and reject...

Does anyone else set quotas for how much work they send out every week, month etc or is that just me? I decided a while back that I was probably never going to send anything out if I didn't set a quota and for various reasons I decided that six items a month was right for me. Like lots of ideas, it is probably good in theory and so far I have managed to keep to my quota. Unfortunately, the theory seems to fall down when I find myself (usually on the last day of the month!) desperately scratching around trying to find somewhere to send something in an effort to meet my quota. A few weeks ago, while in this predicament, I came across Healthy  magazine in a well-known health food store. I noticed that they offered fifty pounds worth of vouchers to spend in store for the writer of the star letter. Desperate to fulfill my quota and hopeful of winning the top prize, I duly sent off a letter. The email was returned by the "postmaster" for some reason, so ...

If you've been both shocked and alarmed by the disturbing scenes on the streets of several UK towns and cities in the last few days (and what sane person hasn't?) a positive reponse might be to vent your feelings in a poem. Poetry24 ( http://www.poetry-24.blogspot.com/ ) "Where News is the Muse" could be just the outlet for your work. Launched in February 2011 by Martin Hodges and Clare Kirwan, you can find the following request on its Submission Guidelines Page. "Do you have something to say about current events in the world? Can you say it evocatively, with passion, rage, compassion and/or humour? Can you make us see things from a wider perspective or take us right into the heart of the matter?" If the answer is "Yes" to all these questions, then why not send them a poem? The detailed submission guidelines on the site stipulate a maximum of two poems to be sent to both editors separately, in the body of an email. Poems must not have been p...

Ah. The ups and downs of the writing life. Don't you just love them? Yesterday, I got really excited after reading in my local paper that a publishing company called Unbound (not to be confused with the Glasgow-based independent publishers Unbound Press) had come up with the idea of giving authors an opportunity to pitch their ideas for books online and have them voted for by readers. If the book receives enough votes, the readers pledge to support the author financially in return for various "rewards" such as having their name in the book, being invited to the launch party etc. Sounds great, I thought and as the particular piece in question was aimed at children and teenagers, I immediately started thinking about how I could promote some of my (as yet unpublished) children's novels on the site. My excitement lasted approximately 24 hours when my bubble was burst by an article on the same company in the August edition of Writers' News . Although th...

Deadlines. Love them or loathe them, they are a necessary part of being a writer. If you are anything like me, if it wasn't for deadlines, you'd probably never get anything written at all. The main problem I have with deadlines (and I suspect I'm not the only one) is a problem of balance. If I start a piece too far in advance of a deadline, like I know I probably should, it can feel flat and lifeless as I'm writing it and I find it difficult to motivate myself to get over the finishing line. On the other hand, if I leave it too close to the deadline, I feel anxious and stressed and probably don't produce my best work as it is likely to be rushed and "thrown together". Although I am a great believer in the "salami" technique where you break a large task down into small, manageable slices and then allocate a slice to each day of the week or however you want to organise it, this never seems to work that well for deadlin...

I have been telling everyone recently that I now have a "portfolio career". Most people don't know what I mean by this (someone even said they'd have to "Google" it!) but it's really just a fancy way of saying that you have fingers in several different pies. I have been a "professional" writer since 1995 although I have always been a writer of some sort, ever since I was at school. During this time, I have stuck pretty religiously to writing and only occasionally had flights of fancy about getting a "proper" job. (And I still do. Only this time last week, I found myself offering to manage a jazz band!!) However, for various reasons, I've recently been seriously exploring other freelancing options that I can do alongside writing and have now decided to "rebrand" myself as a writer, a crafter and a musician. I also plan to carry on working on community newsletters and do something in the spiritual healing/growth area a...

In the unlikely event that you were wondering why I haven't been blogging for the last couple of weeks, it was because I decided to take a fortnight off. That's quite unusual for me as I normally find myself desperate to get back to writing after about a week or so but for reasons that I won't bore you with, I decided that "psychologically" I needed a longer break. Although I haven't been anywhere exotic like the south of France or even Dagenham, it was good to get away from my desk for a while. Although I spent most of my time watching Wimbledon and the Tour de France while listening to cricket, I did read a "how to" book about writing which I found really useful. It's called "Living Write" and the author is Kelly L. Stone. I should point out that it's an American book and all the author quotes and extracts are from American authors, but that didn't really worry me as the advice and tips apply to any writers. ...

Last week, I was having one of my regular chats with my "contact" in the children's book department at my local branch of Waterstones. I was really pleased when he told me that he had started writing again and had just entered a short story competition. I was even more pleased when he said it was partly due to my encouragement. I have always tried to encourage people to write if they show even the slightest desire to do so, although I usually qualify it now by saying "Don't give up the day job"! I have also been extremely grateful to the many writers who have encouraged me and there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't have achieved as much as I have without their support and advice. One of the first writers who really encouraged me was the novelist Jean Chapman. She was my first writing tutor at the Leicester Adult Education College when I started taking classes in creative writing. (I've always said it could just as easily have b...

I was really pleased to get a phone call from Take A Break magazine last Friday saying that they want to use a piece I sent in on their letters page in the next couple of weeks. The item was originally intended for their "Magic Moments" slot but that has apparently been discontinued. (A shame as it paid £150 for about 250 words which even with my lack of mathematical prowess seems like a good deal.) Anyway, the piece was about a rock and roll concert that myself and some other teachers put on to entertain our pupils during the lunch hour when I was teaching back in the late 1980s. It involved, in my case, dressing up like Suzi Quatro in black leather and playing the bass guitar. (If you want to see what I looked like, you'll have to buy the magazine!) I've always felt it was a good "story" as the whole event was a bit like Beatlemania, with forged tickets, one pupil falling through a skylight and breaking his ankle and...

I was listening to the Test Match last Saturday when I should have been writing (see previous post!) and the guest on "View from the Boundary" was the bestselling novelist Sebastian Faulks ( http://www.sebastianfaulks.com/ ) I must confess to never having read any of his novels although I did once own a copy of "Birdsong". I always enjoy listening to successful writers talking about writing though, so I tuned in. I was surprised to hear that Sebastian made up his mind he wanted to be a writer when he was only 14. At that age, I'm pretty sure I didn't have any concept of there being such a job as a "writer" even though I was a prolific reader. Sebastian also had some useful advice for aspiring authors. His tips were: 1. Write about what you don't know rather than what you do as it will stretch you more. 2. Write about what you're interested in and passionate about. (Good advice, especially for novelists, as it's a long haul if you...

The other week it was the snooker, now it's the cricket and the French Open tennis. I'm talking about the things that distract me from getting down to writing. Although I love "having written", it is the actual writing bit that can be a problem. I often wonder if this is exclusive to writers (or other "creatives" as I have exactly the same problem with my craftwork) or do plumbers, electricians, nurses and shopkeepers find it difficult to get down to work? Once I've actually started, it's usually fine and the problem then is not wanting to stop. Here are my top five tips for not getting distracted from starting to write. Let me know if you have any favourite ones that work for you. 1. Aim to start work within 90 minutes of getting out of bed. 2. Avoid working anywhere near a room that has a television and a comfy chair. 3. Don't check emails until you have done at least an hour's writing. 4. Keep the phone out of the work area u...

It has taken a while but at last I have started a blog, at least I hope I have! I am planning on using my blog to write about writing and what it is like being a full-time writer, as well as to pass on useful tips and information about all things related to writing. Hopefully it will be of interest to those of you who are not writers as well, so do come back again and see what I have come up with.