Gifts for Writers

Just before Christmas I was contemplating buying a gift for a writing friend. I saw something that looked absolutely fabulous in Waterstones. It was called “The Writer’s Toolkit” or something similar. It looked delightful. It came in a very attractive tin. It contained lots of prompts, tips and treats for the writer.

But I really shouldn’t spend that amount of money on my friend. She has given up the day job, lives on a shoe string and can only buy people token presents. It would embarrass her.

It struck me, though, that I could make her a Toolkit myself. The time it would take and the care in the choices I made would be the real gift. The Toolkit would come mainly from bits and pieces I had lying around.

I didn’t do it this year but I’m actually considering doing it for next year and also for one or two other writing friends.

Here are some of the ingredients for a Writer’s Toolkit:

• An attractive tin or box to put everything in
• A few old postcards – the pictures on the front and the messages on the back may lead to stories (I actually use old postcards a lot with my students. Go to a postcard fair and you can often pick job lots of old postcards for a small amount to money.)
• Half a dozen or so favourite creative writing exercises (I’d probably gear these to the particular writer – perhaps trying to push them a little out of their comfort zone.)
• Some free post cards – I’d write prompts on the back
• Some brightly coloured post-it notes (off my own pad if I’m really doing this on a tight budget)
• Some nice pens
• Some other bits of stationery
• An attractive note-book (Okay. You’d have to buy this but you can often find bargains. Keep your eyes open when you’re out and about.)  
• A book I’ve enjoyed – with a note about why I’d enjoyed it and how it might help the writer
• A chocolate bar (squeezed out of the weekly shop)
• A few paint colour charts to provide exotic names for a piece of flash fiction or poems
• A few photographs that might prompt a story
• A list of trustworthy small press publishers who’re currently open to submission
• A collection of newspaper cuttings of incidents that would make the good basis of a story         
• A list of affirmations about being a writer  

I have the feeling that I’d get a good deal of fun putting these kits together. Do you dare me? And if you know a writer who’s on a diet right now, would this be a good alternative to an Easter egg. (Skip the chocolate bar!)

Name-Dropping

I had quite a powerful conversation with the good guys at Waterstones in Chester the other day. I took in the impressive card our publicist has had made of Gentle Footprints, the book we’ve put together to support the Born Free Foundation.
I did throw a host of names at him:
Richard Adams – appearing in the book and possibly at the launch
Virginia McKenna OBE- has written the foreword for the book
Hay Festival – where it’s being launched
Peter North – the person who deals with independent publishers at Waterstones
Jon Mayhew – the friend’s whose book-signing I was attending
Nielsens – well, if your book had an ISBN you have to know about Nielsens. And it’s through them that your book gets ordered.
I also mentioned that there are two local authors in the book.
They have agreed to stock the book. I guess I knew what I was talking about and also looked and sounded as if I did. Success breeds success. Confidence breeds confidence.

Living the Dream

If I pause a moment and take stock, I’ve actually done quite well. I have over thirty books in print – one of which is selling three for two in Waterstones. My day job is earning me more than any of the other things I do alongside my writing and is actually very strongly related to my writing. It’s a life I had dreamed of – write and earn enough respect about that to talk to other people about my work and help them to become writers also.

The one problem is that I don’t have enough income and because I’m a Baby Boomer, I’m sitting between two generations both of whom need me financially and emotionally and even more globally. That happens in middle age, anyway.

I’ve looked for streams of passive income. For example, Adsense on this blog, my properties, and some work on the stock market. There are trickles. One trickle of passive income is made up of my royalties, and actually, they are better than any of the others There is very little cash flow in my properties, but they remain a good investment – something for the future.

So, it makes absolute sense. Concentrate on the writing. Give to the university that which is its, and give to the writing 100% of what is left over. I’m going to try it for a week – the week started yesterday, and I expect a miracle to happen. Watch this space.

SCBWI Critique Group in the North West

I met up with fellow writers in the North West for the first time yesterday. We meet in the function room at Waterstones on Deansgate, Manchester. It’s a part of town I love. And Waterstones is a bookshop, and therefore enjoyable, even though I have some concerns about the commercial activity of the giants, like Waterstones and the way they are squeezing out the independents. The function room itself is amazingly big, especially for the three of us who met. But we sat around a delightful old, faded-but –it-would-be-good-with-a-little-TLC table.

There were the normal discussions about the three manuscripts in front of us: was too much detail given too early? Were the characters consistent? Was the point of view consistent? Were relationships clear? There was a fair amount of agreement. This makes you feel good, even if it’s not your manuscript which is being read.

I do miss my London group and my Winchester group. The London one is abandoned because we have all had to go our separate ways. The Winchester one meets mid week. Even Writers in Southampton meet in the week. Yet the North West SCBWI group meets on Sundays. I’m always in the wrong place.

Still, some of my books were in Waterstones. They were selling them three for two. I can’t decide whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.