Your Time & Talent Are Worth Money

I have never worked for free. If someone wants me to do work for them then I expect to be paid.

Why wouldn’t I?

Likewise, if I write and submit my work to a website or publication, I expect payment if they want to publish it.

I’m a hardworking writer so I should benefit from my hard work. People should respect what I do and if they want to make money from what I do they need to pay me.

Yet I come across so many writers who think that it’s normal to write and not get paid. They think that writing for free will mean they have clips to show an editor, or that giving their work away for free will get them exposure.

Cheapening yourself this way will not get you the job. If you have no confidence in yourself, neither will anyone else.

If you want to negotiate a price, that’s fine. But at least have a price to start with.

And this belief about the necessity to write for free is getting worse. Nearly every day I see a new writing scam on social media or on freelance writing websites offering writers great exposure (exposure to whom they never say) instead of paying them.

And even worse than that is people charging writers a fee just to send their work to them, whether it’s published or not. I find this the biggest scam of all, especially when it’s an unknown publication, or worse, an ‘online publication’ which, for the uninitiated, means it’s a website or blog.

Just a couple of weeks ago I came across a Facebook post asking for fiction submissions. I clicked through the link to ‘learn more’ and found it was someone who had only recently set up a website, had no content whatsoever, and were wanting gullible writers to send in stories so they could upload them to their website for free. In other words, they would make money from the stories, while the writers continued to write all the content for their site and get nothing.

What a scam.

Yet so many would-be and newbie writers fall for this. And how much ‘exposure’ will they get from an unknown website that no one’s ever heard  of?

I’ve challenged some of these websites owners and they always (and I mean ALWAYS) come back with the same excuse as to why they refuse to pay writers. They all say it’s because they have to keep up with the cost of running a website (which can be done for free or as cheap as $100/year) and they have to use their valuable time to read the submissions.

Did you get that? Their time is valuable but the writers’ time isn’t.

My advice to anyone looking to write for free is, don’t cheapen yourself.

No doubt there’ll be those who tell me I’m wrong, but I know that I’m right when I say that writing for free for an unknown publication/website, or for an unknown person who wants to publish an anthology, will only benefit whoever is earning money from your work AND they’ll keep earning money from it for years.

I have never worked for free and I never intend to. And neither should you.

The Monthly Challenge Writing Series:

Book 1 - Quick Cash Freelance Writing

I don’t believe in being a starving writer and neither should you.

That’s why this is the first book in a four-part series of how to write and earn money.

In this first book I take you step-by-step through Seven different ways to earn money fast as a freelance writer and this information comes from my own years of experience and success as a freelancer.

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS1.html

When the S**t Won’t Stop Hitting the Fan

The kind of life I prefer is one without hassles and problems, easy-breezy and cruisey,  and that is how I always try and live. I don’t go out drinking, don’t do drugs, and in fact, I don’t like socialising and avoid it at all costs. And I don’t like having people in my home, especially overnight guests. My food is plain, not fancy.

Yet lately it’s been one difficult situation after another, and this has been going on for over a year. Even something simple like taking an item back to a store because it was faulty turned into having to go to mediation, a local tribunal hearing (which we won but weren’t paid), and then we had to lodge the matter with the magistrate court and began enforcement proceedings against the store owner, when he suddenly had a change of heart and paid us. He also had to pay our costs too so it ended costing him a lot. But how did something so simple like a store refund take months to sort out?

But this is only one example of how things have gone bad repeatedly. We also suffered a sudden death in the family, had other family issues going on, and because of reasons beyond our control we now have to move from the apartment where we live, which again it’s another legal battle over something that should have been an easy fix.

STRESS!

Naturally, dealing with all this has taken it’s toll on me. I feel physically and mentally exhausted, not to mention the hours/days/weeks I’ve spent filling out forms, writing out statements, visiting with our lawyer, sending emails back and forth… it all takes so much time and is exhausting.

To have the time to concentrate on all this, I’ve had to cut back on some things, one of which is my writing. I’ve also started napping a lot, which I think is just to block it all out, but it’s a habit I’m overcoming because I don’t want to sleep my life away.

But, through it all, I’ve also been giving a lot of thought as to the direction I want my writing to take.

I used to write a lot about blogging, marketing, copywriting, and other areas in that same vein of making money from writing, because these are things I’m good at. But then I started to change direction (because I was listening to too many so-called writing ‘experts’) and tried to go more towards subjects about how to write.

With hindsight, I’m annoyed with my own stupidity, because I don’t enjoy writing about how to write. I used to assume that anyone reading my stuff already knew how to write. They just want to earn more and be successful with it. I’ve also taken to doing more fiction writing (again, from listening to too many writing ‘gurus’).

I’ve been wondering for a while now why I’m writing less and less. I used to be actively writing every day but for a while now I’ve been knuckle-dragging my way to my computer and my notebooks every morning. And for a long time now I’ve had no idea why. I even thought that maybe it was an age thing and that the older I get (over 60 now, yikes!) the less I feel like writing. I also thought it might be with all the stuff going on in my life.

After giving it plenty of thought, or at least trying to, but my crazy monkey-mind often struggles to concentrate on one thing at a time, I realised my reluctance is because I’m not enjoying the writing I’m doing. It’s not horrible, it’s just not as much fun so my incentive has been waning. 

The thing is, we’re all different, so what’s good for one person isn’t good for all. How boring would life be if we were all the same? So if one person thrives on writing stories while others love to write non-fiction, that’s okay. It’s the same with my writing. I can’t please everyone because everyone wants different things.

I also used to write in different niches and had several different websites and blogs, and I gave that all away. When the industry changed, I thought I had to change with it. But I don’t. I can do whatever I want. If I’d kept all my websites they’d probably still be doing well.

Over the years I’ve ‘ummed and ahhhed' over whether to keep doing my monthly newsletter. I’ve even stopped and started it up again a few times. But now I’ve decided to let it go once and for all because, although it was an entertaining and informative read, it took a lot of time to put together, not many people were clicking on any of the links, and when I did the math, the time spent wasn’t worth the small income gained.

So I’m going back to what I do best and hopefully it will help a lot of people like it always used to do.

I’ll still write the novels I have planned, but I won’t make fiction writing the main focus of my business any more.

I’ve also organised a writing schedule for myself and it’s the best one ever, because I get more done without needing more time. Super productivity. And being productive makes me happy.

My plan also includes getting back to regular article writing and blogging so you should be hearing more from me soon. And the plan also includes writing useable, interesting and entertaining content.

Maybe I should heed the advice of Eleanor Roosevelt who said:

"Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

How I Write Books Quickly

I’m currently working on my next book which will be out next month in time for Halloween.

I’ve written dozens of books (I really should count how many) and that doesn’t include all the free ebooks I’ve written over the years, plus the books I’ve previously written that are no longer on the market.

The way I organise things to get all my writing done is probably different to many other writers because we all write differently. Some writers are happy working on their books for just an hour a day for several months or a year. Others shut themselves away for a few days and do nothing but work on their book, and by nothing I mean absolutely nothing. They don’t even communicate with the outside world.

Then there are others who write their books quickly, say in a month or less, while still being somewhat present in the world.

I’m one of the latter. I write my books quickly, usually in a month, while still engaging in life, although not as much because I spend most of the day writing - 10 pages is my minimum goal every day.

I’ve found this to be the ideal way for me to work. I need to write a book all at once so that I don’t lose the thread of what I’m doing and I don’t lose my ideas.

Blog posts and articles are fast to write, but when I’m writing a book I need a large block of time to get it done to keep me in the creative ‘flow.’ Plus the quicker I write it, the easier it is to do.

I usually get a head start on my other writing projects (blog posts, articles, emails, freelance work) and write them all up in advance, putting somethings on automatic scheduling because I need large amounts of time every day for book writing plus blocks of several weeks to get it done.

I know working this way wouldn’t suit everyone nor does everyone have that amount of time to write every day (I didn’t used to when I still had a day  job) but it’s how I work and I can’t imagine doing it another way.

Maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a control freak and when I start something I like to get it finished. Or perhaps it’s because I’m easily bored so if it took me year to write a book, I’d quit after the first few weeks because I’d lose interest in doing it.

Whatever the reason, we’re all different, and working fast, furious and focused works for me.

If you haven’t tried it yourself, write your next book quickly and see how easy and fun it is.

The 12 Month Challenge: Write and Publish 12 Books in a Year

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/12MTH.html 

The Simple Little Tip To Writing More and Writing Better

If you want to earn money from writing, you need to write fast because you’re paid for what you do. You’ll earn the same amount of money for an article regardless of whether it took you 2 hours or 2 days to write it. So the faster you write, the more money you’ll earn.

Never make the mistake of thinking that writing fast means writing badly. In fact the opposite is true. The faster you write, the better you’ll write.

No doubt you’ve heard of the writing acronym, WAYS, Write As You Speak.

When you do this, it makes writing faster to do, and easier for the reader to understand. We’re always better understood when we’re explaining something in spoken words rather than writing it out in long convoluted words, which is why using WAYS works.

Readers aren’t looking for technical articles full of big words. They want fast information and an entertaining read.

In my book, How To Write An Article In 15 Minutes or Less, I show you how to quickly write short 300-500 word articles in 15 minutes or less, including research and proofing. It really can be done that fast.

Of course, speed comes with practice so the more articles you write, the faster and better you’ll get, plus you’ll be producing so much more work.

Short articles are always popular, but longer articles often earn more, especially if you’re paid by the word count.

To write an article quickly it’s good to have a simple outline containing an introduction, 3 points to cover and a conclusion. To expand it, each of the 3 points can have 3 sub-topics.

It can also be faster to turn each point or sub-topic into a question so that when you write your article you’re simply answering questions which is easier than justifying a statement. For instance if you were writing about a daily routine and you say, “I brush my teeth every morning.” You’d change that to, “Why do I brush my teeth every morning?” or “How do I brush my teeth?”

But no matter how you write your articles, it needs to be easy and enjoyable because if you don’t enjoy it, it won’t be sustainable. You won’t keep doing something you don’t enjoy.

Writing fast is enjoyable. It’s much more fun than writing slowly and trying to edit as you write and second guessing yourself all the time. Writing fast means there’s no time for any of that, and you’ll get a lot more writing done.

One of the most prolific authors was, Isaac Asimov, who wrote over 400 novels plus hundreds of scientific papers.

When asked about his amazing output he said, “I guess I’m prolific because I have a simple and straightforward style.”

This was a man who wrote fast, and he wrote for hours every day. And as he said, he kept his writing simple and straightforward which means he used WAYS, and you should too.

Handwriting or Keyboard?

There is always the age-old question of whether it’s better to write by hand or type everything straight on the keyboard.

There is no one-answer-fits-all to this because it all depends on what you’re most comfortable with.

Personally, I prefer to write by hand, and I always do, which means I have to type it all up later.

This may seem like a slow way to work, but for me it’s actually faster.

I’m far more creative when I write by hand so when I sit down with my notebook and pen I can write for hours and the ideas flow.

But when I try to write at the keyboard, the ideas don’t come as easily and my writing doesn’t flow as well. Even having a detailed outline doesn’t help. I end up using any excuse to get up and walk away for a while, but it’s no better when I sit back down again.

So while handwriting is slower than typing, it’s faster for me because it keeps me in the writing flow. I’m also a fast typist when I’m copying something that I’ve already handwritten.

I use the free grammar and spelling apps, Grammarly and Hemmingway to go over my work and check for typos, and ‘passive voice’ amongst other things.

Auto-correct also helps me to keep up with typing errors, although it doesn’t get everything right.

Once, when I bought a new computer, auto-correct kept changing my husband’s name, Dean, to Dead. It took me a few weeks to convince it that my husband wasn’t Dead. Shortly afterwards I was writing an article for someone about Ocean Dead Zones. But when I finished it I realized that auto-correct had changed it all to Ocean Dean Zones. This is why it’s important to check every word of your articles because even when you spell things correctly, it can be sabotaged.

Handwriting works for me because it helps me to stay in the zone and keep writing, and sticking with writing is THE most important thing. It’s so easy to get distracted and forget where you were up to, which is what happens when you’re not loving what you do.

So write your preferred way (handwriting or typing) and keep going. Once you start writing, don’t stop.

Using an outline is essential so that you can stay on topic, and when you finish writing for the day, it’s easy to pick up where you left off because all your outlines are ready and waiting to go.

When you’re writing, if you misspell something, leave it, you’ll pick it up in the edit. And if you can’t think of a word, leave a blank space and keep going. Once you start writing you must keep going.

And don’t worry if you think you’re going wrong, just keep writing.

I find that no matter how many errors I think I’m making, or if I think I’m not saying something the right way, I can easily pick up mistakes later and there’s never any need for much editing because I was always on track thanks to writing fast and staying in the writing zone.

And one last thing to remember is to always keep your reader in mind because as they read your articles, they’ll be asking themselves So what? Who cares? What’s in it for me? So make sure your articles always answer this.

But before you can do any of this, you’ll first have to know what to write about.

This is a short extact from The Monthly Challenge Writing Series:
Book 3 - Fast & Profitable Article Writing

Grab a copy now at:
https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCWS3.html 

The NaNoWriMo and The AI Controversy

National Novel Writing Month is due to commence in November, and this week I heard about the controversy with AI and NaNoWriMo. 

It appears that recently NaNoWriMo made a statement saying they are pro AI. The organisers, when queried about AI, stated that NaNoWriMo “does not explicitly support any specific approach to writing, nor does it explicitly condemn any approach, including the use of AI.”

And if that wasn’t bad enough, they also went on to say, “We also want to be clear in our belief that the categorical condemnation of Artificial Intelligence has classist and ableist undertones, and that questions around the use of AI tie to questions around privilege.” 

https://www.404media.co/nanowrimo-ai-policy-classist-ableist/ 

This infuriated many of their participants and thousands walked away and unsubscribed from NaNoWriMo. Then they tried to undo the damage they’d done to their reputation with their pro AI stance, but it was too late. 

They also lost several of their sponsors including, Ninja Writers, and Ellipsus. They didn’t, however, lose their main sponsor, ProWritingAid, who are also pro AI.

One of their board members, Daniel José Older, a lead story architect for Star Wars: The High Republic, posted his resignation from the writers board, and publicly posted on Twitter, “Hello @NaNoWriMo this is me DJO officially stepping down from your Writers Board and urging every writer I know to do the same. Never use my name in your promo again in fact never say my name at all and never email me again. Thanks!”

Another board member, Rebecca Kim Wells also stepped down and posted “I resigned from the NaNoWriMo Writers Board. If you're on it, I encourage you to do the same.”

Several other board members also resigned.

You can make up your own mind where you stand about AI being used in writing. But the reason so many use NaNoWriMo is to help them set aside a time to write every day, to push through all the barriers of self-doubt, fear and other frustrations, and become the best and most productive writer they can be. Using AI takes away these most important parts of NaNoWriMo.

While the use of AI has some worthy benefits in some cases for writers, on the whole I think it does more harm than good and only helps to spread misinformation and does not benefit writers who want to write.

I’m happy to sit down and write one human-written word at a time. It’s the way I’ve always worked and it’s the way that has always worked.

I used to promote NaNoWriMo as a great tool for writers who want to sit down and write a novel in a month. I even participated myself when I first became a writer.

But I won’t be promoting it any more.

7 Day eBook Writing and Publishing System

https://www.cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/7day.html

Writing Markets For September 2024

Today I have a list of 7 (lucky 7) writing markets for you. One is a free writing competition with a $100 prize for only a short (max 100) word story. 

There's also a chance to write a romance book for Harlequin and receive an advance payment plus royalties, and other markets paying up to $1,000.

Take a look:

Harlequin Seeking Amish Romance Novels
Looking for riveting Amish romantic suspense of with a Christian worldview. Faith element is mandatory but shows rather than tells, avoiding didactic, preachy or doctrinal language.
Popular hooks and themes include: Amish characters investigating a crime/evading a threat in their community; non-Amish characters hiding out/taking refuge from the bad guys in Amish country; non-Amish law enforcement agents investigating in Amish country and protecting/falling for Amish characters.
Word count: 55,000 words
Payment: Author advance + royalties
Deadline: Open
https://www.writeforharlequin.com/love-inspired-books-is-seeking-amish-romance

Copyhackers
Always looking for guest aricles about copywriting, including educational articles, courses, and resources that focus on helping new writings learn how to craft good copy.
Pitch your idea in the first instance. All articles must be well researched.
Word count: over 2,000 words
Payment: $300 - $1,000
They have extensive, and straight to the point ("If your post is boring as sh*t, we won't publish it") guidelines and rules so you can be sure of exactly what they're looking for which is why they pay such high rates.
https://copyhackers.com/write-for-us-2/

FFW Short Articles About Making a Living as a Writer
Funds For Writers, a respected website for writers is looking for articles for their newsletter which has over 28,000 subscribers. Articles should be short and sweet and to the point. Give it a beginning, middle, and ending. Give strong takeaway value with real examples, preferably of your own. Why are YOU the one to write this article? All article submissions MUST be about making a living as a writer and not about how to write.
Word count: between 550 and 650 words
Payment: $100 for unpublished original articles; $25 for reprints over 90 days old.
Complete guidelines online.
https://fundsforwriters.com/submissions/

Flame Tree Fiction - Two Themes
Looking for short pieces on one or both of two themes. Achilles (Greek mythology) and Morgana le Fay (King Arthur).
Stories submitted for consideration need to explore new or expanded angles to the character: have them follow alternative paths, present different viewpoints, give deeper background, or perhaps pursue story lines that are hinted at in the original tales and poetry. Pays Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) rates.
Word count: 3,000-4,000 words.
Payment: 8 cents/word for original stories and 6 cents/word for reprints
Deadline: 22 September 2024
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/achilles-submissions-call-0
https://blog.flametreepublishing.com/fantasy-gothic/morgana-le-fay-submissions-0 

Christmas Chaos Holiday Terror Stories 
Think evil elf on the shelve, killing candy canes, and reindeer game. This is a horror anthology, but please no violence to animals (unless its important to the story like Pet cemetery) no sexual abuse or abuse to kids.
Looking for 14 stories for an anthology.
Word count: 4,500 to 7,000 words
Payment: $20 USD and a copy of the paperback.(on FB they say the payment has been increased to $40)
Deadline 1st October 2024
Send completed manuscript.
https://outsiderpublishingcompany.com/submission 

100-Word Horror Contest - no fee
Story Street Writers is proud to announce our first annual Hundred Word Horror fiction contest. The winner will be announced on October 31.
Word Count: 100 words maximum (no exceptions)
1st Prize: $100 and publication
Runners up (3): $25 and publication
Deadline: Submissions open from September 15 – 30, 2024.
Contest open to first 1000 submissions only.
https://storystreetwriters.com/word-on-the-street/first-annual-hundred-word-horror-contest 

Speculative Fiction: APPARITION LIT
Every month Apparition Lit holds a flash fiction contest and buys a story based on their prompt.
September's prompt is Noodles, Noodles, Noodles…inspired by the many shapes noodles take around the world, including Ramen, Spaghetti, Pad Thai…
Speculative fiction is weird, almost unclassifiable. It’s fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and literary.
Send us stories with enough emotional heft to break a heart, with prose that’s as clear and delicious as broth. We love proactive characters and settings that feel lived in and real enough to touch. Stories with style, stories with emotion, stories with character.
Word count: under 1,000 words
Payment: 5 cents per word
Deadline: Submission window open Sept 1 -14
https://apparitionlit.com/submissions/ 

Beyond the Page: Monetising Your Writing Skills

Being a writer is a fickle yet interesting way to earn money.

Why?

Because there are so many ways to earn money as a writer and it changes all the time. You can do copywriting, write books and ebooks, do blog writing, do freelance writing, become an affiliate marketer, and much more. And you can earn an impressive income as a writer from these ways too.

For example, writer and author Ben Settle has worked as a copywriter for years. At first he wrote copy of other people to help them sell their products online. But after seeing how much money his writing was making for his clients he began to write his own books and courses and used his copywriting skills to sell them. And it worked. He also sells subscriptions to his highly-priced monthly newsletter that teaches others how to write money-making copy.

Another good example is Dean Wesley Smith. He’s been a writer for most of  his life and works as a ghost writer as well as a freelance writer and was commissioned to write some of the Star Trek novels and both Men In Black novels. He also has a blog that he regularly writes for and he’s written hundreds of books. For years he wrote his Smith’s Monthly series which was an ongoing monthly subscription for which he wrote a novel a month plus several short stories a month for his subscribers. He loves to write and knows what his audience wants to read.

And the late, great Yuwanda Black was a freelance writer who sold her writing services on her blog, and wrote books about how she did it, plus she wrote dozens of romance stories. I was also lucky enough to co-author a book with her.

All these writers earned money from their writing in multiple ways, and there are others who prefer to specialise.

But even if you want to only write books, there’s still the decision of different genres and subjects.

One person who was determined to write novels for a living was author, John Locke, who opened an Amazon author account, uploaded his novels and made a fortune. He then wrote a book about how he did it, called, “How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months” which unsurprisingly, outsold all his other books. amzn.to/3E6ulER. To date, he’s written 55 novels.

What John Locke has in common with all the other writers, is hard work. To make it as a writer you don’t have to be better than everyone else, you just have to outwork them.

Just write what you know and write what you love writing about.

In the beginning, I tried it all. Back then I had 2 jobs, 2 kids, 2 dogs, I was doing writing courses and other online courses, gardening, and, because I thought I didn’t have enough to do, I began an upholstery course as well.

And during that time, I worked hard at my writing career and became a professional writer.

Over the years, I’ve written extensively about writing and earning money and you can use my books to help you do the same.

You can also download my free ebooks too.

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/free-ebooks.html

The Pure Magic of Having a Writing Place and How I Use It

Relaxing in the living room 

A few months ago I got rid of my writing desk. It was old and small and I figured that I often write in different places, so I probably didn’t need a desk anyway. But was I right?

Well, it’s true that I didn’t always use my desk to write, but it turned out I still needed a space that was mine to use just for writing.

What I discovered is that when I’m in my writing place, my desk, my brain automatically switches into writing mode.

The same brain switch happens if I go out to write, either at the park or the local library, but at home, that automatic brain switch didn’t always happen unless I was already in writing mode.

So if I sat on the couch to write, I felt like watching TV instead. If I sat at the dining table, I wanted to eat or drink coffee and read a book. And sitting at the breakfast bar felt like I should be cooking or looking through recipe books.

I realised that working as a creative person is a fickle thing and sometimes my brain, or more correctly my muse, doesn’t turn up for work until I do, so when I sat at my desk my muse would arrive because it knew where I was.

And I only EVER use my writing place for writing. I never play computer games or surf online or check emails, because if I did, it would interfere with my ability to write, and distract my muse from showing up.

But I didn’t want to have another desk, partly because I’d already filled the window nook where it used to be, with a window seat. I also wanted something that was a piece of furniture for the home rather than something that looked like it belonged in an office.

So in the end I opted for a writing bureau and I found a really good one of FaceBook Market Place. It has some beautiful carvings all over it and when opened, it’s really sturdy to write on.

And when I’m finished writing, I can close it up and walk away so that I know I’m finished for the day. Unless of course, I feel like writing at night, in which case it’s a cosy place to sit and carry on.

So it turns out that not only is it important for me to have a place to write, but not to desecrate it by doing non-writing activities there, so that as soon as I sit down, my mind can switch to writing mode immediately and I can get straight down to work, which makes it even more enjoyable (and easy) to write.

My New Writing Bureau

Writing News - July 2024

French startup AdCreative.ai has launched a new large language model built exclusively for advertising

Named AdLLM Spark, the system was built to craft ad text with high conversion rates on every major advertising platform.

AdCreative.ai said the LLM (Large Language Model) combines two unique features: instant text generation and accurate performance prediction.
https://thenextweb.com/news/french-startup-adcreative-launches-llm-for-advertising-copy

Hilarious PETA billboard births the internet's new favourite phrase

The viral billboard ad (which is affectionately referred to as "Just spay me Denise") imagines a conversation between a dog and her owner. It aims to show that we humans overcomplicate our relationship with our pets, applying inappropriate emotions to their humble doggy existence. 
https://www.creativebloq.com/news/peta-billboard-dog

Nine Secrets to Content Writing Success

By focusing on the needs and interests of your audience, providing valuable insights and maintaining a professional yet accessible tone, you can significantly enhance your engagement and establish yourself as a thought leader. 
It’s not easy to start from a blank screen or piece of paper, so hopefully these tips will help get you on the right foot quickly.
https://natlawreview.com/article/nine-secrets-content-writing-success

Fans left in tears after watching true crime doc on murder of Harry Potter actor

Harry Potter fans have been left in tears over a documentary on the murder of one of its cast members, Rob Knox.
The movie star, who was just 18, was stabbed to death in 2008.
Rob had just wrapped filming on the sixth instalment of the fantasy series, Half Blood Prince, and was set to appear in the final Harry Potter film, Deathly Hallows. This is despite his character, Marcus Belby, not appearing in the seventh book written by J. K. Rowling.
https://www.unilad.com/film-and-tv/news/rob-knox-harry-potter-murder-documentary-255834-20240718

Sesame Workshop Writers Ratify Strike-Averting Deal

After mounting a strike threat that was later averted, Sesame Workshop writers have ratified a new five-year labor contract that their union president is touting as “groundbreaking.”
The new agreement expands the Writers Guild of America's jurisdiction at the shop to include writing for social media platforms, animated projects and all streaming titles.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sesame-workshop-writers-union-ratifies-contract-1235895984/

Russian trial of US journalist Evan Gershkovich resumes after being brought forward

The espionage trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich resumed in a Russian court on Thursday after being brought forward at the request of his defense.
Gershkovich, the first American journalist to be arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War, first went on trial on June 26 at the Sverdlovsky Regional Court in the city of Yekaterinburg, where he appeared in a courtroom’s glass cage with his head shaved.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/18/media/evan-gershkovich-trial-resumes-russia-intl/index.html

Romance Writers of America files for bankruptcy amid bitter racism battle

The RWA filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing millions of dollars it owes in contracts with conference centers for hotel rooms its shrinking membership can no longer fill. Since 2019, the RWA’s membership has decreased from 10,000 people to roughly 2,000, according to court records.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/30/romance-writers-america-bankruptcy

Studies reveal the importance of print marketing

In an increasingly digitalized world, science shows print media still wins in some critical aspects of marketing. Print marketing should not be a dying art.
On a whole, digital marketing is fast and cost-effective. However, print is often more memorable than digital content, and some feel it is more authentic.
https://webwriterspotlight.com/importance-of-print-marketing

Netflix’s latest hit adaptations have also boosted book sales

Netflix Vice President Jinny Howe, who oversees drama series, says books and television series have storytelling parallels.
The process for finding books they can adapt into a series is ongoing.
However, it’s not always about looking at the “hot book” of the moment.
“We have also seen adaptations of novels that are lesser known have just as much success on Netflix, like with ‘The Queen’s Gambit,’ which is one of our most popular series,” said Howe.
“We’re always reading across a variety of genres and authors, and have a great in-house team who helps us track upcoming properties,” Howe said. “We’re not just looking at the genre, but also for fresh voices and perspectives, and bold and original narratives.”
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2024-07-08/netflix-book-adaptations-bridgerton-good-girls-guide-to-murder

Elon Musk Wants His AI Bot to Deliver the News. It Is Struggling With the Job

Grok posted incorrect information, amplified unverified claims and failed to identify sarcasm as details of Trump shooting unfolded
The artificial-intelligence model’s limitations were on display in the hours after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, when it served up some erroneous headlines based on its read of content on X.
https://www.wsj.com/tech/musks-ai-headlines-on-x-show-risks-of-aggregating-social-media-22a6e64c

Knowing When I’m Too Ill To Write

 I’ve been ill with a flu-type of virus that’s been going around. Nearly everyone I know has caught it in one level of severity or another. I guess it’s just part of winter flu season.

I rarely get ill, and even when I do it’s only just a bit of a touch of whatever dreaded lergy is doing the rounds at the time.

The reason I rarely get ill is because I pay attention to my health. I have a vegan (or plant based as they now call it) diet which means I don’t consume dead body parts or any animal products. When I was younger I ate meat like most people, but as an adult I looked into the logic and cruelty of slaughter houses and animal “farms” and how bad eating these animals is for our health, and decided it was a bad idea.

So I transitioned to being a vegetarian for many years and then cut animals out of my diet completely. And I’ve never looked back. In fact, I found that some of the things I was eating were making me ill. For example, I’ve always suffered from headaches. It didn’t take much to give me a headache and they were painful and long-lasting. I also constantly came down with colds. If someone had a cold, I knew I’d catch it because I always did.

Once I gave up dairy and eggs, my colds and headaches disappeared. Gone! Just like that. All my life I’d thought it was just my bad luck that I was susceptible to head colds and bad headaches, but it turned out to be my diet. For the last 3+ years I haven’t even been to see my GP at all because I’ve never had anything medically wrong with me. My health has been great. The last time I saw my GP was because I’d hurt my foot.

My usual good health is probably why, when I caught this flu bug, it took me completely by surprise. The worst thing about it is that it’s so long lasting and has been driving me crazy because I’m so used to being healthy.

It started three weeks ago. I woke up one day with an incredibly sore throat. It hurt so much I could barely swallow and my head hurt and my nose wouldn’t stop running. 

I suffered through it for 7 days. It did start easing after the first 3 days but I felt miserable the whole time. The first day I thought I’d be ill for just that day. But nope. I spent the whole week laid on the couch, watching TV, napping, and feeling downright sorry for myself.

I even thought I’d try and get some writing done during that first week, but I found that I was too ill to think and I didn’t really want to sit up for too long either. 

I thought about it while I was laid there wallowing in self-pity, trying to figure out how being ill meant that thinking was hard, after all, it wasn’t a physical thing. Thinking was just thinking. But even trying to concentrate on something on TV felt taxing and I kept nodding off.

I thought about reading instead, but just the thought of picking up a book felt like too much hard work, which didn’t make sense to me because I love to read.

After 5 days of kidding myself that I wasn’t really THAT ill and if I put my mind to it I’d be able to write, I gave in. I figured that when I had a regular job and I had a boss and had to go out to work every day, when I was too ill to work, I’d take a few days off to rest and get better so that I could go back to work as soon as possible.

That being the case, I figured that working at home shouldn't be any different and if I rested, I’d get better faster. After all, it worked when I had a regular job. I never thought of doing anything but getting better when I wasn’t working so that I wouldn’t miss too many days away from my job.

So that’s what I did. I laid down and did nothing but rest and nap, even though I didn’t want to, and it worked. By the eighth day, I was not only sitting up but moving around a little and I was back in my writing chair. But I still had to be careful not to overdo anything because even though I was up and about, everything I did, even mental things like reading and writing, felt exhausting.

And now it’s 3 weeks later and I still haven’t shifted the virus completely. To anyone looking at me I look fine and I’m living my usual life. But I still don’t feel 100% well and I’m not doing as much in a day as I usually do and I’ve been avoiding socialising because that seems way too hard right now, even short conversations seem hard. I’m not comfortable with socialising anyway, but now it feels harder than ever. It’s easier to stay at home and write and not talk to anyone, except Dean of course, who caught the same illness I did but only mildly for a couple of days and then he was okay again, although even he isn’t 100% yet either.

But what this whole experience has taught me is that (and it was a hard lesson because I’m not used to being ill anymore) is that I need to treat my writing as a job and if I’m ill it’s okay to take some time off to get better and not feel guilty about not getting my writing done.

And treating my writing as a job isn’t just good advice for when I’m ill, but for always.

That’s why I have set writing times every week to make sure I get to work and get my writing done.

Mission Critical For Life

Start Living Life On Your Terms By Pursuing Your True Life Mission

https://cheritonhousepublishing.com/books/MCFL.html