Hugo William’s advice is that voice when I need it. My job isn’t to get better as a writer. My…

Hugo William’s advice is that voice when I need it. My job isn’t to get better as a writer. My job is only to do what I can. Hugo William’s advice is that voice when I need it, as I often do. My job isn’t to get better as a writer, or to worry about how people will respond, or if they will respond at all. My job is only to do what I can: to show up every day, and start scribbling.

The post Jonathan Edwards – The Best Advice I Ever Received appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.

'Publication is wonderful — both euphoric and humbling. But in the days and weeks that follow a book’s release, I feel a strange sadness. '

Publication is wonderful — both euphoric and humbling. But in the days and weeks that follow a book’s release, I…

Publication is wonderful — both euphoric and humbling. But in the days and weeks that follow a book’s release, I feel a strange sadness. Publication is wonderful — both euphoric and humbling, and I’ve been dazed by it each time. But in the days and weeks that follow a book’s release, I feel a strange sadness. As if something had physically left me, that I looked for but couldn’t find.

The post Susan Fletcher – Getting Published: What No One Tells You appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.

'Isn’t that deadline a manifestation of yourself, your hopes, your ambitions, your drive to produce something of substance that, against all odds, communicates truly?'

Isn’t that deadline a manifestation of yourself, your hopes, your ambitions, your drive to produce something of substance that, against…

Isn’t that deadline a manifestation of yourself, your hopes, your ambitions, your drive to produce something of substance that, against all odds, communicates truly? If you’re lucky, something else kicks in: a kind of defiance that makes you dig deep. Isn’t that deadline a manifestation of yourself, your hopes, your ambitions, your drive to produce something of substance that, against all odds, communicates truly?

The post Clare Morgan – Writers And Deadlines appeared first on Royal Literary Fund.

'To my parents’ credit (or detriment), they never censored anything. I loved Chuck Palahniuk’s earliest novels: Fight Club, Survivor. I loved American Psycho. '

'Loneliness can take many forms. Yet the meta-loneliness, if you like – is perhaps the pain of being wrenched from whatever shape we’d expected, pre-pandemic, our lives to take. '

'‘Inspiration’ implies some sort of divine intervention: the gift of a thought from a capricious god. This seems unlikely. '

'OK, so the Soviet Union isn't what you imagined, you haven't got a clue what's going on and you haven't seen a piece of fruit in months.'

'I can't write here, the chair's too low. The room's too cold. I haven't got the right view. What am I trying to write anyway?'