'What starts off as marketing turns into googling yourself, and checking for likes and dislikes of your videos... a two-hour journey.'

What starts off as marketing turns into googling yourself, and checking for likes and dislikes of your videos; then you compare the analytics to your previous work... a one minute marketing post on Twitter has turned into a two-hour journey.

The post Jonny Wright appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'My father taught me to garden, to be handy with a chisel, to follow a circuit diagram; my mother, how to balance my accounts, and to read. '

My father taught me to garden, to be handy with a chisel, to follow a circuit diagram and solder the right bits together; and my mother, how to balance my accounts, and to read.

The post Jane Adams appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'If Rejection is something to be embraced, stimulating the pin-up virtue of our times, resilience, why do I struggle so much with his evil cousin, Failure? '

If rejection is something to be embraced, stimulating that pin-up virtue of our times, Resilience, why do I struggle so much with his evil cousin, that sniping little imp, Failure?

The post Lucy Moore appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I thought about the Hebrides, looked up crofts on Right Move, and then realised that even there I couldn't get away from writing.'

I thought about the Hebrides, looked up crofts on Right Move, and then realised that even there I couldn't get away from writing; George Orwell, a great literary hero, had famously lived on Jura. Quite a ghost to have as a neighbour.

The post Alicia Foster appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'Writing a story is too solitary for me to stick at it for long. I want an audience, and collaborators. Let's build a world together! '

Writing a story is too solitary for me to stick at it for long. I want an audience, and collaborators. Give me a rehearsal room full of actors! Let's build a world together!

The post Fraser Grace appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'If we take 'playing God' to mean controlling, shaping, balancing, fore-knowing outcomes, rendering meaningful the chaos of life ; yes I do.'

If we take 'playing God' to mean controlling, shaping, balancing, fore-knowing outcomes, rendering meaningful the sprawling chaos and occasional carnage of life ; yes I do those intensely enjoyable things.

The post Maria McCann appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'When e-books appeared there were prophecies about The End Of The Book; now the publishing industry admits that e-book sales have peaked, and the printed book has a future. '

When e-books appeared there were prophecies about The End Of The Book; now the publishing industry admits that e-book sales have peaked, and the hand-held printed book has a definite future. And the creative writing courses are exploding...

The post Nicholas Murray appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I was scooting around the country with the band in the back of a van, listening to John Peel and reading the NME. '

I'd got the guitar and was scooting around the country with the band in the back of a van, listening to John Peel and reading the NME. So, to my twenty-one-year old self, I'd say; drink this in.

The post Martin Sketchley appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'I think of myself as a brand; Sanjida Kay, the thriller writer, or Sanjida O'Connell, who writes literary fiction. And since I am a brand I only write or post about a version of myself.'

I think of myself as a brand; Sanjida Kay, the thriller writer, or Sanjida O'Connell, who writes literary fiction. And since I am a brand I only write or post about a version of myself, where everything relates to the writing.

The post Sanjida O’Connell appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.

'For non-fiction, you can't do anything chaotically, it doesn't work. You have to be organised from the word go.'

For non-fiction, you can't do anything chaotically, it doesn't work. You have to be organised from the word go, or at least once you've had what I call 'the initial hunch'.

The post Sue Roe appeared first on The Royal Literary Fund.