Fi Phillips

I've just noticed that I haven't posted on here for one whole week. That's not like me. Truth be told, life has carried me away - some of it boring, some quite exciting. The Panto - the first three scenes are written and have been emailed off to the PTFA for their perusal. I had already written these but what with the addition of a third ugly sister , a re-write was necessary. The use of pantomime humour is beginning to affect me too. I must stop it. I'm embarrassing the children. Murdering The Text - I've been putting together an updated website with additional facilities and much more personality. Almost finished it. Should be online by Friday. Something new - I've written an article and for the past week have been attempting to obtain writer guidelines from magazines. So far the only response I've had is, "We don't have any. Just ring us with your idea". That may well be my task for next week. Right, time to get back to it. Enjoy your week...

Yes, that was me, heavily pregnant and still with book in hand. Now it should go without saying that if you want to be a writer, you should also be a reader. But you shouldn't 'just' be a reader. You should be an avid reader. Books Obvious eh? To know your genre, what's current, what's successful, you must read books in your chosen genre. A visit to the library will tell you what is popular and what the library service deem to be a book in your genre that has 'arrived'. A look around the larger bookshops such as Waterstones and Borders will let you see what is new and in the charts, who the most popular authors are and how prolific they are. Newspapers Both paper and online news will reveal current affairs, what issues are 'hot' and if you delve into the arts sections, you can keep track of the book charts. I find the Times book chart to be especially useful. Magazines What magazines do you read each month? If you're anything like me, you hav...