Getting Back the Writing Bug

Not that you would ever know it from here, but I've regained the writing bug again. I'm trying to write various different pieces here and there, whenever time allows, mostly for the fun of it. I still really enjoy writing and when I get back to it I wonder I don't do it more often (with the usual reasons coming to the fore: family, job, commuting, other commitments).

So with that in mind I thought it might be interesting to put in some writing tips from some of my favourite writers. Here they are:

Mark Twain (19th Century American author, writer of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"): To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.

Peter King (Sports Illustrated NFL writer): Write every day. Write unpaid at local weekly. Then write some more. (source)

Bill Simmons (writer for ESPN.com, author of "Now I Can Die in Peace"): Work in a bar or a restaurant. Learn about people, get up at noon every day, go to bed at 4 a.m. every night, hang out with people who are just as confused and directionless as you are, drink and smoke as much as possible, throw wads of money around after shifts like you're a drug dealer, date somebody with no long-term potential, and live like that for six months. It will be the best thing you ever did. (source)

N.B. I'm pretty sure he also made a point that he asks prospective writers who they are reading, and then bemoaned how no-one reads anymore. Can I find this point anywhere? No, of course I can't. (And I probably don't read enough, especially fiction.)

Will Leitch (former editor of Deadspin, author of "Life As A Loser"): I'll give you the same advice Roger Ebert gave me in college: "Just write, get better, keep writing, keep getting better. It's the only thing you can control." (source)

And although I couldn't find anything definitive by them on the subject, I'll throw a mention out to a couple of my favourite other writers, J.D. Roth (Get Rich Slowly), David O'Brien (Braves beat writer for the Atlanta Journal Constitution), Nigel Roebuck (formerly of Autosport) and Gina Trapani (formerly of Lifehacker, now of Smarterware.org).

The Next Project (And How To Pay For It)

I've realised over the last couple of days that the computer in my office has begun to run a lot more slowly. While I'm inclined to think an upgrade of a certain anti-virus program is involved in this, I've also decided I should look into getting some more memory for my computer (CTRL+ALT+DEL shows just how much memory the anti-virus software is using - it isn't pretty).

Here's the important detail of the project: I'm not planning to fund it through my wages (or Lorraine's for that matter).

"Huh?" I hear you ask. "How are you going to do that?" Well, let's call this my guide to earning a bit extra for little treats.

1) Google Adsense.
Sensible web advertising. You get money for clicks, not for unlikely and costly sales. Furthermore they're presented in text, not garish and intrusive flash (yes, Yahoo! Mail, I'm talking about you).

The payments aren't huge, and you have to earn a minimum of $100 to get a payment, but it is a program I'd recommend.

2) Amazon Associates.
The program I've used for longest. If you are going to get money for clicks, why not use the UK's leading online retailer?

Simple to implement, easy to follow reports and payouts begin at a more than reasonable £10.

3) Money for opinions.
Being realistic, when it comes to a stick or two of memory the solutions above probably aren't the answer. However what I've found to be a quick and easy way to a little bit extra is to share opinions with people who want them.

I'm not talking about opinion surveys (not too quick in my experience) or consumer websites (where the payments are so small to not make them worthwhile), I'm talking about the magazine market.

It might not sound like much to get £5/£10/£15 for an e-mail, but think of the possible time/reward ratio. I might send an e-mail to a TV magazine which takes me about a minute (or possibly less) to type and send. It's usually something Lorraine and I are discussing anyway, all I'm doing is transcribing thoughts and sending them to an e-mail address I've kept handy.

If you've got opinions why not try your luck? The worst that can happen is that the e-mail isn't published and you don't get paid.

(Actually the worst thing that can happen is that a magazine can ask for a photo of you to accompany what you've written, but that's another matter entirely.)

Thoughts on Sorkin and A Few Good Men

One thing I love about buying films or TV series on DVD as opposed to VHS is all the bonus content that comes with it. A set of good extras is sometimes the difference between buying a DVD or leaving it on the shelf to me.

So when I made the big mistake of stepping into HMV during a sale and saw that the DVD of A Few Good Men was packed full of extras I left quickly, thought about it for a few days and then returned to pick up a copy. I love the film anyway, so why not pick it up?

Anyway, the most interesting extra on the DVD is a section relating to the adaption of the original play to a screenplay. While the parts with director Rob Reiner are somewhat interesting I found the interview with writer Aaron Sorkin fascinating. Stories as far apart as putting original ideas on napkins while he was writing the original play (which working as a bartender) to struggling to convert to a screenplay format. Very, very interesting. Highly recommended.

P.S. Typical, I recommend Sorkin and then I go to his wikipedia page which mentions he has some interesting ways of getting inspiration. Still a good writer though.