Tag: freelancing

Interview with Ready Writer Mag

I have had the pleasure of being interviewed by Ready Writer Mag about how I got into writing, what books I’ve just had published and what my future plans are. I also give advice to other budding writers. Here’s a little snippet:

How did you get your first commission?

I worked in a general reference department of a non-fiction publisher before going freelance – it was great to work in ‘integrated’ publishing. Once I was freelance, I worked for a range of publishers and one asked if I would help develop an illustrated Christian book list for them. It was a fantastic time of learning and I enjoyed it immensely. I was down to edit one of the titles that were commissioned from that time. But, when they received the manuscript they weren’t happy with it, so asked if I would consider writing it from scratch.

How did you feel?

I was totally blown away – and rather petrified! It helped that there was quite a specific breakdown of what content they wanted, although that did also feel like a little bit of a hindrance as I started writing. But it was great experience – and training – for what I was to do in later years (as that was back in 2003).

You can still buy the book – it’s called Taking Your Spiritual Pulse.

Did you think the millions would start rolling in after that first commission?

Um, certainly not – although I did wonder whether I would ever get to the stage of being able to command royalties, as that was done for a very small flat fee.

And did they, the millions come rolling in, I mean?

Well, I’m still waiting on those royalties! One of the things I was shocked by when I started writing, as well as editing, is how little authors are paid. Unless, of course, you are a Philip Yancey or Jeff Lucas, ‘jobbing’ writers as they are called, do not earn enough to live on. It was very eye-opening to realise I could earn more as an editor than a writer, which is one of the reasons I still do both. It is also the reason I write articles for magazines and online blogs, as they earn me a bit of extra money while I’m working on longer-term projects.

If you are interested in reading the full interview, please click here.

Can’t settle down to work…

1 Comment

Ever have one of those days when you simply can’t seem to settle down to anything? I am today – I can’t believe I only have half an hour left before I pick up my son from nursery and I’ve achieved nothing so far (apart from bagging a free book for my hubbie – yay- and having email conversations with publishers). I have managed to do my bible reading for the day. I’ve been finding reaching back into the Old Testament really interesting and thought-provoking, but today, when I read about a man sacrificing his daughter, all I could think was ‘really?’. My brain couldn’t go further than that!

Both my husband and I look and feel shattered. It has been an exceedingly long couple of weeks, partly because our church is in the process of trying to buy a building and there have been endless plans and letters to formulate. But today is submission day – so we’ve done all we can. Now, as well as praying earnestly, we need to turn to what else needs our attention – him to his preach and me to my writing. But I think we are both simply too wrung out. I am usually incredibly focused. I’ve been doing this work-from-home freelancing thing for a long time now, and I am always determined to utilise the first few hours of the day really well as that is my only child-free time. But today I’ve been meandering through the windows on my computer – looking at the drafted book I have almost finished and the half-written ideas file for a magazine editor. I can’t quite seem to actually get down to doing anything. But I think that may be because my body needs a little rest – it’s done so much already this week. The fact that I can’t focus on anything is my body revealing I need to slow down a little and take it easy today. This is really unlike me, but I’m finding I’m telling myself that it’s okay if I don’t actually achieve that much today. There is always tomorrow… 🙂